CHAPTER VIII.

PREPARATIONS FOR A NEW ADVANCE.

GRANT'S ENLARGED COMMAND.-General BuELL CO-OPERATES WITH HALLECK.—ÅDMINISTRATION.-DISCIPLINE, JUSTICE, HUMANITY.-NASHVILLE FALLS.-SURPRISE OF THE PEOPLE.-A. S. JOHNSTON RETIRES TO MURFREESBORO'.-THE ASCENT OF THE TENNESSEE.-CORINTH THREATENED.-ISLAND No. 10-SEALS THE RIVER. THE POSITION DESCRIBED.-POPE TAKES NEW MADRID.-GENERAL MACKALL AND THE AMERICAN THERMOPYLE.-SCHUYLER HAMILTON'S CANAL. THE CAPTURE AND

ROUT.

GRANT'S sphere of action was at once enlarged. By an order of General Halleck, bearing date of February 14, 1862, he had been assigned to the new district of West Tennessee, embracing the territory from Cairo, between the Mississippi and Cumberland rivers, to the Mississippi border, with his headquarters in the field. Moving his army by the west bank of the Cumberland, he co-operated with the gunboats in their ascent of the river, under Commodore Foote.

When General Halleck had been assigned, in the November preceding, to the Department of the Missouri, the Department of the Ohio had been confided to Brigadier-General Don Carlos Buell. His command comprised the States of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, that portion of Kentucky east of the Cumberland, and the State of Tennessee. Portions of these two armies, thus divided by the Cumberland, were soon to come together, and form a combination against the enemy. In the mean time, however, Clarksville, on the east bank of the Cumberland, was evacuated by the enemy, and occupied by our forces on the 20th of February,-large quantities of stores being found there. The gunboats were then pushed on towards Nashville. The rebels were, in great haste, seeking a

new line; and it was of vast importance so to hurry them, that they should find this a difficult or troublesome task.

Grant's administration of his new district was energetic, and his preparations for a new advance were rapidly made. He established martial law over West Tennessee; and ordered that "Tennessee, by her rebellion, having ignored all laws of the United States, no courts will be allowed to act under State authority; but all cases coming within reach of the military arm will be adjudicated by the authorities the Government has established within the State." To guard against all license in the conduct of his troops, he republished General Halleck's order, that they should "let no excesses on their part tarnish the glory of their army." The course of justice was tempered with humanity; and when it was necessary to take supplies and subsistence for his troops from citizens, he ordered that the demands should be as light as possible,-so distributed as to produce no distress, and in every case receipted for. Justice and consideration to citizens not in arms, and succor to the poor, when oppressed by Union men or rebels, has always been his rule,-a course of action prompted by principle, and nover intermitted on account of public opinion or political pressure.

Nashville, where Johnston had only remained to await the issue of the fighting at Donelson, was abandoned as soon as that fortress fell, and was occupied on Sunday evening, February 23d, by Colonel Kennet, of the Fourth Ohio cavalry, of General O. M. Mitchell's division.* On the 3d of March, Columbus, the second Gibraltar of the West (Bowling Green was the first, and Vicksburg was to be the third), fell before the strategy of Halleck and Buell, and the splendid battle tactics of Grant. Fort Henry was the first act in the process of destruction: Fort Donelson dealt an additional blow to the tottering ruin.

The fall of Nashville was a terrible blow. The rebel his

The surrender is publicly believed to have been made to General Nelson, but that officer did not arrive with his division until three days after.

torian compares the effect to the shock of an earthquake, when the congregations in the churches heard that the Federals were coming.* The people had been entirely deceived, or lulled into security. No one anticipated such a fate.

Johnston moved with his main body to Murfreesboro', leaving to Floyd and Forrest (who had just "retreated" from Donelson) the duty of removing or destroying the supplies; while a mob, ravenous for spoils, "secured and secreted government stores enough to open respectable groceries." The evacuation of Columbus, also, was a great blow to them, and a great acquisition to us; but it was a military necessity-a sequence in the inexorable logic of the war. The works were of immense strength, consisting of tier on tier of batteries on the river-front, and a strong parapet and ditch, crossed by a thick abatis, on the land side,† and a vast chain, to stop the passage of the Mississippi.

