in its revolting utterance. The Louisville Journal, Kentucky, which will not be suspected of exaggeration, speaking upon this point, says: "Thousands have read with astonishment the account which historians give of the conduct of women in Paris during the Reign of Terror. The women are said to have been fiercer and more bloodthirsty than even the fiercest and most bloodthirsty of the men. The she devils had more of the spirit of hell than the he devils. They were loudest in their clamors for blood, blood, blood. Many of our people have supposed that the accounts given of these things must surely be fictions or exaggerations. They have felt themselves unable to conceive that woman's nature could become a thing so utterly revolting. But if they will look and listen in this region, at the present time, they will find that they have no further reason for incredulity or skepticism. The bitter and ferocious spirit of thousands of rebel women in Kentucky, Tennessee and other States, is scarcely, if at all, surpassed by the female monsters that shrieked and howled for victims in the French Revolution."

The Philadelphia Press contains a statement which it publishes upon authority thoroughly reliable. A wounded Union soldier, faint and bleeding, fell out from the ranks retreating through Winchester, Virginia, and sank down upon the steps of one of the houses. He had not been sitting there long when a woman came out and asked him if he were not able to walk. He replied that he was not. Seeing a revolver in his belt, she asked him to let her look at it. Suspecting nothing, he handed it to her. She deliberately presented it to his head, and ordered him immediately to leave the steps. He did so; and had hobbled along a distance of but a few feet, when she fired the pistol, piercing his side with the bullet. He fell on the street and instantly expired. The woman threw down the revolver and coolly walked back into the house. Moral philosophy will ponder these phenomena. They are astounding, inexplicable. The fiendlike spirit manifested by the female rebels is one of the most appalling developments of this great pro-slavery rebellion. There is but one common testimony upon this point, from officers, soldiers, surgeons and chaplains. Never has there been a more impressive illustration of the sentiment that "there is no wickedness like the wickedness of a woman.' One of the Union soldiers, who had been imprisoned at the South, and who had suffered everything from the insults and the venom of these female rebels, said, in the bitterness of his soul, that ever since this experience, he felt that he had especial cause of gratitude to God that "the Devil was not a woman."

By a proclamation of President Lincoln the blockade of several of the United States ports now reclaimed by the National troops, was raised on June 1st, and after twelve months' exclusion from the outer world, the port of New Orleans was again opened to commerce. Already had a glorious change been wrought in the condition of the city during its occupation by our troops. "The Union soldiers were met," said the New Orleans Delta of June 1st, "as the citizens of Rome might have met the Huns. One short month has elapsed. The streets are filled with smiling faces, business attracts with open doors, thugs have left, property is secure,

and Abraham Lincoln, by the grace of God and the electoral vote of the people, President of the United States of America, might walk unarmed and unaccompanied, at any time, through these streets in full security, and to the joy and delight of numbers who have heretofore been accustomed to link his name with curses and execrations." Slowly and gradually, at first, this change appeared. The terror of a twelvemonth could not be cast off in a day. But as one by one the citizens gathered courage to come forward and speak out their sentiments, the stream gathered strength and fullness, till, within the period of four weeks, the numbers who wish to bring themselves within the ægis of the National flag, became quite equal to the ability of the authorities to receive their declarations of allegiance.

The first instance of the infliction of the death penalty for treason in insulting the American flag, occurred in the hanging of Wm. Mumford, the leader of a mob which had torn down the flag on the mint, shortly after the surrender of the city. Six soldiers were also shot for breaking their parole, given at Fort Jackson, by forming themselves into a company for the rebel army. Bands of desperadoes, which had long infested the city, were broken up; murderers and rowdies, the terror of good citizens, during years of misrule, were arrested, and villains of every description made to feel that law and order could no longer be despised. These vigorous acts, united with a conciliatory course towards the repentant, and accompanied by a considerable restoration of trade, had a happy effect in strengthening the Union among a majority of the population.

