PRICE CHASED OUT OF MISSOURI. 561 gave the order solicited; which | ing 8 guns in their line of battle. reached Smith that night at Chapel Pleasanton at once ordered a charge Hill, just as he was putting his col- by Benteen's and Phillips's brigades, umn in motion southward, and sent which was superbly made, and reit westward instead. sulted in the capture of their 8 guns. and 1,000 prisoners, including Maj.Gen. Marmaduke, Brig.-Gen. Cabell, and five Colonels, beside small arms, wagons, colors, &c. Next morning, Pleasanton pressed on to the crossing of the Big Blue; where he found the enemy's main body—which, the day before, had fought Curtis, but had not moved him-prepared for resistance. The fight opened at 7 A. M., and was maintained with spirit on both sides till 1 P. M., when the Rebels decamped - were "routed and fled southward," says Rosecrans; though they would of course use different terms in describing the matter. They went, however, beyond doubt; eagerly pursued by Pleasanton and Curtis beyond Little Santa Fé. Smith, with 9,000 infantry and five batteries, reached Independence at 5 P. M.; when his weary men were forthwith put in motion for Hickman's mills, where it was hoped he would strike the flank of the flying foe. But it was too late. His false moves (through no fault of his own) to Lexington and to Independence, had opened a door of escape to Price, which he was too good a general not to profit by; and he was too fleet and too far ahead to be hence forth overtaken by infantry. Curtis, with his Kansas men, took" the lead in the pursuit; but soon gave place to Pleasanton's horsemen; who, after a march of 60 miles, struck them about midnight at the Maraisdes-Cygnes, opening upon their bivouac at 4 A. M.," with artillery; setting them at once in motion, and chasing them to the Little Osage, fight, display where they turned to Sanborn's brigade--which was considerably behind-now came up and took the lead; and, when the enemy again made a stand, a few miles farther south, routed them, and drove them till night stopped the pursuit. The burning wrecks of wagons and other materiel marked their course for miles farther; but most of our nearly broken-down cavalry, with all our infantry, was here judiciously halted: Pleasanton turning to Fort Scott for needful food and rest; and Smith moving to Harrisonville with the same purpose. Blunt, with his Kansas men and Benteen's brigade, followed by Sanborn, kept the trail of the flying foe; striking" them at Newtonia, near the south-west corner of the State, and, being outnumbered, was evidently getting worsted, when Sanborn-who had marched 102 miles in 36 hours— came up, and changed the fortunes of the day. The Rebels resumed their flight having little left to lose but their bodies and their worn-out horses-and escaped into western Arkansas. Gen. Curtis followed, but did not again overtake them till he reached. Fayetteville, Ark., where Col. Larue Harrison, 1st Arkansas cavalry, had been invested" by Col. Brooks, with some 2,000 Rebels; who was held at bay until Fagan's division of Price's army appeared" and united in the | 15,000 to 25,000 men-that he ob siege; but Curtis came up next day, and drove off the crowd, with heavy loss to them and none at all to our side. So ended the last Rebel invasion of Missouri. Gen. Smith's command had, ere this, taken boats to report to Gen. Thomas at Nashville. Rosecrans says Price's force in this campaign was variously estimated at tained 6,000 recruits in Missourithat he lost 10 guns (nearly all he had) and 1,958 prisoners, with most of his wagons, and large numbers of horses, small arms, &c. It is not probable that the force he took out of Missouri, with its armament, was half so effective as that he brought into it." XXV. GEN. GRANT'S ADVANCE ON RICHMOND. 2 HON. E. B. WASHBURNE, of Illinois | it as limited the existence of this -the townsman and zealous friend office to the duration of the War of Gen. Grant-having proposed the revival of the grade of Lieutenant-General of our armies, hitherto accorded to George Washington alone (Gen. Scott being such only by brevet), the House, not without considerable hesitation, assented; after negativing, by the emphatic vote of 117 to 19, a motion, by Gen. Garfield, to lay the proposition on the table, and adopting, by 111 to 41, an amendment moved by Mr. Ross, of Ill., respectfully recommending Ulysses S. Grant for the post. The Senate concurred: Yeas 31; Nays 6: having first amended the joint resolve so as to strike out so much of 78 Nov. 14. 