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CAMPAIGN IN LOWER LOUISIANA.

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THE CAMPAIGN IN LOWER LOUISIANA.

Almost cotemporary with these disastrous events was a remarkable episode of success in the lower country of the Trans-Mississippi, which had, at one time, kindled in the South the hope of the recapture of New Orleans, but finally came to naught on account of insufficient forces.

In the latter part of June, Gen. "Dick" Taylor, who commanded in Lower Louisiana, organized an expedition upon Brashear City and its forts. Col. Majors, who commanded a brigade of cavalry on the Atchafalaya, was ordered to open communication by way of the lakes with Gens. Mouton and Green, who were to co-operate in front of the enemy's position. The junction having been made by Majors, after a successful campaign through the Lafourche country, a combined attack was made on Brashear City on the 22d June, and the forts taken at the point of the bayonet. Eighteen hundred prisoners were captured, nearly five million dollars worth of stores, and a position occupied that was the key to Louisiana and Texas.

It was thought that the capture of Brashear City might force the enemy to raise the siege of Port Hudson, and that Banks would be driven to the choice of abandoning his operations against this place or losing New Orleans. But these expectations failed; the second diversion to relieve Vicksburg and Port Hudson was too late; and Gen. Taylor, learning of the fall of these strongholds and the consequent release of Banks' forces,

« Gen. Holmes is a brave man, and was under the hottest fire. After the centre fort had been captured, and the heavy fire from the gunboat and the two other forts had been opened on it, Gen. Holmes was standing on the parapet, eagerly looking for Fagan, who was his favourite, to plant his colours on the fort he was attacking. While thus standing, Gen. Parsons, who was sheltering himself in the fort, bawled out: "Come down, General! you will be hit. Don't you hear the shot whistling around you?" "I have the advantage of you, Gen. Parsons, I am deaf, and cannot hear them."

"Another incident of the battle should be recorded as a just tribute to the memory of a brave man. At the battle of Prairie-Grove, Lt. Richard Spencer, of the 9th Missouri Infantry, was taken sick, and was unable to engage in the fight. While at Jacksonport en route for Helena, he was again taken sick. At Prairie-Grove his colonel had accused him of cowardice, and said that his sickness was a mere excuse to keep out of the fight. When the command left Jacksonport, the surgeon of the regiment advised Lieut. Spencer to remain in hospital, which he refused to do. On the march, the surgeon noticing that he was quite unwell, repeatedly urged him to ride in an ambulance, which he declined. Once on the march it became necessary to detail an officer to remain in charge of some baggage, and Spencer was detailed for the purpose. He refused to obey the order, and told his col onel that he had been accused of cowardice for not going into the former fight, and that now he was determined to go if he had to drag his body into action; that he had rather die than live under such an imputation. He was finally excused from remaining with the baggage. Scarcely able to walk, he marched to Helena, led his company into the fort, and was shot dead through the head."

was no longer able to hold the Lafourche country, and was compelled to abandon the territory he had won. The last serious effort on the line of the Mississippi was at an end; a great prize had passed in the hands of the enemy beyond redemption; and it was already said, by extravagant newspapers in Washington and New York, that the dawn of a conquered peace was breaking upon the country.

CHAPTER XXIV.

