being much larger and stronger, and in having accommodations for very large garrisons. They are generally built for the protection of cities, and may have forts outside to guard their own walls. Fortress Monroe, which covers seventy-five acres and mounts more than four hundred large cannons, needs a garrison of three thousand men to fully man it. Its solid granite walls are surrounded by a deep moat filled with water, and the peninsula on which it is built is connected with the mainland only by a narrow isthmus of sand, shown on the right in the picture, and by a bridge, seen on the left, leading to the village of Hampton.

The disunionists would have been very glad to get possession of this strong fortress, but they gave up all hopes of it after

General Butler's arrival. Soon after he had taken possession, some slaves who had escaped from plantations near by came into the Union lines. When their masters came to claim them, they were taken before Butler. The General, finding out that they had been used to build fortifications for the Confederates, declared that they were contraband of war-that is, property liable to be seized as aids in warfare-and ordered them to be set at work throwing up earthworks to guard the approaches to the fortress. After that, all slaves who thus sought the protection of the Union forces were popularly called "contrabands."

EPHRAIM ELMORE ELLSWORTH.

This was the first blow aimed at slavery during the Civil War, for General Butler's act was approved by the Government, and after that runaway slaves were generally treated as contraband of war. It is noteworthy that slavery in the English colonies also began at the place where Fortress Monroe now stands. In 1619 a Dutch ship with the first slaves on board ever brought to Virginia touched at Point Comfort, as it was called by the early colonists,* and sold twenty of them to the Jamestown Colonists.

*They so named it because it was their first landing-place after their long voyage from England. It is still called Old Point Comfort.

[1861.

A DISGUSTED CONTRABAND.

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The runaway negroes who came into General Butler's lines, had got the idea that in escaping from their masters they were going to be free to do as they pleased, and they were much annoyed to find that the Unionists made them work as hard if not harder than they had ever done at home. One of them,

disgusted after a long day's shovelling at the earthworks, exclaimed, "Golly, Massa Butler, dis nigger never had to work so hard before; guess dis chile will secede once moah."

To make his position more secure Butler sent a force to take possession of Newport News,* a point at the mouth of the

* It is thus commonly spelled in the maps, but the point was probably

James River. He had a camp also at the village of Hampton, about three miles from Fortress Monroe. The Confederates occupied the places in front of these positions, and their cavalry used to ride down nearly every night from a place called Little Bethel, about eight miles north of Newport-News, and annoy the Union picket guards. Butler, wishing to stop this, sent up some troops, on the night of June 9-10, under General Pierce, to drive them away. Part of this force, which was largely made up of New York volunteers, marched from Hampton, with orders to go round so as to attack Little Bethel from the rear, and the remainder from Newport-News with orders to attack

in front. By mistake these two parties came near each other just before daybreak, and, taking each other for Confederates, opened fire with both cannon and muskets. The blunder was soon discovered, but not until a number of men had been killed MONROE and many wounded. The Confederates, hearing the firing, left Little Bethel, and fell back to SEWELLS Big Bethel, several miles further north, where lay a larger force protected by earthworks.

General Pierce destroyed the enemy's camp at Little Bethel and advanced to Big Bethel. There he found about 1100 ConNEIGHBORHOOD OF FORTRESS MONROE. federates, under Colonel D. H. Hill, with several guns, protected by a muddy stream in front. An attack was at once made upon them, but, being badly mismanaged, it was repulsed by the enemy. During this action fell Theodore Winthrop, well known as the author of "Cecil Dreeme," "John Brent," and other stories, who was shot by a North Carolina rifleman, while standing on a log and cheering on his men. He went from New York as a private in the ranks of the Seventh Regiment, the story of whose march to Washington he told so named after Captain Newport and Sir William Newce, whose names were jointly given to it, as was often done in naming places in those days.

1861.]

WESTERN VIRGINIA.

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gracefully in the Atlantic Monthly Magazine two months afterward. Not satisfied with his experiences as a soldier during the thirty days' campaigning of the regiment, he accepted the position of military secretary to General Butler, an office which he had held only about a month when he met his sad fate. Another sacrifice to the cause of the Union was Lieutenant John T. Greble, of the Second Artillery, who was killed by a rifle-ball while covering the retreat by firing upon the enemy with a single field-gun. He had just ordered the gun to be taken away when the fatal ball struck him in the forehead, and he fell dead. Lieutenant Greble was the first officer of the regular army who fell in the Civil War. He was a very promising young man, and beloved by all who knew him.

We must now take a look into Western Virginia, where General Lee had sent troops for the purpose principally of overawing the inhabitants and

forcing them to take the side

THEODORE WINTHROP

of secession. But most of the people there were firm Unionists, who had determined not to yield to the Richmond government. In the month of May General George B. McClellan, formerly an officer in the regular army, but then major-general of Ohio volunteers, was made a major-general in the regular army and given. the command of the Department of the Ohio, formed of the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. His Department being separated from West Virginia only by the Ohio River, he was enabled to watch closely the actions of the Confederates there; and thinking that the Unionists ought to receive aid, he sent some of his troops across the river and issued a proclamation (May 26) calling upon all loyal men to take up arms against the disunionists. Many of them had already formed a regiment under command of Colonel B. F. Kelley. The Confederates, who were posted at Grafton, a station on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, fell back to Philippi on the approach of the Union forces. On the morning

of June 2 an advance was made on Philippi, which is about twenty-five miles from Grafton. It was expected that the Confederates would be taken by surprise, but when the troops were approaching the place just before daylight the next morning, they were discovered by a woman, who sent her little boy by a short road over the hills to tell of their coming. When the Unionists came in sight of the camp the Confederates were all astir, and though their camp equipage was captured, the men escaped. A few volleys were exchanged by which several men

GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN.

were killed and wounded on each side. Among the wounded was Colonel Kelley, who was shot through the lungs, but he finally recovered.

The Confederates, determined to hold this mountain region if possible, sent there reinforcements of about six thousand men, under comImand of General Robert S. Garnett, who had been an officer of the regular army. Garnett took up a position at a place called Laurel Hill, a spur of the Alleghany Mountains, which commanded the main road from Wheeling to Staunton, placing a smaller body of men, under Colonel Pegram, at Rich Mountain, about five miles below. McClellan, who had a much superior force, made up his mind to try to capture Garnett's whole army, if possible. With this end in view, he sent General Rosecrans to assail Pegram in the rear, while he attacked in front. Rosecrans marched through thick woods and by mountain paths in a heavy rain, and finally got behind Rich Mountain. The path up the mountain was rugged and difficult, but the Union troops toiled up through briers and laurel-bushes, and over the wet rocks and slippery earth. At last the Confederates spied them, and opened on them with artillery, but their shots did little damage. After a sharp fight Rosecrans won the crest of the hill. During the following night, Pegram, finding McClellan in his front, tried to escape to join Garnett at Laurel Hill, but he was surrounded in the