79 Gen. Grant, in his all-embracing report, says: "The impunity with which Price was enabled to roam over the State of Missouri for a long time, and the incalculable mischief done by him, shows to how little purpose a superior force may be used. There is no reason why Gen. Rosecrans should not have concentrated his forces and beaten and driven Price before the latter reached Pilot Knob." As the concentration here suggested, in the and prescribed that the LieutenantGeneral should, under the President, be commander of the armies of the United States. The House having rejected these amendments, the difference was settled by a Conference Committee, in substantial accord with the Senate's views; the House agreeing to the report: Yeas 77; Nays 43. The President promptly approved the measure, and nominated* Gen. Grant for the place; and he was next day confirmed by the Senate. In this action, Congress expressed, and the President promptly conformed to, the popular judgment, that the efficiency of our various and complicated Miliface of a formidable army of veterans, mainly mounted, and moving with great celerity, would, if practicable, have enabled the Missouri Rebels to call out the oath-bound members of their lodges and therewith take possession of a large portion of the State, the justice of this criticism is not incontestable. A like judgment was passed on Fremont in 1861; though not by so high a military authority. 1 Dec. 14, 1863. 3 Feb. 21. " Feb. 1, 1864. 4 March 1. GEN. GRANT'S QUALIFICATIONS AND IDEAS. 563 tary operations would be greatly pro- | cal strength, were far inferior to ours: but, moted by placing them under the direction of a single mind, which should not be that of Henry Wager Halleck. Gen. Grant's qualifications for this most momentous trust were not universally conceded. Though over 40 years of age, he had been a quiet civilian most of his adult life. There were many military men who esteemed Gen. Meade, Gen. Buell, Gen. McClellan, or some other of our commanders, his superior as a strategist; and several of his battles-especially those of Belmont and Shiloh -had not escaped the unfavorable judgment of military critics. There was one point, however, wherein his fitness for chief command was decided if not preeminent: and that was an utter disbelief in the efficacy of any rosewater treatment of the Rebellion. He regarded the South as practically bound and helpless in the hands of a haughty, strong-willed oligarchy, who had not spent thirty years in ration for this supreme effort in order to be bribed, or beguiled, or palavered, or bullied, into its abandonment after the gage had been thrown down and accepted. No love-taps, in his view, would ever persuade the Rebel chiefs to return to loyalty, so long as their military power should remain essentially unbroken; and he had no conception of any mode of breaking that power save by strong armies in bloody battles. His comprehensive, final report tersely says: "From an early period in the Rebellion, I had been impressed with the idea that active and continuous operations of all the troops that could be brought into the field, regardless of season and weather, were ne prepa cessary to a speedy termination of the War. The resources of the enemy, and his numeriBorn April 27, 1822. as an offset to this, we had a vast territory, with a population hostile to the Government, to garrison, and long lines of river and railroad communications to protect, to enable us to supply the operating armies. "The armies in the East and West acted independently and without concert, like a balky team: no two ever pulling together: enabling the enemy to use to great advantage his interior lines of communication for transporting troops from east to west, rëenand to furlough large numbers, during seaforcing the army most vigorously pressed, sons of inactivity on our part, to go to their homes and do the work of producing, for the support of their armies. It was a question whether our numerical strength and resources were not more than balanced by these disadvantages and the enemy's superior position. "From the first, I was firm in the conviction that no peace could be had that would be stable and conducive to the happiness of the people, both North and South, until the military power of the Rebellion was entirely broken. “I, therefore, determined, first, to use the greatest number of troops practicable against the armed force of the enemy; preventing ent seasons against first one and then anhim from using the same force at differother of our armies, and the possibility of repose for refitting and producing necessary supplies for carrying on resistance. Second, to hammer continuously against the armed force of the enemy and his resources, there should be nothing left to him but an until, by mere attrition, if in no other way, equal submission with the loyal section of our common country to the Constitution and laws of the land. troduced, next day, to the President | vision of the Mississippi, comprising and Cabinet; when he was addressed the Departments of the Ohio, the by the former as follows: "GENERAL GRANT: The Nation's appreciation of what you have already done, and its reliance upon you for what still remains to be done in the existing great struggle, are now presented with this commission, constituting you Lieutenant-General of the armies of the United States. With this high honor, devolves upon you, also, a