GALLANTRY OF THE BUCKTAILS.

265

bad been ordered to advance four miles beyond that town, for the purpose of making a reconnoissance. The first New Jersey cavalry were detailed to this service. The colonel imprudently extended his march three miles further than the distance specified in his orders, and thus fell into an ambuscade which had been placed in the woods. The Rebels being posted in strong force, attacked him. A severe contest ensued. The Rebel General Ashby was conspicuous in this fight for his superior skill and daring. The Federal troops were driven back, and Colonel Wyndham was taken prisoner. The enemy were driving the New Jersey troops before them, when General Bayard was ordered to the rescue with the Bucktail regiment, the first Pennsylvania cavalry, the eighth and sixteenth Virginia regiments. The contest was then renewed, and was maintained with great spirit on both sides. The enemy were expelled from their position, with the loss of a portion of their camp equipage. The struggle was still continued with an uncertain issue. Night was approaching, when General Bayard ordered Colonel Kane to proceed with the Bucktail rifles to explore the dense forest of pines to the left. This brave company, numbering about a hundred and thirty men, at once advanced toward the almost invisible enemy. They suddenly found themselves surrounded, both in front and on the flank, by a numerous body of Rebels, consisting of four regiments of cavalry, together with artillery. But the Bucktails did not flinch in this emergency, and opened their fire with deadly effect upon the serried masses around them. Their valor was vain and fruitless against such overwhelming numbers. Their ranks were quickly thinned by the destructive attack of the foe. Their gallant commander was wounded and captured. Nothing now remained but to retreat with the wreck of their corps. This feat they performed leisurely and without precipitation, halting from time to time to return the shots of the pursuing Rebels. The loss of the Bucktails was about six killed, thirty-six wounded, ten missing; that of the remaining Federal troops was one hundred and eighteen killed, four hundred and fifty wounded, thirty missing. The loss of the Rebels was also severe. As General Fremont did not wish at that unpropitious time to court a general engagement, his troops were withdrawn, when darkness overspread the

scene.

In this battle General Ashby, the bold and chivalrous commander of the Rebel cavalry, was slain.

On the next day, the 9th of June, the pursuit of the enemy was continued. The Rebels were then in full retreat toward Port Republic. General Blenker commanded the left wing, General Milroy the right, General Schenck the centre of Fremont's forces. The reserve consisted of the brigades of Stahl and Bayard. The advance of the Federals was so close upon the rear guard of Jackson that the latter had scarcely time to cross the Shenandoah to avoid capture.

General Tyler commanded the advance of Shields' division, which afterward engaged the enemy. The action which ensued took place at Port

Republic, seven miles beyond Harrisonburg, on the route toward Staunton. The number of Federal troops engaged was about three thousand; that of the enemy was at least eight thousand. General Jackson had posted the latter in the woods so as to outflank the Federals on the left. The batteries of Captains Clark and Robinson were first brought forward, and were made to bear upon them with effect. Several companies of skir mishers were then ordered to penetrate into the woods, to feel the enemy. The Rebels soon advanced from their retreat, and prepared to attack the Federals by a combined front and flank movement. The seventh Indiana infantry, under Colonel Gavin, were sent to the right to counteract the operations of the Rebels at that point. They were there assailed by two regiments advantageously posted under cover of the banks of the Shenandoah. So destructive was the fire of the Rebels here, that Colonel Gavin was compelled to retire. The twenty-ninth Ohio was then sent forward to support him, while the seventh Ohio was despatched to the aid of Clarke's battery, and the fifth Ohio to the help of Huntingdon's battery. The first Virginia regiment was posted on the extreme right and the whole of the Federal troops of General Tyler's brigade being at length in position, the battle became general. The artillery of the Rebels was served with great energy and skill. During the progress of the engagement on the right wing, the Rebel commander placed additional troops in such a position as to attack the Federal batteries posted there with immense vigor, and eventually to capture them. The seventh and fifth Ohio were afterward brought to bear upon the foe with such success that these batteries were retaken. For a short interval the heroism of the Federal troops, though fighting against a much superior force, rendered the issue of the day doubtful, and almost wrested a triumph from the inevitable victors in so unequal a struggle. But at this crisis immense reinforcements were seen crossing the river from the town of Port Republic to the aid of the Rebels and to have encountered these also would have been to invite destruction. General Tyler therefore gave the order to retreat. Unfortunately, it was found impossible to remove the heavy guns, the horses being nearly all either killed or disabled, and they fell into the hands of the enemy, The Federals, however, captured one gun and sixty-seven prisoners. They retreated, and the Rebels pursued, until the former approached the main body of General Shields' division, when the Rebels fled in their turn. The Federal loss on this occasion was sixty-two killed, one hundred and sixtyone wounded, one hundred missing. The loss of the Rebels, though its exact number is unknown to us, was also heavy. On the advance of Fremont after the battle, two hundred of their dead were counted on the field, and many had already been buried. A number of valuable Federal officers had been slain. One of the companies of the Bucktail regiment lost all its officers, both commissioned and non-commissioned. The battle of Port Republic, though desperately contested during five hours,

WITHDRAWAL OF GENERAL FREMONT.

267

was in reality a repulse to the Federal arms. The exposed and isolated position of the advance of General Shields, rendered the troops who belonged to it an easy prey to the overwhelming and concentrated masses of the enemy, and invited their assault under circumstances extremely unfavorable to the Union forces.

