trenched himself, and erected counter-batteries. Johnston, taking advantage of a thick fog, made a determined sortie on the 13th, which, after creating some slight confusion, was successfully repulsed. Sherman's works now progressed rapidly, and a general assault would soon have been made, had not Johnston again vindicated his reputation as a hero of retreats, and evacuated the place. He began to do so on the 16th, very quietly; and instead of further attempts "to chastise and repel us from the soil of Mississippi," he led his willing soldiers away by Morton and Meridian from that very soil, upon a march, the terrible concomitants of which were intense heat, want of water, and general discouragement.

Sherman entered the beautiful city again on the 18th. It was now doomed to the horrors of war. Great blocks of houses were burned down. Soldiers were seen ransacking houses. The negroes who had been left behind (the ablebodied ones had been hurried away by their masters) thronged the streets-the infirm, the women, and the children --not knowing whether it was the year of jubilee or the day of wrath which had come. Piles of household stuff, pianos, bedsteads, fancy tables, were dragged into the streets, and fired or scattered about the crossings. Thick smoke, cinders, falling timber, fierce flames, form the chiaro-oscuro of a picture which we shall not undertake to describe.

In one of the expeditions to a house near Jackson, were found books and letters belonging to Jefferson Davis,—many of the latter from men of station at the North, and implicating them in the inauguration of the rebellion. We have not time to moralize, but surely at every page we have strong proof of the adage which declares the permanence of the written word, and a declaration that there is many an irrevocable verbum besides those that appear in print. If "the pen is mightier than the sword" to create and bless, it is often surely so to destroy.

CHAPTER XVIII.

ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION.

EXPEDITIONS IN ALL DIRECTIONS. THE HAUL at Natchez.-EXTRA MILITARY QUES TIONS. THE SUBJECT OF TRADE.-TARIFF OF PRICES ON THE MISSISSIPPI.-HONOR AT MEMPHIS.-REVIEW AT NEW ORLEANS.-SAD ACCIDENT, AND ITS RESULTS.PARTIAL RECOVERY.-BOARDS OF HONOR.-COMMENTS.

GRANT was now active in the organization of his department ; setting it in order, as it proved, to form one part of the great whole, over which he was soon to exercise an imperial military supremacy. He sent expeditions in every direction, to "spy out the nakedness of the land"-to Canton, Pontotoc, and Grenada. An important one was dispatched under Ransom to Natchez, to put a stop to the crossing of cattle at that point, from the West, for the enemy's supply. Ransom captured five thousand head, of which Grant sent two thousand to Banks, retaining the rest for his own army.* After a

* "General Ransom was sent to Natchez, to stop the crossing of cattle for the Eastern army. On arrival, he found that large numbers had been driven out of the city to be pastured: also, that munitions of war had recently been crossed over to wait for Kirby Smith. He mounted about two hundred of his men, and sent them in both directions.

"They captured a number of prisoners, and five thousand head of Texas cattle, two thousand head of which were sent to General Banks. The balance have been or will be brought here.

"In Louisiana they captured more prisoners, and a number of teams loaded with ammunition. Over two million rounds of ammunition were brought back to Natchez with the teams captured, and two hundred and sixty-eight thousand rounds, besides artillery ammunition, were destroyed."- Grant to Halleck, July 18.

short rest, he dispatched Steele with his division to Helena, to render important services to Schofield, then commanding the Department of the Missouri; while Ord and Herron were sent to Banks to take parts in the new movements projected in the Department of the Gulf.

Grant's headquarters were temporarily at Vicksburg, but he spent his time in travelling from point to point, to see the condition and needs of his department. And again he had presented to him extra military and perplexing questions, which he settled with great good judgment. The guerrillas who thronged the river-banks were outlawed. Furloughs, which had before been impossible, were now judiciously granted, to "five per centum of the non-commissioned officers and privates of each regiment, battery, independent company, and detachment, for good conduct in their line of duty;" and while these were thus rewarded, stragglers and shirkers were denied furloughs, and were punished by extra duties and fines.

To illustrate at once the condition of the people, and Grant's caution in supplying them, we introduce the following order.

GENERAL ORDERS, NO. 46.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE,
VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI, July 21, 1863.

