1862] The Trent Affair 529 cerning the rights of neutrals." Ever since the beginning of its existence, the American government had protested against the exercise of the "right of search" (pp. 346, 440), and had manfully insisted on the freedom of neutral commerce. The British government, without waiting to seek explanations from the United States, ordered soldiers to Canada and took measures to strengthen the British fleet in American waters. Fortunately, Captain Wilkes of the San Jacinto had not complied with the formalities required by the rules of international law: he had not brought the Trent into port for adjudication as carrying contraband of war. The United States was therefore able to give up the commissioners without loss of honor. The eagerness with which Great Britain seized the first opportunity to embarrass the United States in a time of great difficulty created a bitterness of feeling in America, which was not lessened by the laxity shown by the British government in enforcing international obligations in the case of the Alabama and other vessels, which will be described later (p. 553). Nevertheless, the commissioners, when liberated, accomplished little or nothing in Europe. sippi. 351. Capture of New Orleans, 1862. One of the most Blockade of difficult problems from the blockader's point of view was the the Missisclosing of the mouth of the Mississippi. As a matter of fact, in place of one mouth there were several mouths. It was practically impossible to enforce the blockade at this point. The possession of the lower Mississippi also greatly favored the Confederates by facilitating the transportation of troops and supplies from Texas; and there was a large contraband commerce across the Mexican border, and thence through Texas, which could not be stopped so long as the Confederates controlled the lower Mississippi. For all these reasons, as well as for others which are more obvious, the capture of New Orleans was extremely desirable. New Orleans stands almost on a level with the Mississippi. Topography of country It was entirely unprotected on the river side, but the aparound New proach to it was guarded by two forts, situated some dis- Orleans. Admiral tance below the city. The country around New Orleans was impracticable for military operations, owing to its swampy character, and the mouths of the great river were all unsuitable as anchorages for seagoing vessels. The capture of this formidable position was intrusted to David G. Farragut, a naval officer who had passed his boyhood in Louisiana. He had a large naval force at his disposal, wooden seagoing vessels, and soldiers were at hand to co-operate with him. Farragut lightened his vessels by the removal of guns and heavy stores and entered the river with all save his larg Capture of New Orleans, Admiral Farragut obstructed by chains and spars. While awaiting a favorable opportunity to pass these obstruc tions, a sustained bombardment of the forts was kept up by mortar vessels moored out of sight of the Confederates. Before long, the obstructions were safely passed at night, and the Union fleet engaged the forts and a Confederate flotilla. Then, steaming onwards, it anchored off New Orleans. The city was at Farragut's mercy. It surrendered, and soon afterwards the forts were abandoned to the Northern soldiers (April, 1862). This great victory gave the control of the lower Mississippi to the Union government. 531 Battles and View, ch. x. 352. Shiloh, April, 1862. The victories of Thomas and Shiloh, April, Grant in January and February, 1862, compelled the South- 1862. erners to abandon the greater part of the state of Tennessee Leaders, and to rally to the defense of the Memphis and Charleston 1, 465; Railroad. The possession of this road was of the greatest Dodge's importance to the Confederates, because it connected Memphis on the Mississippi with Chattanooga on the upper Tennessee, and was the only direct line connecting the Mississippi valley above Vicksburg with the Southern Atlantic states. Its loss would be a severe blow to the Southerners and would make easier the task of starving them into submission. From Memphis, the Memphis and Charleston Railroad passes to Corinth; there it crosses the only north and south line then built in that part of the country. Soon after leaving Corinth, the railroad reaches the Tennessee River, not far from the little town of Florence, and just to the south of Shiloh church and Pittsburg Landing. Eastward from Florence, the line follows the valley of the Tennessee, first on one side, then on the other, until it reaches Chattanooga. The important points in this railroad line were Chattanooga, where it connects with the seaboard lines; Pittsburg Landing, where soldiers and supplies could conveniently be transferred from the river steamers to the railroad; Corinth, the junction with the line running parallel to the Mississippi; and Memphis, one of the important shipping ports on the