corresponding responsibility. "As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely need to add, that, with what I here speak for the Nation, goes my own hearty personal concurrence." Gen. Grant replied, in perhaps the longest speech he ever made, as fol lows: "MR. PRESIDENT: I accept the commission with gratitude for the high honor con Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the 66 The residue of March and nearly ferred. With the aid of the noble armies be due to those armies; and, above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men." 8 The President's order, investing him with the chief command of all the armies of the United States, appeared the day following; on which day, he paid a flying visit to the Army of the Potomac, and started next morning on his return to arrange matters in Earlier in the Spring, Gen. Custer, the West, preparatory to movements with 1,500 cavalry, had crossed the inaugurating the general campaign. Rapidan, flanking the Rebel Army Gen. Halleck was announced as re- on the west, and moved from Cullieved from command at his own pepper C. H. by Madison C. H. to request, and assigned to duty in within four miles of Charlottesville, Washington as Chief of Staff to the where he found his road blocked by Army.' Gen. Grant, in a brief and a far superior Rebel force, and was modest order, assumed command, an- turned back; being again waylaid nouncing that his headquarters would near Stannardsville by a force of be in the field, and, until further or- cavalry only, which he pushed aside ders, with the Army of the Potomac. with little loss, and returned' to his Gen. W. T. Sherman was assigned old camp, followed by some hundreds to the command of the military di- of refugees from slavery to Rebels, but . 1 1 "April 23. 8 Feb. 27. ' March 2. having otherwise inflicted little loss an end. Kilpatrick had lost 150 men and incurred still less. on this raid, had taken 500 prisoners, a good many horses, and inflicted on the Rebels serious losses in burned bridges, stations, and stores. But Col. Ulric Dahlgren, who led a subordinate command of about 400 cavalry, had been far less fortunate. Crossing also at Ely's ferry, Dahlgren, after leaving Spottsylvania C. H., had gone farther to the right, through Louisa and Goochland counties, intending to cross the James and enter Richmond from the south when Kilpatrick assailed it from the north; but he found the river (at Dover mills) far too deep to be forded, and hanged his negro guide in the belief that he had purposely misled him away from Richmond rather than toward that city. Dahlgren now pushed down the north bank of the James to the fortifications of Richmond, which he charged at dark," passing the outer works; but was repulsed with loss This raid, though directed against the enemy's dépôts, railroads, &c., was designed to distract attention from another, far more formidable, led by Gen. Kilpatrick; who, starting 10 from Stevensburg, crossed the Rapidan at Ely's ford, and moved rapidly down the opposite flank of Lee's army, by Spottsylvania C. H., to the Virginia Central Railroad at Beaverdam station, where he had his first collision and drove the enemy; thence across the South Anna to Kilby Station, on the Fredericksburg road; cutting both roads as he passed, and pushing on to within 3 miles of Richmond;" passing its first and second lines of defenses, and fighting several hours before the third, which he was of course unable to carry, and compelled to fall back, Kilpatrick camped for the night six miles from Richmond and two from the Chickahominy; where a two--of course, by far superior numbersgun battery opened upon him, at 10 P. M., just as his weary men were dropping asleep. The charge which quickly followed was as quickly repulsed; but it was so manifest that the position was not adapted to quiet slumbers, that Kilpatrick moved on forthwith to the Pamunkey, which he could not find boats to pass; so he was obliged to move across the White House railroad and thence down the Peninsula; soon striking the track of a cavalry force sent up to his aid from Fortress Monroe by Gen. Butler, and encountering, when near New Kent C. H., a brigade of Black infantry, which had been likewise sent by Butler on the same errand. Pursuit by the enemy was of course at 10 Feb. 28. at the inner lines. He then, with the remnant of his forces, made a circuit around the city by Hungary to Hanovertown ferry; and, finding that Kilpatrick had been driven off eastward, struck thence for King and Queen C. H.; but was stopped, just after crossing the Mattapony at Dabney's ferry, by a body of local militia, at whose first fire he fell dead, pierced by five balls. His command was here scattered, each seeking to reach our lines as he best might; and some of them made their way to Kilpatrick; but at least 100 of them were picked" up as prisoners. Col. Dahlgren's body was treated with ignominy; it being asserted that papers were found on it evidencing |