Gen. Stone having been persuaded that no important force of the Confederates remained along the Upper Potomac, and in obedience to orders from head-quarters, commenced his passage of the river on Sunday, the 20th of October, at Harrison's Island, a point of transit about six miles above Edwards' Ferry, and nearly an equal distance from Leesburg. A force of five companies of Massachusetts troops, commanded by Col. Devins, effected a crossing at the ferry named above, and, a few hours thereafter, Col. Baker, who took command of all the Federal forces on the Virginia side, having been ordered by Stone to push the Confederates from Leesburg and hold the place, crossed the river at Conrad's Ferry, a little south of Harrison's Island.

The brigade of Gen. Evans (one of the heroic and conspicuous actors in the bloody drama of Manassas), which had occupied Leesburg, consisted of four regiments, viz.: the 8th Virginia, the 13th, the 17th, and the 18th Mississippi. Having a position on Goose Creek, they awaited the approach of the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, the force which he had thrown across the river being between seven and eight thousand strong. The enemy had effected a crossing both at Edwards' Ferry, and Ball's Bluff, and preparations were made to meet him in both positions. Lieut.-col. Jenifer, with four of the Mississippi companies, confronted the immediate approach of the enemy in the direction of Leesburg; Col. Hunton, with his regiment, the 8th Virginia, was afterwards ordered to his support, and, about noon, both commands were united, and became hotly engaged with the enemy in their strong position in the woods.

Watching carefully the action, Gen. Evans saw the enemy were constantly being reinforced, and at half-past two o'clock P. M., ordered Col. Burt to march his regiment, the 18th Mississippi, and attack the left flank of the enemy, while Colonels Hunton and Jenifer attacked him in front. On arriving at his position, Col. Burt was received with a tremendous fire from the enemy, concealed in a ravine, and was compelled to divide his regiment to stop the flank movement of the enemy.

At this time, about three o'clock, finding the enemy were in large force, Gen. Evans ordered Col. Featherston, with his regiment, the 17th Mississippi, to repair, at double quick, to the support of Col. Burt, where he arrived in twenty minutes,

and the action became general along the whole line of the Confederates, and was hot and brisk for more than two hours.

The Confederates engaged in the action numbered less than eighteen hundred men; the 13th Mississippi, with six pieces of artillery, being held in reserve. The troops engaged on our side fought with almost savage desperation. The firing was irregular. Our troops gave a yell and volley; then loaded and fired at will for a few minutes; then gave another yell and volley. For two hours, the enemy was steadily driven near the banks of the Potomac. The Federal commander, Col. Baker, had fallen at the head of his column, and his body was with difficulty recovered by his command. As the enemy continued to fall back, Gen. Evans ordered his entire force to charge and drive him into the river.

The rout of the enemy near the bluffs of the river was appalling. The crossing of the river had gone on until seven thousand five hundred men, according to the report of Gen. Stone, were thrown across it. Some of these never saw the field of battle. They had to climb the mud of the bluff, dragging their dismounted arms after them, before they could reach the field, expecting to find there a scene of victory. The difficult ascent led them to a horrible Golgotha. The forces that had been engaged in front were already in retreat; behind them rolled the river, deep and broad, which many of them were never to repass; before them glared the foe.

The spectacle was that of a whole army retreating, tumbling, rolling, leaping down the steep heights-the enemy following them, killing and taking prisoners. Col. Devins, of the 15th Massachusetts regiment, left his command, and swam the river on horseback. The one boat in the channel between the Virginia shore and the island was speedily filled with the fugitives. A thousand men thronged the banks. Muskets, coats, and every thing were thrown aside, and all were desperately trying to escape. Hundreds plunged into the rapid current, and the shrieks of the drowning added to the horror of sounds and sights. The Confederates kept up their fire from the cliff above. All was terror, confusion, and dismay One of the Federal officers, at the head of some companies, charged up the hill. A moment later, and the same officer, perceiving the hopelessness of the situation, waved a white

handkerchief and surrendered the main body of his regiment. Other portions of the column surrendered, but the Confederates kept up their fire upon those who tried to cross, and many, not drowned in the river, were shot in the act of swimming.

The last act of the tragedy was the most sickening and appalling of them all. A flat-boat, on returning to the island, was laden with the mangled, the weary, and the dying. The quick and the dead were huddled together in one struggling, mangled mass, and all went down together in that doleful river, never again to rise.

The Northern newspapers, with characteristic and persistent falsehood, pretended that the Leesburg affair was nothinga mere reconnoissance, in which the Federals accomplished their object-a skirmish, in which they severely punished the "rebels"-an affair of outposts, in which they lost a few men, nothing like so many as the "rebels," &c. But the truth at last came out, stark and horrible. The defeat of Leesburg was named in the Federal Congress as "most humiliating," "a great national calamity," and as another laurel added to the chaplet of the "rebellion."

