tined to co-operate with the navy in the attack upon New Orleans. You will use every means to keep the destination a profound secret, even from your staff officers, with the exception of your chief of staff, and Lieutenant Wietzel, of the engineers.

"The force at your disposal will consist of the first thirteen regiments named in your memorandum handed to me in person, the Twenty-first Indiana, Fourth Wisconsin, and Sixth Michigan (old and good regiments from Baltimore)-these three regiments will await your orders at Fort Monroe. Two companies of the Twenty-first Indiana are well drilled at heavy artillery. The cavalry force already en route for Ship Island, will be sufficient for your purposes. After full consultation with officers well acquainted with the country in which it is proposed to operate, I have arrived at the conclusion that three light batteries fully equipped and one without horses, will be all that will be necessary.

"This will make your force about 14,400 infantry, 275 cavalry, 580 artillery, total 15,255 men.

"The commanding general of the department of Key West is authorized to loan you, temporarily, two regiments; Fort Pickens can probably give you another, which will bring your force to nearly 18,000. The object of your expedition is one of vital importance—the capture of New Orleans. The route selected is up the Mississippi river, and the first obstacle to be encountered, perhaps the only one, is in the resistance offered by Forts St. Philip and Jackson. It is expected that the navy can reduce the works; in that case, you will, after their capture, leave a sufficient garrison in them to render them perfectly secure; and it is recommended that on the upward passage a few heavy guns and some troops be left at the pilot station, at the forks of the river, to cover a retreat in the case of a disaster, the troops and guns will of course be removed as soon as the forts are captured.

"Should the navy fail to reduce the works, you will land your forces and siege train, and endeavor to breach the works, silence their fire, and carry them by assault.

"The next resistance will be near the English Bend, where there are some earthen batteries; here it may be necessary for you to land your troops, to co-operate with the naval attack, although it is more than proba ble that the navy, unassisted, can accomplish the result. If these works are taken, the city of New Orleans necessarily falls.

"In that event it will probably be best to occupy Algiers with the mass of your troops, also the eastern bank of the river above the city—it may be necessary to place some troops in the city to preserve order; though if there appears sufficient Union sentiment to control the city, it may be best for purposes of discipline to keep your men out of the city.

"After obtaining possession of New Orleans, it will be necessary to re

duce all the works guarding its approaches from the east, and particularly to gain the Manchac Pass.

"Baton Rouge, Berwick Bay, and Fort Livingston will next claim your

attention.

"A feint on Galveston may facilitate the objects we have in view. I need not call your attention to the necessity of gaining possession of all the rolling stock you can, on the different railways, and of obtaining control of the roads themselves. The occupation of Baton Rouge, by a combined naval and land force, should be accomplished as soon as possible after you have gained New Orleans; then endeavor to open your communication with the northern column of the Mississippi, always bearing in mind the necessity of occupying Jackson, Mississippi, as soon as you can safely do so, either after or before you have effected the junction. Allow nothing to divert you from obtaining full possession of all the approaches to New Orleans. When that object is accomplished to its fullest extent, it will be necessary to make a combined attack on Mobile, in order to gain possession of the harbor and works, as well as to control the railway terminus at the city. In regard to this, I will send more detailed instructions, as the operations of the northern column develop themselves. I may simply state that the general objects of the expedition are first, the reduction of New Orleans and all its approaches, then Mobile, and all its defenses, then Pensacola, Galveston, etc. It is probable that by the time New Orleans is reduced, it will be in the power of the government to re-enforce the land forces sufficiently to accomplish all these objects; in the mean time you will please give all the assistance in your power to the army and navy commanders in your vicinity, never losing sight of the fact that the great object to be achieved is the capture and firm retention of New Orleans.

"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN,

"Major-General Commanding, &c., &c."

February 24th was General Butler's last day in Washington.

"Good-by, Mr. President.

you'll never see me again."

We shall take New Orleans, or

Mr. Stanton: "The man that takes New Orleans is made a lieutenant-general."

February 25th, at nine in the evening, the steamship Mississippi sailed from Hampton Roads, with General Butler and his staff, and fourteen hundred troops on board. Mrs. Butler, the brave and kind companion of her general in all his campaigns hitherto, was still at his side on the quarter-deck of the Mississippi. Except himself, Major Strong, and Lieutenant Wietzel, no man in the ship,

and no man on the island to which they were bound, knew the object of the expedition. Articles and maps had appeared in the Herald, calculated to lead the enemy to suppose that New Orleans, if attacked at all, would be attacked from above, not from the gulf. The northern public were completely in the dark; no one even guessed New Orleans.

CHAPTER XII.

SHIP ISLAND.