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FAVOURABLE ASPECTS OF CONFEDERATE AFFAIRS AFTER THE BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE.-
ALTERNATIVE OF CAMPAIGNS IN RICHMOND.-VIRGINIA AND TENNESSEE.-WHAT DECIDED
THE CAMPAIGN INTO PENNSYLVANIA.-REORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIR-
GINIA. ITS GRAND PREPARATIONS ON THE PLAINS OF CULPEPPER.-EWELL'S MOVEMENT
UPON WINCHESTER. HIS CAPTURES.-ORDER OF LEE'S MARCH TO THE POTOMAC.-HOOKER
OUT-GENERALLED AND BLINDED.—LEE'S MARCH TO GETTYSBURG, A MASTER-PIECE OF
STRATEGY.-CONDUCT OF HIS TROOPS IN THE ENEMY'S TERRITORY.-GEN. LEE ABSTAINS
66 RETALIATION."-COMMENT OF THE RICHMOND
FROM
66 EXAMINER."-GEN. HOOKER RE-
LIEVED, AND MEADE PUT IN COMMAND OF THE FEDERAL ARMY.-ALARM IN THE NORTH.-
MEADE MARCHES TOWARDS GETTYSBURG.-THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.-A CONFEDERATE
VICTORY THE FIRST DAY.-HOW IT WAS NOT IMPROVED.-A GREAT ERROUR. THE CRITICAL
""
HEIGHTS OF GETTYSBURG TAKEN BY THE ENEMY.-CEMETERY RIDGE.-' ROUND TOP.
THE CONFEDERATE LINE OF BATTLE.-WHY GEN. LEE DETERMINED TO ATTACK.-ACTION
OF THE SECOND DAY.-LONGSTREET'S DESPERATE ENGAGEMENT.-TEMPORARY POSSESSION
OF ROUND TOP."-SUCCESSES ON THE CONFEDERATE LEFT.-ACTION OF THE THIRD DAY.
-AN OMINOUS SILENCE.-SUDDEN AND TERRIBLE CANNONADE.-HEROIC CHARGE OF
PICKETT'S DIVISION.-SUBLIME DEVOTION OF THE VIRGINIANS. THEY TAKE THE KEY OF
THE ENEMY'S POSITION. THE SHOUT OF VICTORY.-PETTIGREW'S SUPPORT FAILS.--THE
DAY LOST.-GEN. LEE RALLYING HIS TROOPS.-HIS SUBSEQUENT RETREAT TO THE POTO-
MAC.-SUCCESS OF THE RETREAT.-HE RETIRES TO THE LINE OF THE RAPIDAN.-GETTYS-
BURG THE CLIMACTERIO OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.-HISTORY OF THE PEACE MIS-
SION OF VICE-PRESIDENT STEPHENS AS CONNECTED THEREWITH.-AN OSTENSIBLE LETTER
OF PRESIDENT DAVIS.-HOW THE MISSION WAS REPULSED.-THE HONOURABLE POSITION
OF THE CONFEDERATE PRESIDENT.

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66

A SINGLE day before the fall of Vicksburg occurred, far away, what may be emphatically entitled the most important battle of the war. It was fought on the soil of Pennsylvania, on whose wheat-fields President Davis had declared, on the floor of the United States Senate in Washington, when war was first threatened, should be carried the contest for the rights of the South.

During the few weeks following the brilliant victory of Chancellorsville, never did affairs look so propitious for the Confederates. The safety of Vicksburg was not then seriously questioned; Bragg confronted Rose

crans with a force strong enough to hold him at bay; and the Confederates had the choice of two campaigns: either to reinforce Bragg from Lee's army, over a distance that might be accomplished in ten days, with two lines of railroad as far as Chattanooga, or to change the defensive attitude in Virginia, and make a second experiment of the invasion of the North. The alternative of these campaigns was suggested in Richmond. The latter was decided upon. It was thought advisable to clear Virginia of the Federal forces, and put the war back upon the frontier; to relieve the Confederate commissariat; to counterbalance the continual retreat of the armies of Tennessee and Mississippi by an advance into Northern territory, offer a counterpoise to the movements of the enemy in the West, and possibly relieve the pressure there on the Confederate armies. These reasons determined an offensive campaign of Lee's army.

Gen. Longstreet was recalled from North Carolina; and the Army of Northern Virginia, preparatory to the campaign, was re-organized, and divided into three equal and distinct corps. To Gen. Longstreet was assigned the command of the first corps, consisting of the divisions of McLaw, Hood, and Pickett; to Gen. Ewell, who had succeeded to the coinmand of Jackson's old corps, were assigned the divisions of Early, Rodes, and Johnson; and to Gen. A. P. Hill was the third corps given, consisting of the divisions of Anderson, Pender, and Heth. Each of these three corps numbered about 25,000 men, making the total strength of the army 75,000, irrespective of the cavalry.