1. Hereafter no issues of provisions will be made for contrabands, except those serving in regiments or in contraband camps.

2. Issues of provisions will not be made to citizens, except on certificates that they are destitute, and have no means of purchasing the necessary supplies for their families. These certificates must state the number of the family, and the time for which they draw, which shall not exceed ten days at any one time.

3. In making issues to citizens, only articles of prime necessity will be given― i. e., bread and meat, and these at the rate of one pound of flour, one half-pound of salt meat, or one pound of fresh beef, to the ration.

By order of

MAJOR-GENERAL U. S. GRANT

JNO. A. RAWLINS, A. A. G.

He also addressed a letter to the Secretary of War, on the subject of trade, in which he declares, from his experience

in West Tennessee, that any trade whatever with the rebellious States weakened us to the extent of thirty-three per cent. of our force; "but," he adds, "no theory of my own will ever stand in the way of my executing, in good faith, any order I may receive from those in authority over me."*

His kind sympathy with good soldiers was indicated at this time by his requiring the captain of a steamer to refund the excess of passage-money which he had charged, thus compelling our brave men who were going on furlough to pay exorbitantly for the trip.

* HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE, VICKSBURG, Miss., July 21, 1863.

SIR-Your letter of the 4th instant to me, inclosing a copy of a letter of same date to Mr. Mellen, special agent of the Treasury, is just received. My assistant adjutant-general, by whom I shall send this letter, is about starting for Washington; hence I shall be very short in my reply.

My experience in West Tennessee has convinced me that any trade whatever with the rebellious States is weakening to us of at least thirty-three per cent. of our force. No matter what the restrictions thrown around trade, if any whatever is allowed, it will be made the means of supplying the enemy with what they want. Restrictions, if lived up to, make trade unprofitable, and hence none but dishonest men go into it. I will venture to say that no honest man has made money in West Tennessee in the last year, while many fortunes have been made there during that time.

The people in the Mississippi Valley are now nearly subjugated. Keep trade out for a few months, and I doubt not but that the work of subjugation will be so complete, that trade can be opened freely with the States of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi; that the people of these States will be more anxious for the enforcement and protection of our laws than the people of the loyal States. They have experienced the misfortune of being without them, and are now in a most happy condition to appreciate their blessings.

No theory of my own will ever stand in the way of my executing, in good faith, any order I may receive from those in authority over me; but my position has given me an opportunity of seeing what would not be known by persons away from the scene of war; and I venture, therefore, to suggest great caution in opening trade with rebels.

I am, Sir, very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

U. S. GRANT, Major-General.

HON. S. P. CHASE, Secretary of the Treasury.

Afterwards, on the 29th of September, the general established an equitable tariff of fares from St. Louis to New Orleans, and intermediate places; requiring that enlisted men should be allowed to travel in the cabin, when they desired it, at the same rates.

By an order of August 10th, he confirmed the judicious. steps before taken on the subject of free people of color, establishing camps for those out of employment, and employing them for Government purposes; also allowing contracts between citizens and free people of color, for their labor, which were to be registered with the provost-marshals, with bonds to secure the kind treatment of the negroes.

HONORS AT MEMPHIS.

On the 25th of August, General Grant arrived at Memphis. His appearance awakened a wild enthusiasm in that city, so lately a hot-bed of rebellion. A committee of the citizens waited upon him and importuned him to receive the hospitalities of the city, which were accompanied by a series of resolutions. Grant consented, without a speech, and received the citizens at nine that night. After an hour's ovation and handshaking, there was a grand banquet, and the general was toasted as the guest of the city. He refused to respond in a speech. A few words were said by his staff-surgeon, Dr. Hewitt; and a poem was read, combining his name with that of De Soto, who had discovered the river, and Fulton, who had made it alive with steamers.

This combination of names was not very significant. The discovery of the river was an accident. Chance gave De Soto this historic fame; and a grave beneath its waters, that no redman might ever find and exhume his remains. Fulton made his grand experiments elsewhere, and peopled many other rivers with vaporing keels.

It was the special glory of Grant, that from the day he moved upon Belmont until Vicksburg fell, he had bent all his energies to this mighty work; had risen superior to all fail