After this engagement the retreat of Jackson was continued toward Staunton, and eventually to Richmond. No engagement of any importance took place between him and the troops of General Fremont subsequent to the battle of Port Republic. On the 25th of June the armies of Fremont, McDowell, and Banks, were consolidated by the President into one body, to be designated by the title of the Army of Virginia; and the chief command of it was conferred on General John Pope, the hero of New Madrid, and of Island Number Ten. By this arrangement the forces of Fremont constituted the first army corps; those of Banks, the second; those of McDowell, the third. General McCall's division, ten thousand strong, which had formed part of McDowell's corps, was transferred at once to the army under McClellan. This new arrangement, which the President had adopted for the purpose of giving greater energy and efficacy to the movements of the troops in the valley of the Shenandoah, was readily acquiesced in by Generals McDowell and Banks; but it did not meet the approbation of General Fremont. He regarded it as an act of injustice to him; as calculated to diminish his personal consequence in the service, and to injure his reputation with the community. General Pope had been under his command in Missouri, and the relations of the two generals toward each other were not pleasant. He therefore resolved to withdraw from the command of the corps, and notified the Secretary of War of his intention to that effect. Thus ended the brief campaign of General Fremont in the valley of the Shenandoah. It cannot be affirmed that the spirit which marked the abandonment of his command in Virginia, was characterized by the same rare degree of patriotism, dignity, and self-denial, which had adorned his conduct when removed from his administration in Missouri. From the camp and the battle-field he retired to the repose of private life, to observe in his retreat the marvelous vicissitudes of a contest in which he had enacted, if not the first, yet an honorable part. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that the chief glory of the career of this eminent man will always be associated with his adventures and achievements as an explorer of the untrodden solitudes of the remotest West, where he became the pioneer to discover the way to new realms, in which a youthful but mighty people could find one of the most profitable and appropriate arenas for the exercise and development of their gigantic energies. As the heroic and resolute "Pathfinder" to the golden climes of the modern Eldorado, across the frozen precipices, and through the abysmal gorges of the Rocky Mountains, his name will live, and will be justly honored on the pages of American history through many generations to come.

CHAPTER XXIV.

PROMINENCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IN THE EVENTS OF THE WAR-FLEET OF GUNBOATS COMMANDED BY COMMODORE DAVIS-EVACUATION OF FORT PILLOW-THE NAVAL BATTLE BEFORE MEMPHIS-RELATIVE STRENGTH OF THE COMBATANTS-INCIDENTS OF THE ENGAGE MENT-DEFEAT OF THE REBEL FLEET-COLONEL ELLET-RESULTS OF THE VICTORY-GENERAL NEGLEY'S EXPEDITION AGAINST CHATTANOOGA-COLONEL HAMBRIGHT-INCIDENTS OF THE EXPEDITION-ITS RESULTS-GENERAL MORGAN EXPELS THE REBELS FROM CUMBERLAND GAP-DISASTER TO THE FEDERAL ARMS AT JAMES ISLAND-DESCRIPTION OF THE REBEL WORKS-ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE ATTACK-INCIDENTS OF THE ENGAGEMENT— ULTIMATE DEFEAT OF THE FEDERAL TROOPS-THEIR RETREAT-FEDERAL LOSS-GALLANTRY OF THE REBEL COMMANDER LAMAR-EXPEDITION OF COLONEL FITCH UP THE WHITE RIVER THE ENGAGEMENT AT ST. CHARLES-HORRIBLE ACCIDENT TO THE MOUND CITYEXECRABLE CRUELTY OF CAPTAIN FRY-CAPTURE OF THE REBEL FORTS-FINAL SUCCESS OF THE EXPEDITION-EXCURSION OF COLONEL HOWARD FROM NEWBERN TO SWIFT CREEKITS RESULTS-BOMBARDMENT OF VICKSBURG COMMENCED-PERILOUS PASSAGE OF COM

MODORE FARRAGUT'S FLEET-NEW CHANNEL OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

On

ONE of the most brilliant pages in the history of the war against Secession, is that which records the achievements of the champion of the Union on the Mississippi river. On the great "Father of Waters" defeats and disasters, though not wholly unknown, were unfamiliar things; triumphs and supremacy were the prevalent features which marked the scene. the 6th of June, 1862, the fleet of Federal gunboats and rams commanded by Flag-Officer C. H. Davis, comprising eight vessels, approached Fort Pillow, located on the banks of the Mississippi, in the vicinity of Memphis. It was the intention of the commodore to bombard the Rebel works, which were of considerable strength, mounting six one hundredand-twenty-eight pounders and fifteen sixty-four pounders. But the enemy evacuated the place, together with Forts Randolph and Wright, rendering an attack unnecessary. These places were then occupied by a requisite number of Federal troops.

Commodore Davis then proceeded with his fleet toward Memphis. A formidable Rebel flotilla awaited his approach. It consisted of eight gunboats, which respectively bore the names of the General Bragg, the Lovell, the Jeff. Thompson, the Beauregard, General Van Dorn, the Sumter, General Price, and the Little Rebel. They were commanded by Commodore Edward Montgomery. They had previously been river steamers, and had been converted into gunboats: They carried from two to twelve guns each, which were worked en barbette on carriages. In the action which ensued the gunboats of Commodore Davis which were brought into action were the flag-ship Benton, the Louisville, Cairo, St. Louis, and Carondelet. In addition to these there were four steam rams, com