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[1861.

BATTLE OF BELMONT.

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the Union gunboats. On the opposite bank of the Mississippi, in Missouri, on ground so low that it was commanded by the guns of Columbus, was Belmont, where the Confederates had a fortified camp.

Grant, who had command of all the places guarding the rivers around Cairo, sent General Charles F. Smith with some troops from Paducah to threaten Columbus in the rear, while he himself went with nearly three thousand men from Cairo down the river on five steamboats to make an attack on Belmont. On the morning of November 7 Grant landed about three miles above Belmont, just out of reach of the guns of Columbus, and, some of the men being left to guard the boats, marched to the rear of Belmont, where the Confederates were found strongly posted in the woods. Meanwhile two gunboats moved down the river and opened a fire on some Confederate batteries just above Columbus. General McClernand, who had command of the attacking force under Grant, soon drove the enemy out of the woods and into their camp, which was surrounded by an abattis, a French word for a kind of breastwork made of felled trees with the branches sharpened and left sticking outward so as to make it more difficult for an enemy to get over it. But Grant's men soon broke over the abattis and pursued the Confederates out of their camp into the woods around. The Unionists, thinking the victory won, began to pillage the camp and soon became thoroughly disbanded. Grant tried to restore order and to get them back into their ranks, and to force them out ordered the camp to be fired. The batteries across the river in Columbus, which had kept quiet while the struggle was going on, for fear of hurting the Confederate soldiers, now opened a heavy fire on the camp, and Grant, seeing that he could not hold the place, began to fall back toward his boats, taking six captured guns.

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BENJAMIN F. CHEATHAM.

General Polk, meanwhile, had landed several regiments

above Belmont, under General Cheatham, to cut Grant off. A desperate fight ensued, and though the Union troops finally pushed their way to their boats, it was with the loss of many of their best men, four of the pieces of cannon which they had taken, most of the things brought from the camp at Belmont, and many of their knapsacks, canteens, and other goods. The men rushed on board of the boats in the greatest confusion, and the steamers put off in such haste that Grant himself was nearly left behind. He rode his horse on to the last boat over a single plank which was thrown out to him, and the boats steamed up the river riddled by showers of balls. The gunboats now came to the rescue, and firing grape into the Confederates forced them to take shelter in the woods, and the steamers got safe to Cairo that night.

This was one of the hardest-fought battles of the war. General McClernand had three horses killed. under him, but escaped unhurt. General Grant also had one horse shot under him. The Union loss in killed, wounded, and missing was four hundred and eighty-five men; that of the Confederates six hundred and thirty-two. Among the Confederate slain was Colonel John V. Wright, of the Thirteenth Tennessee regiment. He was one of the Tennessee members of Congress who resigned on the secession of his State. When he left Washington he said to Philip B. Fouke, of Illinois, who was his intimate friend, "Phil, I expect the next time we meet it will be on the battle-field.” The next meeting was at Belmont, where Fouke commanded the Thirtieth Tilinois and Wright fell.

The Confederate General Cheatham had a narrow escape from capture during the battle. Riding along the road accompanied only by an orderly, he saw a squadron of cavalry coming toward him. He rode up to within a few yards of them, and asked:

"What cavalry is that ?"

"Illinois cavalry, sir," was the reply.

"Oh! Illinois cavalry. All right; just stand where you are!" The cavalry obeyed the order, supposing him to be one of the Union generals, and General Cheatham, turning, rode back safely directly under the guns of an infantry regiment just come up, the men of which, seeing him coming from the cavalry, also supposed him to be a Union officer,

1861.]

GENERAL HALLECK.

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While these things were going on General Halleck was employed in reorganizing his army and getting it ready for another campaign against Price. Several of Price's supply-trains and two or three detachments of recruits were captured in December, but winter soon set in and put an end to all large movements for the year.

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CHAPTER X.

WESTERN VIRGINIA.

GENERAL ROSECRANS IN WEST VIRGINIA.-ROBERT E. LEE.-BATTLE OF CARNIFEX FERRY.— ESCAPE OF FLOYD.-REYNOLDS AND LEE.-DEATH OF COLONEL WASHINGTON.-TRAVELLERS' REPOSE.-MILROY AND JOHNSTON.-MUNSON'S HILL, VIRGINIA.-THE POTOMAC CLOSED BY CONFEDERATE BATTERIES.-ACQUIA CREEK.-TORPEDOES.-ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.— QUAKER GUNS.-LEWINSVILLE AND DARNESTOWN.-DISASTER at BALL'S BLUFF.-DEATH OF COLONEL BAKER.-FALSE REPORTS OF BATTLES.-GENERAL STONE IN FORT LAFAYETTE.— FAULT-FINDING.-SOLDIERS' JOKES.-HARD-TACK. FORAGING.-DRAWING POTATOES.

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SOLDIERS' SLANG.-GENERAL SCOTT RESIGNS.-MCCLELLAN GENERAL-IN-CHIEF.-DRANESVILLE.-WINTER QUARTERS.

WH

HEN General McClellan was called to take General McDowell's place at the head of the Army of the Potomac, Brigadier-General William S. Rosecrans was left in command of the troops in West Virginia. General Robert E. Lee, the Confederate commander, who had gathered together the forces which had been defeated under Garnett and Pegram, and some others, found himself in August at the head of about sixteen thousand men. Lee made his headquarters at Huntersville, while General John B. Floyd, the former Secretary of War at Washington, took up a position on the Gauley River for the purpose of cutting off General Cox of Ohio, who with a brigade of Rosecrans's army had just driven a Confederate force under ex-Governor Henry A. Wise of Virginia out of the Kanawha Valley. Floyd surprised and routed the Seventh Ohio under Colonel Tyler, and then moved to a place on the Gauley River called Carnifex Ferry, hoping to cut off Cox from Rosecrans. But early in September Rosecrans, leaving part of his army under General Joseph J. Reynolds to watch Lee, marched southward with about ten thousand men and attacked Floyd, who had strongly fortified himself with about two thousand men on the banks of the river. After a severe fight of three or four hours, in which the Union troops lost heavily, Rosecrans, finding the position much stronger than he expected, gave orders at twilight to stop the assault until morning; but when morning came no enemy was to be seen; Floyd, finding his enemy much superior in numbers, had crossed the river in the night over a bridge hastily built of logs, and retreated to the

1861.]

WEST VIRGINIA.

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mountains thirty miles away. Rosecrans followed, but finally fell back again to the Gauley.

When Rosecrans marched against Floyd, Reynolds took up a strong position on Cheat Mountain. This part of West Virginia, as can be seen by the map, is very mountainous. On the east the Alleghany Mountains separate West Virginia from Virginia, while west of and parallel with them is another range called in one part the Greenbrier Mountain and in another Cheat Mountain. The country is very beautiful and picturesque, but rugged and difficult to travel in, the spurs of the

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mountains being often cut by deep and gloomy ravines. mountains and hills, too, are densely wooded in many places. The scouts of Reynolds and of Lee watched each other for weeks in this wild region, often meeting and firing at each other from behind trees or rocks, and having hair-breadth escapes and adventures enough to fill a book. In September Lee moved against Reynolds, hoping to crush him during Rosecrans's absence, and then to push on to the Ohio River; but he found the Union troops in a very strong position, and being repulsed withdrew and joined Floyd and Wise on Big Sewell Mountain. In this fight with Reynolds was

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