the Confederates did at the nickname "Johnny," or "Johnny Reb," as it was sometimes varied. Other nicknames for Union soldiers, occasionally used, were "Feds," "Blue Birds," and "Blue Bellies." Since the war the opponents have been commonly called "Boys in Blue" and "Boys in Gray."

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At the close of October Lieutenant-General Scott, ill and infirm, and then more than seventy-five years old, asked to be placed on the retired list of officers. His request was granted, and he was allowed to retire with his full rank, and without any reduction in his pay or allowances. On the next day (November 1) Major-General McClellan was appointed commander-inchief of the army of the United States. This gave him charge

not only of the Army of the Potomac, but of all the other armies in the field, and of military operations in every part of the United States.

A fight near Dranesville, December 20, between a Confederate force of about twenty-five hundred men, under General J. E. B. Stuart, and a Union brigade of about four thousand men, under General E. O. C. Ord, ended for the year the campaign of the Army of the Potomac. Stuart was foraging—that is, was collecting hay, corn, and other supplies for the Confederate army. To give his wagon-train time to get out of the way, he attacked the Union troops, who were also foraging, but after a sharp fight, in which he lost about two hundred men, was obliged to retreat. The Union loss was sixty-nine in killed and wounded.

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WINTER QUARTERS.

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Cold weather had now set in, with plenty of snow and ice, and the canvas tents along the Potomac had given place to structures better calculated to keep out wind and rain. Notwithstanding the daily rumors of a forward movement, the soldiers, taking it for granted that there would be none before spring, had built rude cabins out of unhewn logs cut in the woods near by. Many of these were quite picturesque, but most of them were rude huts like those shown in the picture. The Confederates had done the same, and the hostile armies settled down for the winter, each in its city of huts, scarcely more than a day's march from each other.

CHAPTER XI.

THE ATLANTIC COAST.

SECRETARY WELLES AND THE NAVY.-CONFEDERATE PRIVATEERS.-THE LADY DAVIS.-THE SAVANNAH'S CREW TREATED AS PIRATES.-THE PETREL SUNK.-THE SUMTER.-RAPHAEL SEMMES.-THE LAWS ABOUT PRIZES.-THE NASHVILLE.-BLOCKADE-RUNNING.-EXPEDITION AGAINST HATTERAS.-THE FORTS CAPTURED.-A UNION EXPEDITION SPOILED.-FORT PICKENS.-WILSON'S ZOUAVES.-THE BOYS HAVE GOT THE MONEY.-NIGHT ATTACK ON THE ZOUAVES' CAMP.-BOMBARDMENT OF FORTS MCREE AND BARRANCAS.-THE MANASSAS RAM.-FIGHT WITH THE UNION FLEET IN THE MISSISSIPPI.-FIRE-SHIPS.

W

HILE an army was thus forming, Secretary Welles, of the Navy Department, had struggled hard to create a navy. When the war began scarcely vessels enough could be found to do blockade duty. Many were in distant seas, and some had been captured or destroyed by the Confederates when they took the navy-yards in their States. What was still worse, two hundred and fifty-nine naval officers, born in the South, had "gone with their States." Fortunately, merchant vessels fit for use while war-ships were building were obtained, and enough officers from the merchant service were found to take the place of those who had left. At the beginning of July, 1861, there were forty-three armed vessels in the service, doing duty as blockaders and in defending the coasts. These were divided. into two squadrons or fleets, one, called the Atlantic Squadron, consisting of twenty-two vessels, under command of Commodore Silas H. Stringham, and the other, called the Gulf Squadron, of twenty-one vessels, under Commodore William Mervine. The Naval Academy meanwhile had been removed from Annapolis, where it was no longer considered safe, to Newport, Rhode Island.

As early as April, 1861, Jefferson Davis had begun to send out privateers to prey on the commerce of the United States. The first of these vessels to sail under the Confederate flag was the Lady Davis, named after the wife of President Davis. She was a small steamer used at first for the defence of Charleston Harbor, and mounted only two guns. Two other steamers, the Savannah and the Petrel, were soon sent out, and by the time the blockade began to be strictly enforced quite a fleet of vessels

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CONFEDERATE PRIVATEERS.

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were afloat, and our commerce was seriously threatened. Some rich prizes were made at first by these vessels, for many United States ships returning from foreign countries had not at that time heard of the war; but the Confederate privateers soon found that the business was a dangerous one. The Savannah, a little schooner which had been a pilot-boat, armed with only one gun, slipped out of Charleston Harbor, Sunday, June 2, and lay in wait for vessels sailing up and down the coast. On the next day she was fortunate enough to catch a brig laden with sugar from Cuba, bound to Philadelphia. Putting part of her crew on the prize, the Savannah began to look for more prey. Toward evening another brig hove in sight, and the privateer, hoping for a second rich prize, pursued her; but what was her crew's surprise and dismay to find that they had caught a Tartar. The vessel proved to be the United States brig-of-war Perry. When the Confederates found out their mistake, they tried in vain to escape, and were obliged to strike their colors. Her crew were taken to New York, imprisoned, and in October following were tried as pirates. In the mean time

Mr. Davis had written a letter to President Lincoln, threatening that if the privateersmen were hung as pirates he would treat in the same way an equal number of prisoners of war. Soon after he prepared to carry out this threat by selecting Colonel Michael Corcoran, of the Sixty-ninth New York regiment, who had been taken at Bull Run, and some others as hostages, and putting them in irons to await the result of the trial.

This put the matter in a new light. The United States Government had refused, from the beginning, to recognize the Confederate States as a belligerent-that is, as a government capable of carrying on war. It regarded every It regarded every Confederate soldier who killed a Union soldier as nothing but a murderer, and every Confederate vessel as a pirate. But it was soon found

out that this would not do. The battle of Bull Run had given the Confederates the advantage of a large number of prisoners, both officers and men. It would be not only inhuman but very inconvenient to refuse to exchange for these prisoners Confederates taken in battle; and as the Government could not consistently make any difference between prisoners taken on land and those taken at sea, it was soon obliged to treat the privateersmen the same as other prisoners. The trial was therefore stopped, and the prisoners were soon after exchanged. The Confederates were also acknowledged as belligerents by England, France, Spain, and Portugal in 1861.

The Petrel, another privateer which sailed from Charleston (July 28), was not so lucky even as the Savannah. She was the United States revenue-cutter Aiken, which had been given up

by her commander to the disunionists at Charleston the preceding December. She had scarcely got out of the port when she came in sight of the Union frigate St. Lawrence, then on blockade duty. The frigate was at once made to look as much like a merchant vessel as possible: her ports were closed, her rigging and spars reduced, and most of her men sent below. The Petrel, thinking she had a rich prize, gave chase, and fired a gun for her to heave to. The St. Lawrence appeared to be crowding all sail as if to escape, but she let her pursuer come up with her little by little, until at last, when she was within good range, she threw open some of her ports and fired three heavy guns at her. The Petrel, crushed like an egg-shell, sank at once, leaving her astonished crew struggling in the sea. Four of her men were drowned, and the others, when picked up by