Ship Island,

SHIP ISLAND is a long wave of whitest, finest sand, that glistens in the sun, and drifts before the wind like. New England snow. It is one of four islands that stretch along ten or twelve miles from the gulf coast, forming Mississippi sound. It was to one of these sand islands that the British troops repaired after their failure before New Orleans in 1815, where they lived for several weeks, amusing themselves with fishing and play-acting. seven miles long and three quarters of a mile wide, containing two square miles of land-the best of the four for a rendezvous—is sixty-five miles from New Orleans, ninety-five from the mouths of the Mississippi, fifty from Mobile bay, ten from the nearest point of the state of Mississippi, of which the island is a part. It lies so low among the white, tumbling waves, that, when covered with tents, it looked like a camp floating upon the sea. Land and water are menacingly blended there. Numberless porpoises, attracted by the refuse of the camps, floundered all around the shore, which was lined with a living fringe of sea-gulls, flapping, plunging, diving, and screaming. The waves and the wind seemed to heave and toss the sand as easily as they did the water. In great storms the island changes its form; large portions are severed, others submerged; new bays and inlets appear. On landing, the voyager does not so much feel that he has come on shore as that he has got down over the ship's side to the shifting bottom of the sea,

mighty swell of waters, threatening Terra firma, it is not.

raised for a moment by the again to sink and disappear. It was observed that the first aspect of this island struck death to the hopes of arriving troops. They faintly strove to cheer their spirits with jocular allusions to the garden of Eden and to Coney Island; and one of General Phelps's men, on looking over the ship's side upon the desolate scene of his future home, raised a doleful laugh by exclaiming, in the language of Watts:

"Lord, what a wretched land is this,

Which yields us no supplies!"

Appearances, however, were deceptive. The wretched land was found to yield abundant supplies of commodities and conveniences, most essential to soldiers. At the western end there is a really superior harbor, safe in all winds, admitting the largest vessels. At the eastern extremity groves of pine and stunted oak have succeeded in establishing themselves, and afford plenty of wood. For fresh water, it is only necessary to sink a barrel three feet; it immediately fills with rain water, pure from the natural filter of the sand. Oysters of excellent quality can be had by wading for them; fish abound; and the woods, strange to relate, furnished the means of raccoon-hunting. The climate, too, in the winter months, is more enjoyable than Newport in midsummer, and the bathing not inferior. Nevertheless, it must be owned, that with all these advanta ges, Ship Island was never regarded by the troops with high favor; they never recovered from the first shock of disappointment.

Before the arrival of General Phelps, in December, 1861, the island had been the theater of many events. The breaking out of the rebellion found workmen, in the service of the United States, building a fort for the defense of the harbor. They soon abandoned the place, and the rebels immediately landed, burned the houses, damaged the fort, destroyed the lantern of the light-house, and retired. Then the blockading squadron appeared, captured many prizes, and nearly stopped the coasting trade between Mobile and New Orleans. But the coast being clear for a few days, a rebel force again landed, and proceeded to repair the damage they had done, mounting heavy guns upon the fort, and erecting extensive works, Commodore McKean unable to reach them with the guns of the Massachusetts. In September, alarmed by rumors of a com

ing expedition, the rebels again abandoned the island; but, in so doing, were so much accelerated by the vigilant McKean, that, though they took their guns with them, they left the fort standing, and the commodore captured a vessel laden with timber, hewn and cut for the defensive works. From September to December, Commodore McKean, with a hundred and seventy sailors and marines, under Lieutenant McKean Buchanan, had held the harbor, and labored to remount the fort, and complete the works begun by the enemy; darting out occasionally, and pouncing upon venturesome schooners from Mobile, or blockade-runners from Nassau. Five or six prizes were there when General Phelps hove in sight, and two light-draft steamers among them, invaluable for landing troops.

During the next three months the island presented a busy scene. The huge steamer Constitution landed her little army of troops, sailed, and returned with more; General Phelps and Commodore McKean striving, meanwhile, to complete the defenses, and to prepare in all ways for coming events, whatever those events might be; neither of them knowing the designs of the gov ernment. General Phelps, a strict disciplinarian, assiduously drilled and reviewed the troops. He signalized his brief tenure of command by issuing his well-remembered proclamation, which must be pronounced the most unexpected piece of composition which the war has elicited. A reporter records, that during the last days of the voyage of the Constitution, General Phelps was observed to spend more time than usual in the solitude of his cabin. "He did not come so promptly as the rest of the officers to the table, and when he did appear, seemed more occupied with his own thoughts than with the current of conversation. The cause of this temporary reticence was explained on the day following our arrival at Ship Island. Observing that he was more than usually busy about some interesting matter, your correspondent, in the exercise of that watchfulness which is requisite in the reporter, but, at the same time, with that diffidence not always characteristic of the profession, seized a favorable moment for putting himself en rapport with the commander, and ascertained that he was about to issue a very important paper, defining the animus of the expedition to the people of the country. General Phelps explained that he regarded the occasion as a peculiarly fitting one for setting forth,