cess.

tures and with respect to the number of prisoners taken, the battle of Murfreesboro' may be accounted a Confederate sucThe ground which the North has for claiming a victory is, that our forces fell back, and that their positions were occupied. But the occupation of Murfreesboro' was no important consideration; the works were neither extensive nor strong; and the new line of defence reorganized by Gen. Bragg was, as we shall see, quite sufficient to hold the enemy in check. The truth is, that the Yankees, although their claims to the victory of Murfreesboro' are questionable, had great reasons to congratulate themselves that an army which, in the first day's battle, had its right wing broken and one-third of its artillery lost, should have escaped destruction and extricated itself in a manner to assure its further safety.

But however the issue of Murfreesboro' is to be decided, the South had reason to expect considerable material advantages from events in other parts of the West. The siege of Vicksburg by land was for the time virtually abandoned. Some engagements had taken place before this town, which were ex aggerated by the telegraph; but they were mere skirmishes, intended to feel the strength of the defences. Being satisfied that they were too strong to be attacked with safety, and probably learning that Grant's army would never effect a junction with it, the Yankee force before Vicksburg re-embarked, with a great loss of material employed in the intrenchments preparatory to the siege.

THE RECAPTURE OF GALVESTON,

While the new year had doubtfully opened in Tennessee, a brilliant success marked the same period in the distant State of Texas. An expedition was skilfully planned and gallantly executed by the brave and energetic Magruder, the results of which were the capture of the city and harbor of Galveston, a large quantity of arms, ammunition, stores, &c., the famous Yankee steamer Harriet Lane, and some other craft of less mportance.

On the night of the 31st of December, Gen. Magruder silently marched along the road to Galveston city. Our forces con sisted of several regiments of infantry and about twenty-two

pieces of artillery, though the principal attack was to be made by the artillery, as there were only about three hundred of the enemy in the city, and they were behind a barricade at the onter end of the wharf.

Our troops reached the suburbs of the city about three o'clock. The streets were completely deserted; the few inhabitants who had remained in the city were sleeping soundly, and had our men not awaked and warned them of their danger, they would have slept on until the cannon's roar had startled them. The march of our troops through the city was a quiet procession.

The scene, the dead hour of night, and the fact that this was to be the first battle of many of them, all conspired to make them serious. Then, too, the great heavy waves came tumbling and roaring in from the Gulf, chanting out upon the still night air, as they dashed along, something that sounded like a funeral dirge. But onward our men stole, through long, lonely streets, now around this corner and now turning that, until at length they reached Strand-street, which runs parallel with the water, and is the next one to the wharves. The moon was now down, and every thing was enveloped in darkness; the guns were noiselessly placed in position and loaded, the men looking like so many shadows as they took their places in the gloom. There, within three hundred yards lay the Harriet Lane, the Owasso, the Clifton, and two other boats, with their broadsides turned towards our troops, and ready to open upon them the moment they fired. This they knew, for the Yankees had been ashore the day before and told the people that they knew all about the plans of the "rebels," and were waiting for them. In fact, they were so certain of victory that they allowed our men to place their guns in position without firing upon them.

Gen. Magruder opened the attack by firing the first gun. In a few moments the bright flashes, the booming reports, and whizzing shells told plainer than words that the action had begun in earnest; for the next hour the roar of cannon was incessant. The clear keen crack of our little rifled guns, the dull sound of our sea-coast howitzers, and the mighty thundering bass of the columbiads and 100-pound Parrott guns on the gunboats, combined to form a piece of music fitted for Pandemonium.

The fight raged furiously on both sides, but it was fast be coming evident that our land forces alone were no match for the Yankee boats, with their great guns and mortars, which vomited a half bushel of grape and canister at every discharge. Early in the engagement a charge was made by three hundred of our infantry on three companies of the 42d Massachusetts regiment, stationed behind a barricade at the end of Kuhn's wharf. The enemy had torn up the planks from the wharf, and made a breastwork of them. Our men rushed out into the waters with their scaling ladders and dashed up to them, but the position was too strong and they had to retire, leaving our artillery to shell them out. We lost some ten or fifteen in this charge, and would have lost more, but it was pitch dark and the Yankees fired very wildly.

Daylight at length arrived, and every one was anxiously looking for our boats, which ought to have been up two hours before. They had come down within sight at about 12 o'clock, and, hearing nothing of our troops, retired five or six miles, under the impression that the land attack had been postponed. There they waited until about three o'clock, when the land attack began. As soon as Major Smith, who commanded the expedition, saw that the work had begun, he ordered all steam to be put on and started back. He was then a considerable distance from the city, and was unable to reach it until daylight. At that time the Bayou City and Neptune, followed in the distance by the John F. Can and Lucy Gwinn, hospital boats, bore steadily down upon the Harriet Lane, then lying at the end of the wharf, opposite the Cotton Press.