The glorious dawn of reconstruction had begun, where the night of secession had long hung heavy and hopeless.

The occupation of New Orleans by Maj.-Gen. Butler released the greater part of the naval force from further duty there. Accordingly, on May 2, by orders of Commodore Farragut, part of his squadron began to ascend the Mississippi. He followed in a few days, leaving the Pensacola and one or two gun-boats opposite New Orleans to support the army, in case of an insurrection or an attack by rebel troops.

The imposing fleet, sailing along the stream fringed with rich plantations of sugar and cotton, was met with varied manifestations of curiosity, pleasure and fear, by the people who were gathered on the levees, or clustered in their verandahs to watch the brilliant pageant as it passed. There were few expressions of hostility. Secession flags were seldom seen. The ladies often saluted the fleet with the waving of handkerchiefs, and, in some instances, the Stars and Stripes, which had been carefully secreted, were displayed. No resistance was offered below Baton Rouge; but the cotton floating on the river and burning on the banks, showed the insane determination of many marauding bands to compel the planters to destroy their property, and thus to bring distress and ruin upon themselves and their families. Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana, one hundred and twenty miles above New Orleans, surrendered to the fleet and was garrisoned by several hundred Federal soldiers. The squadron then proceeded on its way to Vicksburg, meeting nowhere any serious resistance. The rumored strongholds and batteries that lined the Mississippi, between New Orleans and Vicksburg, "which the navies of the world could not reduce and

armies might assault in vain," were found to be mostly of fabulous existence—or, in the face of our advancing ships, were suddenly dismantled by their rebel garrisons and deserted.

At length the squadron reached Vicksburg, four hundred miles from the mouth of the Mississippi. This city was strongly defended by heavy batteries and a large rebel force under Maj.-Gen. Van Dorn. The enemy, in his almost impregnable position, tauntingly refused to surrender. To reduce the fortifications, most of the mortar fleet, which had returned from a reconnoisance in Mobile Bay, were ordered up from New Orleans. But the rebels, with their extensive batteries upon bluffs, which could with difficulty be reached from the bed of the river, successfully withstood the shells and the fire of the squadron, though a large part of the city was burnt during the bombardment. It became manifest that a stronger force would be required to sweep these formidable intrenchments from the cliff. The upper flotilla, now under Commodore C. H. Davis (Commodore Foote, after most heroic achievements, having retired for a season severely wounded), was slowly fighting its way down the river. The "wild and wondrous" adventures of this Western flotilla, until the two squadrons met beneath the cliffs of Vicksburg, and the varying fortunes of the protracted siege of that place, must be left for some future chapter.

CHAPTER XIX.

BATTLES IN MISSOURI AND THE CAPTURE OF FORT HENRY.

STATE OF AFFAIRS IN MISSOURI.-BATTLE OF BELMONT.-PHILOSOPHY OF DISASTER.-INCIDENTS ON THE FIELD.-New VIGOR OF THE REBELS.-BATTLE OF MILLFORD.-MT. ZION.-BATTLE OF SILVER CREEK.-ENERGY OF GEN. HALLECK.-THE FORTIFICATIONS AT COLUMBUS.-GEN. FREMONT'S PLAN.-FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON.-SKETCH OF ADMIRAL FOOTE.-THE EXPEDITION TO FORT HENRY.-CAPTURE OF THE FORT.-RESULTS OF THE BATTLE.-EXPEDITION INTO ALABAMA.

We must now turn our attention from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, a thousand miles into the interior, where the war was raging on the prairies and over the waters of the far West. On the 7th of November, 1861, the very day when the cannon of the National fieet were so gallantly demolishing the rebel fortresses at Port Royal, the thunders of another conflict were reverberating over the waves of the majestic Mississippi, more than a thousand miles above New Orleans, and more than a thousand miles below the Falls of St. Anthony. On the 2d day of November, MajorGeneral Fremont was superseded in command of the army of the West. Five days from that time, on the 7th, the battle of Belmont was fought, a battle equally remarkable for the heroism of the soldiers, officers and men, and for the inexplicable strategic and tactical movements, by which our troops were led into a trap from which the most desperate courage alone extricated them.

