Tennessee River and bombard Fort Henry. This the fleet promptly did, forcing the fort's surrender within two hours. Commodore Foote was directed to return to the Ohio River, make for Fort Donelson at once, and prepare for a combined attack. On the 12th of February, Grant's forces completely surrounded Donelson, which was held by

20,000 men under command of Generals

Gideon J. Pillow, John B. Floyd, and Simon B. Buckner. The confederate generals, in a council of war, decided to cut their way through Grant's lines. Just before dawn on the morning of the 15th, 10,000 of the besieged force came pouring through the woods and fell upon the union right, but they met a severe repulse. Hereupon General Buckner, at daybreak of the 16th, sent to Grant asking terms of capitulation.

Grant's reply, "No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.-I propose to move immediately upon your works," was cheered to the echo in the north, and "Unconditional Surrender" Grant became the hero of the western army. Fort Donelson surrendered, and General Buckner and 15,000 troops became prisoners of

war.

512. Effect of These Victories.-The capture of Forts Henry and Donelson had broken the confederate line of defences, and they were compelled to fall back from Columbus on the Mississippi, and Bowling Green in central Kentucky. Thus the state of Kentucky was freed from confederate forces, and the Mississippi was open as far south as Island Number Ten. General Buell now hastened, with a union force, to occupy Nashville, Tennessee, which was abandoned by General Albert Sidney Johnston without even an attempt to hold it. The confederates then fell back and concentrated their forces at Corinth in the northeast corner of Mississippi.

513. Battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing-April 6-7.— Corinth was situated at the crossing of two very important southern railroads,-one connecting Memphis with the east, the other leading south to the cotton states. After the capture of Fort Donelson, General Henry W. Halleck, at the head of the army of the west, ordered the army of the Tennessee, to ascend the Tennessee River, to encamp at Pittsburg Landing, about twenty miles north of Corinth, and to prepare for an attack upon that strategic point. General Grant assumed command of these forces, and awaited the arrival of General Buell with the army of the Ohio, before attacking the confederate intrenchments. General Johnston decided to attack the federal forces before Buell's reinforcements could arrive. Early on the morning of April 6, the confederates rushed through the woods and drove the union pickets within the lines. An old log meeting-house called Shiloh, some two or three miles from Pittsburg Landing, was the key to the union position. General William T. Sherman commanded here, and so inspired confidence in his raw recruits that they rendered services worthy of veterans. But the union army fell steadily back before the dash and the impetuous charge of the southern troops, who by noon were in possession of the union camps. The loss of General Johnston, who had fallen on the field of battle early in the afternoon, somewhat checked the confederate advance, and

before the day closed the attack had spent its force. Night came, and with it Buell's reinforcements.

On the 7th, Grant's forces became the attacking party, and all day long the confederates were driven steadily from the field, until they beat a hasty retreat,-falling back unpursued to their former position at Corinth.

514. Capture of New Madrid-March 14, and Island Number Ten-April 8: Opening of the Upper Mississippi.-In the meantime, General John Pope had attacked New Madrid on the Mississippi River. The confederate gunboats were soon disabled, and the garrison fled to Island Number Ten, a few miles south, leaving ammunition, guns, and tents behind. Island Number Ten was forced to surrender on April 8. The Mississippi was thus opened as far south as Fort Pillow, near Memphis.

515. Capture of Corinth-May 30.-After the battle at Pittsburg Landing, General Henry W. Halleck, arrived from St. Louis and took command in the field. Grant advised an immediate attack upon Corinth before the shattered southern forces would have time to recover, but it was the 30th of April before General Halleck commenced his slow advance. On the 30th of May he entered the besieged cityBeauregard having evacuated on the night of May 29.

General Halleck was soon called to Washington to assume the duties of general-in-chief of all the armies of the republic, and Grant became department commander, with headquarters at Corinth.

516. Effects of Shiloh and Island Number Ten.-After the capture of Corinth, Fort Pillow, on the Mississippi, was abandoned by the confederates, and the union gunboats proceeded to Memphis. After a fierce contest, the national forces took possession of that city (June 6), thus opening the Mississippi as far south as this point and gaining control of the railroad connecting Memphis with Charleston, South Carolina. The only railroad connection which the confederate states at the west now had with Rich

mond was by the single line of railroad running east from Vicksburg.

Thus by the middle of the year 1862 the state of Kentucky and all of western Tennessee had been practically cleared of the confederate army.

AT THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER WITH FARRAGUT

517. The Opening of the Lower Mississippi: Capture of New Orleans-April 18 to May 1.-On the west bank of the Mississippi River, comparatively free from attacks by the federal forces, were three great states,-Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, with their important tributaries to the Mississippi. These states could not only give their quota of soldiers to the confederacy, but could furnish provisions of all kinds, and an abundance of cotton sufficient to meet the entire war expenses of the south. New Orleans, the largest southern city, had important workshops and facilities for manufacturing weapons of war and for building ironclad ships. Realizing the importance of securing New Orleans, the national government, early in 1862, commissioned Commodore David G. Farragut to reduce the forts at the mouth of the Mississippi and take New Orleans. For five days and nights an unremitting fire was kept up, which inflicted great damage. This method of war, however, was too slow for Farragut, who now decided to run the batteries, and before dawn on the morning of the 24th accomplished such a brilliant feat in naval warfare as to rank him among the great leaders of the civil war, and give him his "passport to fame immortal." The forts were soon silenced, and the entire confederate fleet of fifteen vessels, two of them ironclad, one the iron ram Manassas,-was either captured or destroyed, with the loss of but one ship from Farragut's squadron of wooden vessels. Farragut arrived before New Orleans on the 25th of April and demanded the surrender of the city. On the 29th of April, the flag of the union was raised above the city hall, and on May 1 General Butler,

who had accompanied Farragut with a military force, took formal possession of the city.

This capture of New Orleans was a severe blow to the south. It checked the rebellion in Louisiana, separated Texas and Arkansas from the confederacy, took from it one of the greatest grain and cattle countries within its limits, and gave to the union government the lower Mississippi River as a base of operations.

IN THE CENTER

IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE WITH BUELL AND ROSECRANS

518. Bragg Invades Kentucky. Beauregard having resigned on account of ill-health, General Braxton Bragg succeeded to his command, and at once planned an invasion of Kentucky. General Buell at the time was advancing in the direction of Chattanooga, but marched so slowly that Bragg reached there first and hastened northward into Tennessee. Now began the race for Louisville,-Buell entering just a few days in advance of Bragg. The union commander soon turned south, and the hostile armies met at Perryville (October 8). After a stubborn conflict, Bragg retired under cover of the night and retreated from Kentucky.

519. Battle of Murfreesboro-Dec. 31 to Jan. 2.-General Bragg, after his retreat from Perryville, again moved northward and concentrated his forces at Murfreesboro. General William S. Rosecrans, who had succeeded Buell in command of the union forces, advanced to attack Bragg. In the early dawn of December 31, the armies met. The confederates, at first successful, were held in check by Sheridan's division until Rosecrans re-formed his lines on a favorable rise of ground and stationed his artillery. On January 2, Bragg renewed the attack, but Rosecrans had been given time to make his position impregnable. Despairing of victory, Bragg retreated, leaving middle Tennessee free from confederate forces.