The Harriet Lane had for some time directed her fire at them, but fortunately without effect; but when within about fifty yards, the Neptune received several balls, damaging her considerably. She kept steadily on her way, however, and in a few moments more ran into the Lane amidship. The enemy's decks were soon cleared with the buckshot from the doublebarrel guns of the Neptune's crew, who would have boarded her, but it was discovered that the Neptune was rapidly sinking, in consequence of the damages she had received. She was accordingly run into shoal water, about fifty yards from the Lane, where she sunk immediately. In the mean time the Yankee crew, seeing the predicament of the Neptune, came

up on deck again, and were preparing to give her a broadside when the Bayou City fortunately interfered with their prepa rations, by running into the Lane's wheel-house. Another volley of buckshot again cleared her decks. The next instant the crew of the Bayou City were aboard of her, Major Smith gallantly leading the way, and shooting the Lane's commanding officer (Capt. Wainwright) as he leaped upon the deck. The vessel was immediately surrendered, and down came the Stars and Stripes and up went our flag. It was found that the captain and first lieutenant of the boat were both killed, and about thirty of her crew killed or wounded. Our loss on the boats was about sixteen killed, and thirty wounded.

The Yankee boats, the Clifton and Owasso, saved themselves by beating out of the harbor, while the Bayou City was in some way entangled with her prize. The Westfield was burnt, as she was fast aground. Our prize was one of which we might well be proud. The Harriet Lane was a vessel of six hundred tons burden, was originally built for the revenue ser vice, but at the beginning of the war with the South she was turned over to the navy, and at once underwent such altera tions as were thought necessary to adapt her to her new ser vice. At the time of her capture, she mounted eight guns of heavy calibre, her bow gun being a fifteen-inch rifle.

The recapture of Galveston and the advantages which ensued, were perhaps outbalanced by a disaster which shortly followed and overshadowed much of the prospect in the remote regions west of the Mississippi. This was the forcible occupation by the Yankees of Arkansas Post and the surrender of its entire garrison.

The troops garrisoning Arkansas Post at the time of attack, consisted of three brigades, mostly Texans, and commanded respectively by Cols. Garland, Deshler, and Dunnington, the whole forming a division under the command of Brigadiergen. T. J. Churchill, and numbering, on the day of the fight, not more than thirty-three hundred effective men. On the 9th day of January a scout from below brought intelligence to Gen. Churchill of a Yankee gunboat having made its appearance in the Arkansas river, some thirty miles below the Post. Some hours later, on the same day, another scout brought news of other gunboats, followed by transports, making their way

up the river. Upon the receipt of this intelligence, Gen. Churchill ordered every thing in readiness for an attack, and ere night closed in, all the troops were distributed along the line of intrenchments, where they remained all night, in a pelting storm of rain. The enemy, in the mean time, had landed a force about two miles below the fort, but they made no demonstration until about nine or ten o'clock the next morning, when they commenced shelling the fort from their advance gunboats, that were cautiously and slowly feeling their way up the river.

Our troops held the position first taken by them until about four o'clock, P. M., when the general, fearing a flank movement on our left, ordered the men to fall back to a line of intrenchments near the yet unfinished fort, which line was speedily completed and all the troops properly distributed before night set in. Just as darkness was drawing near, four gunboats approached the fort and commenced their bombardment, our guns from the fort answering gallantly; and after two hours' terrific shelling, the gunboats retired, one of them, the Eastport, badly disabled. Our loss up to this time consisted of only three killed and some three or four wounded.

The next morning, at ten o'clock, the enemy renewed the attack with gunboats and land forces combined. They had also erected a battery on the opposite side of the river, by means of which they kept up a terrible cross-fire that swept the whole area of ground occupied by our men. The firing continued until about four o'clock in the evening, when Gen. Churchill, seeing his defences exposed to a raking fire and storming parties closing upon his rear, surrendered, Gen. McClernand taking the whole force, making more than three thousand men prisoners. Our loss in killed and wounded was not two hundred men.

The results of this success of the Yankees were many thousand prisoners of war, and a fortified point guarding the navigation of the Arkansas river, and shutting out its commerce from the Mississippi. But the prospect which they indulged of ascending without interruption to Little Rock and taking full possession of the Arkansas capital, was rather premature. There is nothing yet important to record of the operations of the immense fleets of the enemy collected on our coast in