had collected about ten thousand men at Wilmington, to that point. Kilpatrick found Wheeler strongly posted at Waynesboro', attacked and drove him from his position, and, with the assistance of Baird, tore up several miles of the railway. While Kilpatrick and Baird were demonstrating upon Augusta, Slocum and Howard occupied Millen and all the other important towns, destroying all the foundries, shops, cotton, &c., &c. Throwing himself between the Ogeechee and Savannah Rivers, the better to protect his flanks, Sherman at once moved upon Savannah. In this last stage of the campaign he encountered considerable annoyance from the cavalry in his rear, and the felling of timber upon the roads in his front. Nevertheless, the marches averaged thirteen miles per day. Slocum, on the 10th of December, struck the Savannah and Charleston Railway ten miles from the city, cutting it off from all railway communication with the outer world. With his usual promptness, Sherman at once invested the city, from the Savannah to the Ogeechee, the nearest point being three miles from the city. Hardee, who commanded, was strongly posted, with thirteen thousand men, in a line of works which, with the aid of the swamps, furnished an excellent line of defence. A charge upon the line would have cost many valuable lives, and might possibly have ended in defeat. With no siege-guns, his army located in the swamps and on the barren and unhealthy rice plantations where no supplies could be ob tained, his troops on one cracker per day, there were some who felt concerned for the safety of the command. Sherman, however, had prepared for the contingency. By his direction, Howard, under cover of darkness, bridged the Ogeechee, threw Hazen's Division across to the island, and invested Fort McAllister-the only obstruction to the passage of vessels from the ocean to the right of the line at King's Bridge. The investment having been effected on the 13th, the fort was carried by Hazen with nine regiments, who captured the entire garrison, with its siege-guns and ammunition. This was the crowning victory of the campaign. The possession of the fort gave us a free water-course to the army, as well as siege-guns with which to shell the city. Hardee had now no alternative but to stand a siege or evacuate. He chose the latter course, and gave us the city, with its guns, ammunition, foundries, shops, thirty-three thousand bales of cotton, &c., &c. The importance of this brilliant campaign, that perhaps has no parallel in history, cannot be over-estimated. So carefully had Sherman arranged the details of his movement, selected his route of march, and proportioned the work to his different commanders, that he has emerged from the enemy's country after a winter's march across half the continent, in twenty-seven days, with an army in finer physical condition than on setting out, the possessors of better transportation than ever before, all the railways running through Georgia torn up, and the iron so effectually destroyed that they cannot be rebuilt, forty-two of the finest counties foraged over, over two hundred towns and villages occupied, all the cotton destroyed, the country rendered unfit for reoccupation by Hood, a new and short base of supplies obtained, Savannah once more led back to the Union, and all this accomplished by the great military genius of one man, and the endurance and valor of his command. Well may the loyal masses of the North shout pæans of praise to Sherman and Thomas, and the immortal men who have followed the starry banner from the Ohio to the ocean! Looking back upon the situation previous to Sherman's march, Hood, Hardee, and Bragg can now see how grandly Sherman has outgeneralled them, and how wofully they were in error when they supposed that an assault upon his rear would compel his retreat. Had Hood been satisfied to follow the example of Johnston and continue on the defensive, Sherman to-day would not be on the coast, and Hood's army reduced to a mere mob of fifteen thousand or twenty thousand men. Hood committed many errors in his military career, but this last error should consign him to oblivion, while it places at the head of the list of military leaders the names of GRANT and SHERMAN. [The following thoughtful and well-written verses were not inserted, as was intended, in the January number. They are still instructive and appropriate at the beginning of this eventful year.-ED.] ON THE THRESHOLD. THE Moon-Queen mounts the car of Night, and from her Amazonian seat Into the hollow Past, like ghosts, the dark Hours, one by one, have gone; What do thy mates and thou bear back into the measureless abyss "The Year's dark hours that-all save one-have passed beyond the verge of Night, - "Bear many a crimson stain of Strife, with radiant gem-spots interspun Of Souls crushed out by warring hosts-fresh Martyrs in a Cause begun, "Bear these; and with them, echoirg far through all the cycling rings of space Grand pæans from the lifted hearts of a regenerating race; Thanksgiving tones, like mighty peals from myriad minster-bells at morn, "The lusty Child-Year creeping now, Sun-guided, toward the upper light, "In this the buds of Joy shall bloom; the sated Loves renew their youth; Dark Hour that tremblest still upon the pregnant threshold of the Dawn, 1864-5. C. D G LITERARY INTELLIGENCE AND NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. PERHAPS no American book of recent publication has received or has deserved a more general perusal than the "Memoirs of Lieutenant-General Scott," written by himself" (2 vols., Sheldon & Co., New York. $4.00). On this account we shall make no extended review of it. If those who have not read it, do not, they cannot know its real value from a magazine article. Not designed as a complete history, it is a noble aid to the history of the principal momentous events which have transpired in this century, witten by one who can, without a spice of arrogance declare, Quorum magna pars fui." It is the life of a great