70,000 men had collected in the northern part of the State, under General Buell, whose headquarters were at Louisville. 46. Western and Southern Missouri were at this time in the hands of the Confederates; and more than half of the State was given up to the wildest anarchy. Early in September Colonel Mulligan, with 2,500 men, was besieged by an overwhelming Confederate force, under General Price, at Lexington, on the south bank of the Missouri River; and on the 20th of the month, after a long and desperate defense, he was compelled to surrender. It is said that in this unfortunate affair, more than half a million of dollars in hard cash fell into the hands of the Confederates. But Price was unable to follow up his advantage, and before winter set in he was driven into Arkansas. 47. The naval operations of 1861 were first directed to a blockade of the Southern ports, for the purpose of preventing the introduction of supplies from foreign countries, and the escape of privateers to prey upon our commerce. For this purpose our vessels of war were recalled from foreign seas; numerous steamers for blockading purposes were purchased and hastily equipped, and the building of additional war vessels was begun. 48. In the latter part of August a naval expedition, under General Butler and Commodore Stringham, attacked and captured the Confederate forts which commanded Hatteras Inlet, leading into Pamlico Sound. By this success blockade running in this quarter was stopped, and access was gained to the North Carolina coast, for further offensive operations. 49. A second expedition, on a much larger scale, under General T. W. Sherman and Commodore Dupont, after a brilliant naval engagement, captured † the forts commanding Port Royal Harbor, on the coast of South Carolina, midway between Charleston and Savannah. Hilton Head, at the southern entrance of the harbor, was then taken possession of; and this post afterward became an important centre of naval operations against the Southern ports. 50. During the extra session of Congress, which closed on the 6th of August, the senators and representatives from the border Slave States took strong ground against all attempts at coercing their Southern brethren. Vice-President Breckin affront to the British flag, and a violation of the law of nations. The release of Mason and Slidell was demanded by Great Britain, and the American Government complied with the demand, admitting that the seizure, although justifiable in itself, had not been conducted in a legal manner. France and England had already decided to recognize the Confederate States as a belligerent entitled to all the rights of war, and to maintain a strict neutrality between the contending parties. CHAPTER III. EVENTS OF 1862. 1. The beginning of 1862 found General McClellan commander-in-chief, under the President, of all the armies of the United States, the principal divisions of which were then located as follows: The army at and about Fortress Monroe; the army of the Potomac; the army of Western Virginia; an army in Eastern Kentucky; the army and flotilla at Cairo and a naval force in the Gulf of Mexico. 2. During the month of January Kentucky was the sole field of military operations. On the 10th of the month Humphrey Marshall was defeated near Prestonburg, by a Union force under Colonel Garfield, and driven into Virginia; and a few days later General Thomas defeated Generals Crittenden and Zollicoffer, in the battle of Mill Spring, near the southern bank of the Cumberland River, and drove the Confederate forces back into Tennessee. In the battle of Mill Spring General Zollicoffer was killed. 3. Farther west important plans of the campaign were developing. At the strongly fortified post at Columbus, commanding the Mississippi River, and at Bowling Green, a little southward of the centre of Kentucky, were two Confederate armies, each from 20,000 to 30,000 strong. The Confederates had also built Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River, and Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland River, near the Tennessee border. 4. While every effort was made to induce the Confederates to believe that the army and flotilla at Cairo were making preparations to attack Columbus, suddenly General Grant proceeded up the Tennessee River, under convoy of Commodore Foote's flotilla of gunboats, and attacked Fort Henry, which surrendered on the 6th of February, but not until a large part of the garrison had escaped to Fort Donelson. The capture of Fort Henry opened the Tennessee River to the Union gunboats, three of which then proceeded as far as the head of navigation at Florence, in Northern Alabama, destroying Confederate stores, and being everywhere received with demonstrations of joy by the loyal inhabitants. 5. Grant now marched across the country upon the much stronger post of Fort Donelson, before which he appeared on the 12th of February. The fort was commanded by General Floyd, under whom were Generals Buckner, Pillow, Forrest, and Bushrod Johnson, with an army numbering at least 15,000 men. On the night of the 13th a fleet of gunboats arrived in |