The National troops were in very considerable force at Cairo, a low and marshy point of land formed by the confluence of the Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers. The rebels were in great force, and so thoroughly intrenched as to deem themselves impregnable, about fifteen miles below, upon the bluffs of Columbus, on the eastern or Kentucky side of the Mississippi. Upon the opposite, or western bank of the river, in Missouri, there was the insignificant little village of Belmont. The Missouri shore is here low, marshy and covered with woods; while the Kentucky shore rises into a bluff from one hundred to one hundred and seventy-five feet in height. Here, behind the solid ramparts at Columbus, Gen. Polk had his headquarters, surrounded by 20,000 soldiers. Gen. U. S. Grant was then in command of the National forces at Cairo. A force of Union troops had already been dispatched, under Col. Oglesby, to attack Jeff. Thompson, encamped on St. Francis River, and to prevent him from forming a junction with Price. Information was received by Gen. Grant, that the rebels

at Columbus had been sending a large force across the river to Belmont, with the intention of cutting off Col. Oglesby, by superior numbers, and then, having formed a junction with Jeff. Thompson, to march in their united strength to assail Gen. Fremont, who was then on the eve of a battle with Price.

Gen. Fremont, when he left St. Louis on his campaign to attack Price, had sent orders to Cairo, that the rebels at Columbus should be narrowly watched, and, on no account, be permitted to reënforce Price. Though Gen. Fremont was now superseded, his army, under Gen. Hunter, was still in south-western Missouri, and it remained equally important that Price and Thompson should not form a junction. To prevent this, Gen. Grant resolved to break up the rebel encampment at Belmont, and thus threaten Columbus. At the same time an expedition was to menace Columbus upon the east, marching from Paducah, which was about twenty miles east of Columbus, situated on the Kentucky banks of the Ohio, at its confluence with the Tennessee River. Generals Grant and McClernand took charge of the expedition from Cairo.

On the evening of November 6, Gen. Smith marched from Paducah, with a small Union force, being directed to threaten Columbus, but not to approach nearer than within twelve or fifteen miles of its ramparts. A small force was also sent from Cairo, across the river to the Kentucky shore to act in coöperation with the troops from Paducah. The object of these varied movements was to distract the attention of the enemy, to lead him to suppose that Columbus was to be vigorously assailed, and to prevent him from sending any reënforcements to the rebels in Missouri. On the same evening a force of three thousand men embarked at Cairo, in four transports and two gun-boats, to sail down the river about twelve miles, and then landing, three miles above Belmont, to march upon the foe and attack them by surprise. All this was to be done under the veil of night. The night, however, proved so intensely dark, with clouds and fog, that the little fleet could not grope its way along. It was eight o'clock in the morning when the troops reached the point of their debarkation, three miles above Columbus, and out of the range of the guns of their batteries. The debarkation effected, the two gun-boats dropped down the river a couple of miles, and engaged the rebel batteries on the Columbus side. The Union troops advanced as rapidly as possible along the Missouri shore, fighting their way, to attack the rebel camp at Belmont. The camp was situated on a slight eminence, which rose a little back of the river, from the low lands which fringed its banks. The rebels, from their hill-top, had witnessed the debarkation of the troops, and thus were not only prepared to receive them, but a reënforcement of four regiments was immediately sent across to their aid from Columbus.

A march of a mile and a half brought the National troops within range of the enemy's guns. The rebel camp was not protected by any earthıworks of much moment, but in lieu thereof, some twenty acres of timber had been felled immediately in front of their camp. Concealed behind this very formidable abatis, through and over which it was almost impossible for our troops to force their way, the rebels fought with desperation,