soldier, general, diplomatist, and gentleman. As a soldier, his career is illustrated by his rapid rise in his profession, his eager service, his magnanimous self-sacrifices, and valiant self-exposures in the great northern battle-fields of our last war with England. As a general of the highest order, he is manifested in his judicious organization and control of the Army in time of peace, his marvellous Mexican campaign (the rationale of which is here presented in a clearer and truer light than ever before), and his reception of the new rank of Lieutenant-General, till then unprecedented, except in the case of Washington. As a diplomatist, he shines in the humane character of a peace-maker, in nullifying South Carolina nullification; on the northeastern boundary, on the Canadian frontier, and on the Pacific coast. And as a gentleman, whose life, in the words of Mr. Thackeray, "may be read in young ladies' schools with propriety, and taught with advantage in the seminaries of young gentlemen," he has no superior among the public men of America. Pure, devout, patriotic, refined, and elegant; true to his friends, magnanimous to his enemies, generous to all; cultivated in polite learning, a purist in language, he challenges the admiration of all. We mean this for no random eulogy on General Scott: all this, and more, is to be found in his book-for the actions of his life here recorded are his best eulogy. Unlike most history of contemporary events, these memoirs are true and unbiased; and this, notwithstanding that he has had to discuss some nice points of public controversy,—as, for example, the courts-martial before which he has been obliged to appear; the treatment of his political enemies; and his famous quarrel with General Jackson. He gives an excellent chapter on the political causes of the war, in speaking of a time before the war seemed imminent: but he wisely abstains from a detailed view of the present struggle. Let us hope that he has prepared copious notes on this subject for posthumous publication. We like trite quotations when they are particularly apposite, and to General Scott, of colossal form and colossal eminence, may be most fitly applied the well-known verses: "Like some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form, Shoots from the vale, and midway cleaves the storm, "The American Boys' Book of Sports and Games: A Repository of In-and-OutDoor Amusements for Boys and Youth;" published by Dick and Fitzgerald, New York, is a book that will delight the young people. It is a complete cyclopædia of sports, games, and amusements of all imaginable kinds-is attractive in its outward appearance, and is profusely illustrated with well-made and instructive wood-cutsnumbering more than six hundred. The publishers state that, while they have laid other nations under contribution in preparing their work, the details of all games have been conformed to our American method of playing; and they have certainly succeeded in producing by far the handsomest and most complete work of the kind that has yet been issued. We know of no present that will give a boy more lasting and varied pleasure. 600 pages, $3.50. MORRIS'S MODIFIED TACTICS. When our armies were first organized, at the commencement of the war, regiments were required to learn a large number of movements, with all their arbitrary and precise details, which served no other purpose than to make pleasing showdrills. When these same regiments were sent to the field, they very soon discovered that a very small portion only of their laboriously learned tactics was of any practicable use, and even that portion required to be simplified. 2 vols. 18mo. D. Van Nostrand, Publisher. Commanding officers, desirous of saving their men from all unnecessary fatigue, and learning from experience the simplest and quickest methods of putting their troops in the formations desired, naturally adopted such changes as were in accordance with common sense. Finding that subdivisions could not be marched through woods by their front, they marched them by their flank. Finding simultaneous movements were fatiguing to the men, and consumed valuable time, besides often causing the advancing column to halt, while some preparatory or intermediate movement was executed; of course, successive movements were preferred. The result has been what might have been expected; as the movements do not conform to the tactics, the tactics must conform to the movements. It will, therefore, be readily understood, how important it was that a system should be prepared which should reject all obsolete explanations and evolutions, and teach the movements which have resulted from experience, and are constantly employed in the field. The system by General MORRIS supplies this want fully. He has retained notning which has not been found useful. Two small volumes contain all the tactics required for infantry. He has omitted all superfluous commands and parts of commands, and has made simple general rules, thus saving tedious repetitions of explanations. The color-guard is placed on the right of the left wing, in order to have the color leading when a line marches "by the right of companies." The ranks are one pace apart, which affords greater ease in the march by the front, and facilitates the doubling of files, when facing by the flank. Files always dress and touch towards the guide, and the difficult and useless "fixed pivot" is abolished. Many of the movements are made from a column of fours on the march, to save time and useless manoeuvring. The manual of arms has been revised to suit the rifled musket. The manual for the short rifle is placed by itself. All deployments are made by the flank, and by the shortest paths. The close column by division is formed by filing the divisions successively behind or before each other. The line of battalions in mass is formed from a column of fours on the march, by conducting each battalion over the shortest line to its position and then forming the close column. |