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twelve, M., our fleet came under fire of a strong battery known as Fort Bartow, when the rebel gunboats, which had evidently intended to lead us there to destruction, paused, and joined in the battle. Our brave men tore away, or moved over, the piles intended to obstruct their advance. "Soon," says Mr. Pollard, "the air was filled with heavy reports, and the sea was disturbed in every direction by fragments of shell. Explosions of shell rang through the air; and occasionally a large hundred-and-twenty-four pounder thundered across the waves, and sent its ponderous shot in the midst of the flotilla. At times, the battery would be enveloped in the sand and dust thrown up by shot and shell." The rebel flag-ship, “The Curlew," was struck by a hundred-pound shell from "The Southfield," and soon enveloped in flames; the propeller "Forrest" was disabled; and the remainder of the rebel fleet retired finally from the conflict. The barracks of the enemy were consumed by our fire, and heroic efforts were required to subdue the flames bursting from the fort.

By eleven o'clock at night, Gen. Burnside had landed seven thousand five hundred men within two miles of the fort. Through a long, rainy night, these heroic men crouched in the marsh, eagerly waiting for the dreadful work of the morning. Before them was Fort Bartow, a substantial earthwork, with abatis, moat, and ten guns; farther on, batteries Huger and Blanchard, with fourteen guns. Leading to Bartow was a single causeway swept by the enemy's guns, and, on either hand, bogs, which could be passed only with the greatest dif ficulty; and they were crossed by an intrenchment, behind which the rebels intended to make a desperate stand. At the word, our heroic men rushed upon the enemy's line, and carried it with the utmost gallantry. Here among the slain fell a brave and splendid young man, O. Jennings Wise, son of the governor. Fighting through the morass, up to within easy range of the guns from the fort, Burnside's troops, finding it impracticable to obey the order to turn the enemy's flank through the marsh, were ordered to charge

over the causeway. "The order was obeyed with such promptness and energy as to defy all resistance: then, throwing themselves down to escape a fire of grape from the batteries, part of the Fifty-first New-York, with Hawkins's Zouaves and the Twenty-first Massachusetts, instantly rose, and rushed over the rebel breastworks, chasing out their defenders, and following them in their retreat, securing by their impetuosity the capture of a large number, as no time was given for their escape from the island."*

The results of this grand achievement were of the greatest importance. Remaining forts and batteries fell; the rebel fleet was pursued; and, there being no hope of escape, it was burned by its own men. Mr. Pollard says we "had taken six forts, forty guns, nearly two thousand prisoners, and upwards of three thousand small arms; secured the water-avenues of Roanoke River, navigable for a hundred and twenty miles; got possession of the granary and larder of Norfolk, and threatened the back door of that city." The fall of Newbern, after a tremendous battle, was a direct sequence of the triumph on Roanoke Island: the time had come for the pride of the Rebellion to be humbled.

FORT DONELSON.

Let us now turn our eyes to the West. We there see Missouri saved to the Union by the prompt decisions and energetic action of Capt. (afterwards Gen.) Lyon, who fell in the moment of victory, greatly lamented by the American people; the formidable and imposing measures of Gen. Frémont, and the famous, terrific charge of his body-guard;" the treason of Gov. Jackson, with his pretences to take Missouri out of the Union against the declared will of a large majority of her people; the reckless attack upon his own State by the rebel general Price, and the cruel siege and slaughter at Lexington. We see also

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* Greeley, ii. 76.

the gathering of Union forces from the West, - men whose pioneer habits had prepared them for this war, and whose large intelligence and clear-sighted patriotism had determined them to hew their way to the mouth of the Mississippi; we see the first iron-clad fleet afloat on the Mississippi, commanded by the brave, devout, and energetic Commodore Foote; and we catch the first sight of Gen. U. S. Grant, the great American, whose calm judgment, keen eye, and desperate valor, were to shed undying lustre upon our arms and nation.