great river. General Halleck, who now commanded the Union armies in the West, ordered Grant to ascend the Tennessee to Pittsburg Landing, and there await the coming of Buell with a strong force from Nashville. Suddenly the Confederates, under Albert Sidney Johnston, attacked Grant's force and drove it back towards Pittsburg Landing. A commander of less stubborn obstinacy would have retreated; but Grant, with his indomitable courage, held on until distant detachments of his own army could march to the scene of conflict, and Buell's soldiers, who reached the Tennessee in the afternoon of the first day of battle, could be ferried across the river. Ironclads. Then Grant attacked in his turn and drove the Confederates back (April, 1862). This battle was one of the most hotly contested during the war, and cost the opposing armies twenty-four thousand men, killed, wounded, and missing; among the killed was Albert Sidney Johnston, the Confederate commander. Halleck now assumed direct command of the Northern forces, united Grant's, Buell's, and Pope's armies into one formidable body, and captured Corinth (May, 1862) and Memphis (June, 1862). The Mississippi was now open to Union vessels, except between Memphis and Baton Rouge. The Confederates were severely crippled by the loss of men and territory, and especially by the destruction of one end of their principal defensive line west of the Alleghanies. Unless they could regain control of Corinth and Memphis, they were likely to lose the states of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. 353. The Monitor and the Merrimac, March, 1862. Vessels cased wholly or partly in iron had been in use on the Western rivers since the autumn of 1860, and had played an important part in Grant's campaign on the Cumberland and Tennessee. The first armored vessel to appear in Eastern waters was the Virginia. Among the graceful frigates of the pre-war period was the Merrimac. She was at Norfolk at the outbreak of the contest, and was only partially destroyed by the Union forces when they abandoned the navy yard at that place. The Confederates built upon her hull a house of iron with the eaves under water, armed the bow with a formidable iron beak, and named her Virginia. This extraordinary vessel appeared in Hampton Roads on March 8, 1862, destroyed two wooden frigates, the Cumberland and the Congress, — and began the destruction of a third, the Minnesota. She then retired to Norfolk, intending to continue her destructive work on the morrow. On the night following this disastrous day, an even stranger vessel anchored in Hampton Roads. This was the Union armored ship, the Monitor, designed by John Ericsson, an immigrant from 1862] The Peninsular Campaign 533 Merrimac, Sweden, and built in one hundred days. She was constructed entirely of iron, and carried two large guns mounted in a revolving iron turret. Her sides rose hardly two feet above the water, and the armor, extending far beyond her hull, effectually protected it from the danger of ramming as well as from shot and shell. The next morning the Virginia Monitor and reappeared, and after a four hours' fight retired to Norfolk and did not afterwards renew the combat. tween the Virginia and the wooden vessels of the old type, and with the turret ship of the new type, worked a revolution' in naval architecture; but the danger threatened by the Virginia was probably much exaggerated, as she could not have ventured into the open sea. The fear she inspired, The battles be however, operated powerfully to keep the naval authorities from exposing their unarmored vessels in the James and the York rivers, and thus produced some effect on McClellan's campaign. March, 1862. No. 3: Leaders, 1, Navy, II, 282-324. 1862. Battles and Leaders, II, 189, 319; Dodge's View, chs. xi-xiii. 354. The Peninsular Campaign, March to August, 1862. Peninsular Throughout the winter of 1861-62, McClellan had under his campaign, immediate command double the force of the Confederate general, Joseph E. Johnston, but he could not be induced to take the field. In March, 1862, he at last assumed the offensive. Instead of maneuvering Johnston out of his fortified position, and attacking him on the first opportunity, McClellan decided to transport his army to the peninsula formed by the York and the James rivers, and advance upon Richmond from the east instead of from the north. By pursuing this route, he would avoid crossing the Rappahannock, Rapidan, Pamunkey, and Mattapony rivers, and would compel Johnston to abandon his camps near Bull Run and march southward to the defense of the Confederate capital. McClellan, however, encountered several checks at the outset the civil authorities, anxious for the safety of Washington, retained about seventy-five thousand men there and in the Shenandoah valley. McClellan's plans became known to Johnston almost as soon as formed. The result of this and of McClellan's slowness was that when the Union sol |