On the plains near Culpepper were the preparations made for the grand campaign. It was the beautiful month of May. All was bustle and activity; the freshness of the air and the glow of expectation animated the busy scene. Trains were hurried up filled with munitions of war; new and splendid batteries of artillery were added to the army; the troops, as far as possible, were newly equipped, and ordnance trains were filled to their utmost capacity. The cavalry, 15,000 strong, were reviewed at Brandy Station; crowds of ladies attended the display; and Gen. Stuart, the gallant commander, whose only weakness was military foppery and an inordinate desire of female admiration, rode along the lines on a horse almost covered with bouquets. Nearly a week was consumed in reviewing cavalry, infantry, and artillery. By the first of June all was in readiness, and the advance was ordered.

Gen. Ewell's corps, in the lead, pushed rapidly forward, and marched across the Blue Ridge Mountains, by way of Front Royal, into the Shenandoah Valley upon Winchester. Here he surprised Gen. Milroy, defeated him; and it was with difficulty that the Federal general, with a few of his officers, escaped through the Confederate lines under cover of the night, and succeeded in crossing the Potomac at Harper's Ferry. Three thousand prisoners, thirty pieces of artillery, over one hundred wagons, and a

GEN. LEE'S MOVEMENT ACROSS THE POTOMAC.

403

great quantity of stores were captured in and near Winchester, and seven hundred men surrendered to Gen. Rodes at Martinsburg. With this auspicious opening of the campaign, Ewell promptly moved up to the Potomac, where he occupied all the fords.

Longstreet's corps had been directed to march on Culpepper, his right flank guarded by detachments of Stuart's cavalry, which watched the fords of the Rappahannock, while A. P. Hill's corps remained near Fredericksburg, to deceive the enemy by an appearance of strength. These movements were not entirely unobserved by Gen. Hooker. He had reason to suppose that some of the Confederate forces had been withdrawn from his front; and accordingly, on the 5th of June, a strong reconnoissance was sent across the river on Lee's right. But the skilful Confederate commander, who was now performing a great master-piece of strategy, succeeded in masking his real strength, and leading Hooker to suppose that his entire army was still in the neighbourhood of Fredericksburg. On the 7th June another reconnoissance was directed, and an expedition of cavalry, which had crossed the Rappahannock at Beverly's and Kelly's Fords, attacked Gen. Stuart at Brandy Station. This force of the enemy was routed by Stuart, and forced to recross the river, after having lost four hundred prisoners and three pieces of artillery. Although this later reconnoissance developed to a certain extent the direction of Gen. Lee's march, Hooker was too dull to comprehend its importance, and, never dreaming of any movement into the Northern territory beyond perhaps a raid for commissary purposes, contented himself with making a disposition of his forces to cover Washington, and taking up a strong position between Manassas and Centreville, so as to interpose his army between the Confederate forces and what he supposed to be the object of their campaign.

Lee marched rapidly forward in pursuance of his plans. He had played with the enemy so as to mislead him entirely. Hooker followed Lee to the passes of the Blue Ridge, but was so uncertain whether he meant to give battle there, or move up the Valley, that time was lost, and instead of bringing the point to an issue at once in Virginia, the Federal commander had to hastily cross the Potomac, and take position in Maryland. Lee crossed the Potomac in the vicinity of Shepherdstown, on the 24th of June. The corps of Ewell had preceded him two days before, and on the 23d had occupied Chambersburg. On the 27th of June the whole of Lee's army was at Chambersburg. An advance on Harrisburg had been contemplated; but the design was abandoned on the 29th, in consequence of the information that the Federal army was moving northwards, and so menacing the communication of the Confederate army with the Potomac. To check the enemy's advance, therefore, Gens. Longstreet, Hill, and Ewell were ordered to proceed to Gettysburg. Thus within twenty days the great Confederate commander had brought his entire army from Fred

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