The Confederates, finding that Kentucky and Missouri had settled down into their proper position as loyal States of the Union, determined to repudiate the doctrine of State rights, and made war upon their brethren in slave territory. They determined to take military possession of the "upper centre zone" of the West, lying above the Tennessee River. This enormous task was intrusted to the command of Gen. Albert Sydney Johnson, an officer formerly of high repute in the regular army of the United States. When the war broke out, he had control of our forces on the Pacific, with headquarters at Alcatraz, San Francisco. As he evidently waited his opportunity to turn his command against his country, and tear from the head of the nation her golden crown, California, Oregon, and the Territories of our vast Pacific empire, were saved from the horrors of the Rebellion by the sudden, unannounced arrival of Gen. Sumner, who promptly relieved the future rebel general of his command. True to his purposes of treason, he soon found his way to the Southern army, where he was recognized as first in importance among the commanders of

treason.

Commodore Foote with his formidable war-fleet, and Gen. Grant, now intrusted with the command, under Gen. Halleck, of a large military district, had agreed upon the plan of their campaign. The Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers were guarded by Forts Henry and Donelson. These

were the keys to the upper and lower centre zones of this great war of the West; and after the preludes of Belmont, where Grant gained a surprising advantage over the rebels, and destroyed the camp, but was flanked, and obliged to retire; and of Mill Springs, where Gen. Thomas gained our first brilliant victory on land, — Grant and Foote moved boldly into the rebel territory to attempt the reduction of these forts. The combined land and naval attack upon Fort Henry was ordered for the 6th of February, 1862. Grant was to move to the rear of the fort to co-operate with Foote, and to prevent the escape of the garrison; but the energetic naval commander ran up the Tennessee to within cannon-shot of the enemy, and commenced the action with such promptness and spirit, and dashed the rebel batteries to pieces with such fury, that the garrison surrendered to the commodore before Gen. Grant could force his way to his intended position.

Johnson saw his danger, and, resolving to defend Nashville at Donelson, threw into the fort sixteen thousand of his best troops. The works had been constructed under the eye of a skilful engineer, and were very strong. Its river-defences were admirable; but, for the arrest of land-forces, the place was badly chosen. Anticipating the approach of Gen. Grant from Fort Henry directly toward a line of hills which would command the works, the Confederates took possession of these hills, shielding their forces by a line of earthworks, rifle-trenches, and abatis. By the greatest exertions, they were completed before Grant arrived.

Gen. Grant, with two divisions of fifteeen thousand men, reached his position on the afternoon of the 12th. The second division, under Brig.-Gen. C. F. Smith, moved to the left; and the first, under Brig.-Gen. J. A. M'Clernand, to the right. On the morning of the 13th, the action commenced by a furious cannonade. In the afternoon, a bold attempt was made to take an important point by assault, in which the forces of Grant were vigorously repulsed by the Confederates.

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Friday the 14th, Commodore Foote appeared with his noble fleet of iron-clads, gunboats, and transports, bringing ample supplies of rations and ammunition and ten thousand men, all welcomed by ringing cheers from the army. This splendid re-enforcement, constituting a third division under Gen. Lew. Wallace, was ordered to take position between the commands of Gens. M'Clernand and Smith. The 14th was occupied by Gen. Grant in getting the troops just arrived into position. Commodore Foote, having perfect confidence in his iron-clads, moved up promptly, and commenced the action; but he met a far different reception from that at Fort Henry. The rebels had arranged two formidable batteries so as to take frightful effect by plunging fire upon vessels of the fleet. They consisted of eight thirty-twopounders, three thirty-two-pound carronades, one ten-inch and one eight-inch columbiad, and one rifled thirty-twopounder. The rebels reserved their fire until the commodore brought up his fleet within less than four hundred yards of their batteries: then they suddenly opened with so terrific a fire as to soon end the strife on the water side of the fort. This action lasted only an hour and a half; but fifty-four patriots were killed or wounded, while not a Confederate was killed, nor had their batteries received any injury! The American people had learned one more lesson; and the brave commodore retired to repair his fleet, while Grant prepared to reduce the fort by siege. He was one of those extraordinary men who could fight with the most chivalrous daring, or wait in perfect self-command until his time should come.

Two days had sufficed to show the army of the Republic that the Confederate general had prepared this position for a most stubborn defence, to cripple and send out of the action a valuable and trusted fleet, and also to convince the rebel chiefs in command that Fort Donelson must soon become untenable. A Confederate council of war, therefore, resolved upon a desperate effort to clear the only practicable road to Nashville.

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