272

FALL OF NASHVILLE.

[SECT. X.

Davis characterizes the report he had received as incomplete and unsatisfactory. "It is not stated that re-enforcements were at any time asked for; nor is it demonstrated to have been impossible to have saved the army by evacuating the position; nor is it known by what means it was found practicable to withdraw a part of the garrison, leaving the remainder to surrender; nor upon what authority or principles of action the senior generals abandoned responsibility by transferring the command to a junior officer." The delinquent generals were required to give information on the point "why they abandoned the command to their inferior officer instead of executing themselves whatever measure was deemed proper for the entire army, and also what were the precise means by which each had effected his escape from the fort, and what dangers were encountered in the retreat, and upon what principle a selection was made of particular troops, being certain regiments of General Floyd's brigade."

Notwithstanding the great obligations the Confederate They are relieved government was under to Floyd, he and from command. Pillow were relieved of their commands. The investment of Donelson was followed by the im mediate evacuation of Bowling Green; its fall by the abandonment of Nashville, which was at once occupied by Buell.

Results of the surrender of Donelson.

The fall of Nashville,

Nashville was so central and so important to the South that at one time it was a competitor with Richmond for the honor of becoming the metropolis of the Confederacy. A dispatch had been received on Saturday night by Johnston from Pillow, congratulating him on a great Confederate victory won by the garrison of Fort Donelson. The city was in a delirium of delight. But on Sunday morning, while the people were at church engaged in returning thanks, news came that the fort had fallen. The surrender of Nash

CHAP. XLIX.]

MILL SPRING.

273 ville was inevitable. A scene of hideous confusion at once ensued. The congregations rushed into the streets. Every conveyance at hand was seized for the purpose of escaping from the place. Trunks and valuables were thrown from upper windows; women in mortal, but very needless terror, fled away, and a mob hastened to plunder the abandoned Confederate stores.

and evacuation of Columbus.

1

But the disaster did not end here. The Confederate General Polk had at once to evacuate Columbus and fall back to Island No. 10. Columbus-the so styled Gibraltar of the West-was occupied by national troops.

It was not only on the west, but also on the east of Nashville that misfortunes befell the Con

Mill Spring. federate cause. General Zollicoffer, with a force of about 5000 men, was encamped on the south side of the Cumberland, at Mill Spring, in Wayne County. In front of him lay General Schoepf, inactive, with a force of about 8000, at Somerset. General Thomas had been ordered to take command of this force (January 17th, 1862), and had scarcely done so, when four regiments that he had near Somerset were attacked by General Crittenden, who had superseded Zollicoffer. The attack was made at night, and intended to be a surprise. In this, however, it proved a failure, Thomas having strongly picketed the roads between himself and the enemy.

The pickets having been driven in, the Confederates made a desperate charge, and the battle was continued for two hours; a bayonet charge by an Ohio regiment decided it, the Confederates escaping to an intrenched camp they had near the river, Zollicoffer being killed. The loss on the Confederate side was 300 killed and wounded, and 50 prisoners; on the national, 39 killed, and 207 wounded. Pursued to their camp, the Confederates were shelled

274

NEW MADRID.

[SECT. X.

until night. Schoepf's brigade coming up, it was hoped that their entire force would have been captured. During the darkness, however, it escaped, leaving ten guns, 1200 horses and mules, and a large quantity of clothing.

man.

At the time of the evacuation of Columbus, prepara tions had been made to capture it by an attack from the river, under Commodore Foote and General W. T. SherOn this expedition appearing before the works, it was ascertained that they had been abandoned, and that in very great haste. The cannon had been spiked and pushed over the bluff into the river. The garrison had retreated to New Madrid and Island No. 10.

The Mississippi, approaching that island, leaves its southerly course, and, making a bend to the northwest, reaches New Madrid, which is on the Missouri bank. Following the course of the river, New Madrid is therefore below the island.

The position at

Strong works had been established at New Madrid. It was also defended by six gun-boats, the New Madrid. cannon of which commanded the adjacent country; for the river at the time was very high.

Halleck dispatched General Pope from St. Louis to make an attack on New Madrid. The troops were landed on the Missouri bank from transports on February 24th, and found great difficulty in approaching the town March of General on account of the swampy state of the counPope to that place. try. The men declared that they "waded in mud, slept in mud, ate in mud, and were as completely surrounded by mud as St. Helena is by the ocean." They reached their destination, however, on the 3d of March. Finding the place stronger than he expected, Pope was obliged to send to Cairo for siege guns. To prevent the Confederates being re-enforced from below, he established a sunken battery at Point Pleasant. The siege guns were

THE MISSISSIPPI FROM CAIRO TO MEMPHIS.

placed in position before the town immediately on their arrival. Three of the Confederate gun-boats were speedily disabled, and it was soon apparent that the place must The Confederates be evacuated. The garrison fled at midnight to Island No. 10, leaving their supper untouched and candles burning in their tents. They abandoned thirty-three cannon, several thousand stand of smallarms, hundreds of boxes of musket cartridges, and tents for an army of 10,000 men.

evacuate it.

276

CANAL OF ISLAND No. 10.

[SECT. X.

On the 15th of March, Commodore Foote, who had brought down from Cairo seven armored gun-boats, one not armored, and ten mortar-boats capable of throwing 13-inch shell, appeared before Island No. 10, and at once Bombardment of commenced its siege. Though the bombard Island No. 10. ment was vigorously maintained and continued for nearly three weeks, it proved to be very inef fective. Beauregard reported that the enemy's guns had thrown into the works three thousand shells and burned fifty tons of gunpowder without doing any damage to the batteries, and only killing one of the men. On the other hand, Commodore Foote reported to his government that "Island No. 10 is harder to conquer than Columbus, its shores being lined with forts, each fort commanding the one above it."

Cutting of a canal.

Pope, who was on the Missouri side of the river, could give but little assistance unless he should cross over to the Tennessee side and come upon the rear of the island. It was impossible for him to do this unless some of the gunboats could be brought down to New Madrid, as the opposite shore was crowned with batteries. To accomplish this, General Schuyler Hamilton proposed that a canal should be cut across Donaldson's Point, between Island No. 8 and New Madrid. This work was actually accomplished in nineteen days. The canal was twelve miles long; for a part of the distance, however, it passed through two ponds. The width was about fifty feet. To make the cut, it was necessary to remove about a thousand trees varying from six inches to three feet in diameter. They had to be sawn off by hand in many places four feet under water. When the river was admitted into the canal it flowed through with great force.

By the aid of this canal, transports could be passed below the island, and Pope's troops taken across the Missis