The Federal soldiers who had suffered most severely in this action were from New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. They had given an exhibition of cowardice, quite equal, in degree at least, to its display at Manassas. There were no instances among them of desperate stubbornness, of calm front, of heroic courage. There was but one tint of glory to gild the bloody picture, and that was in the circumstance of the fall of their gallant commander, Col. Baker, who had been shot several times through the body, and, at last, through the head, in his desperate and conspicuous effort to rally his broken forces.

Col. Baker was United States senator from Oregon. He had served with distinction in the Mexican war; was since a member of Congress from Missouri; emigrated to California. where he long held a leading position at the bar, and, being disappointed in an election to Congress from that State, removed to Oregon, where he was returned United States seator to Washington. In the opening of the war, he raised what was called a "California" regiment, recruited in New York

and New Jersey, and at the last session of the Federal Con. gress had distinguished himself by his extreme views of the subjugation of the South, and its reduction to a "territorial" condition. He was a man of many accomplishments, of more than ordinary gifts of eloquence, and, outside of his political associations, was respected for his bravery, chivalry, and address.

Our loss in the action of Leesburg, out of a force of 1,709 men, was 153 in killed and wounded. The loss of the enemy was 1,300 killed, wounded, and drowned; 710 prisoners captured, among them twenty-two commissioned officers; besides 1,500 stand of arms and three pieces of cannon taken. This brilliant victory was achieved on our side by the musket alone, over an enemy who never ventured to emerge from the cover, or to expose himself to an artillery fire.

The battle of Leesburg was followed by no important consequences on the Potomac. It was a brilliant and dramatic incident; it adorned our arms; and it showed a valor, a demonstration of which, on a grander scale and in larger numbers, might easily have re-enacted on a new field the scenes of Manassas. But, like the Manassas victory, that of Leesburg bore no fruits but those of a confidence on the part of the South, which was pernicious, because it was overweening and inactive, and a contempt for its enemy, which was injurious, in proportion as it exceeded the limits of truth and justice, and reflected the self-conceits of fortune.

CHAPTER VII.

The Position and Policy of Kentucky in the War.-Kentucky Chivalry.--Reminiscences of the "Dark and Bloody Ground."-Protection of the Northwest by Kentucky.-How the Debt of Gratitude has been repaid.-A Glance at the Hartford Convention.-The Gubernatorial Canvass of 1859 in Kentucky.-Division of Parties.Other Causes for the Disloyalty of Kentucky.-The "Pro-Slavery and Union" Resolutions.-The "State Guard."-General Buckner.-The Pretext of "Neutrality," and what it meant.-The Kentucky Refugees.-A Reign of Terror.-Judge Monroe in Nashville.-General Breckinridge.-Occupation of Columbus by General Polk.-The Neutrality of Kentucky first broken by the North.-General Buckner at Bowling Green.-Camp "Dick Robinson."-The "Home Guard."-The Occupation of Columbus by the Confederates explained.—Cumberland Gap.-General Zollicoffer's Proclamation.-The Affair of Barboursville.-"The Wild-Cat Stampede."—The Virginia and Kentucky Border.—The Affair of Piketon.-Suffering of our Troops at Pound Gap.-The "Union Party" in East Tennessee.-Keelan, the Hero of Strawberry Plains.-The Situation on the Waters of the Ohio and Tennessee.--THE Battle of BELMONT.-Weakness of our Forces in Kentucky.-General Albert Sidney Johnston.Inadequacy of his Forces at Bowling Green.-Neglect and Indifference of the Confederate Authorities.-A Crisis imminent.-Admission of Kentucky into the Southern Confederacy.

IF, a few months back, any one had predicted that in an armed contest between the North and the South, the State of Kentucky would be found acting with the former, and abetting and assisting a war upon States united with her by community of institutions, of interests, and of blood, he would, most probably, in any Southern company in which such a speech was adventured, have been hooted at as a fool, or chastised as a slanderer. The name of Kentucky had been synonymous with the highest types of Southern chivalry; her historical record was adorned by the knightly deeds, the hardy adventures, the romantic courage of her sons; and Virginia had seen the State which she had peopled with the flower of her youth grow up, not only to the full measure of filial virtue, but with the ornament, it was thought, of even a prouder and bolder spirit than flowed in the blood of the Old Dominion.

War discovers truths in the condition of society which would never otherwise have been known. It often shows a spirit of devotion where it has been least expected; it decides the claims