The fleet was now withdrawn down the Cumberland, and a portion of it sent up the Tennessee, over the ground already so adventurously reconnoitred by the expedition of LieutenantCommander Phelps. That river General Halleck designed to be a most important line of operations for Grant's army; and Grant was putting out his antennæ to feel his way to the terrible battle-field of Pittsburg Landing. Making his temporary headquarters at Fort Henry,-where, indeed, he was detained by department orders, for causes not publicly divulged,t-he began a new organization of his forces, for this still more difficult campaign. The troops, as they came up from every direction, were pushed forward as rapidly as possible, under General C. F. Smith, to Savannah, about twenty miles from the Mississippi line, and to other adjacent points; and as they moved forward, it was evident to the Confederates that their great route of communication from east to west, by the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, was threatened. This road crosses the Mobile and Ohio Railroad at the little village of Corinth; and the junction there was seen at a glance, by the

*Pollard, First Year of the War, p. 246. + General Cullum's dispatch.

See note at end of the chapter.

generals of both armies, to be a point of great strategic importance. Grant was marching down to attack or flank it, and cut the railroad; and the rebels, with wise foresight, and praiseworthy valor, a different spirit from that displayed at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson,-determined to hazard a battle, and strike a stunning blow in its defence, at some distance north of it, on the Tennessee. For once they had good generals "foemen worthy the steel" of Grant-men who, in a just cause, would have gained immortal renown.

ISLAND NO. 10.

Before, however, attempting a delineation of the great battle of Pittsburg Landing, we must return for a brief space to the Mississippi River, which, having been for a time effectually barred by the fortifications of Columbus, needed a new seal and barrier, when, on the 3d of March, those works were dismantled and abandoned by General Polk. That fiery prelate had been directed to "select a defensive position below;" and, moving his forces to the river, had, by the aid of his engineers, arranged strong defences at Island No. 10, the main land in Madrid bend, and at the town of New Madrid.*

This was part of a concerted plan; Johnston was moving southward by the left bank of the Tennessee to defend Memphis, where strong works were erected. Vicksburg, with its river-knot in front, was strong by nature, and also fortified by the engineer's art. New Orleans was, to all seeming, in rebel possession until "the crack of doom," and the forts below it seemed to preclude approach from the Gulf.

Among the most loyal men there were many who doubted the practicability of clearing the Mississippi; and until that should be done, all doubted the downfall of the rebellion. The Father of Waters had submitted to the rebel chain, and there was no patriot sword or battle-axe which could strike off

* The principal islands in the Mississippi, beginning just below the mouth of the Ohio, are numbered down the river. Island No. 1 lies just below Cairo.

the accursed links. It was a gigantic task, for which neither workman nor implements seemed to have been yet found.

Island No. 10 is about forty-five miles below Columbus. It lies nearly in mid-channel, and is about a mile long and a half mile in breadth at its widest part. Its armament consisted principally of four heavy batteries on the island, sweeping the main channel, and seven on the Kentucky and Tennessee shores, most of the guns having been brought from Columbus. To define its situation a little more clearly, the river, which above it flows westward, makes a bend to the south; then to the west and north, in which is the island; and again, eight miles below, a turn to the south, on which, upon the right bank, is New Madrid. Point Pleasant is a village on the right bank, about ten miles below New Madrid; while Tiptonville is on the opposite bank, a short distance below Point Pleasant. The double bend, in the form of an irregular and inverted S, with the island and the town at the extreme points, with peninsulas thus formed, cutting off in the one case nine miles, and in the other twenty, seems exactly formed to take the eye of the strategist and engineer.

The works on the island, and the supporting batteries on the left bank, having been completed, the old Pelican dock of New Orleans was brought up, armored, and converted into a floating battery; the rebel gunboats nestled under the batteries; forts were erected at New Madrid, and the entire defences of Island No. 10 were declared to be very strong-at least, a sort of semi-Gibraltar.

It mattered little to the Confederacy that General John Pope was dispatched against them; and, even when he had captured Point Pleasant, they felt little concern. They were still more exultant when the nine hours' bombardment by FlagOfficer Foote failed of results. He had, in order to test the strength of the works, moved down with a fleet, consisting of five gunboats and four mortar-boats, from Hickman, twenty miles above, and his bombardment had seemed to produce no effect.

Pope's first essay was to take New Madrid; and this he suc