stopping further damage from the fleet. The Monarch then looked after her disabled consort, the Queen of the West, and towed her ashore, placing her in a position of security. The gunboats now increased their fire against the enemy, when the flag ship, having obtained an excellent range, threw a 50-pound ball from a rifled Parrott, striking the Gen. Lovell aft above the water line, tearing a great hole in her, through which the water rushed like a torrent. She began to sink at once, giving few of the officers and crew time to save themselves. In less than four minutes the vessel had sunk in seventy-five feet of water, and passed entirely out of sight. Some of the crew went down with the Lovell, but about fifty of them leaped into the river, and were struggling in the water, when the Benton's crew arrived in

advance of several other cutters from the flotilla, and just in time to see the chimneys of the hostile gunboat disappear beneath the water. Many of the crew had already begun to swim for the shore. Some six or seven, however, were rescued by the cutter, but the current was so strong that a large number were carried off and drowned. The engagement still continued warm and desperate. The smoke of the battle so obscured the boats that it was difficult to see them at any distance, yet the levee of Memphis was black with the crowd of human beings. From the time the rams made their appearance, the Confederate gunboats had been steadily falling back, though continuing to fire heavily, before the advance of the Federal gunboats.

The Jeff. Thompson, Gen. Bragg, Sumter, and Van Dorn were the only vessels remaining, and these were so frequently struck and saw so little opportunity of escaping, that they turned their bows ashore. As soon as the Thompson reached the shore her officers and crew leaped off, and ran through the woods; but a shell exploding on the vessel, she took fire and was burned to the water's edge. The Gen. Bragg reached the shore about half a mile below the Thompson, and her officers and crew escaped. The Sumter followed next, and the Gen. Van Dorn, which was a swift vessel, alone escaped down the river. The Federal fleet now came to anchor before the city. The engagement had lasted over an hour. No one was killed on the fleet.

The loss of the other side could not be stated. About one hundred were made prisoners. The other mortar boats, owing to a misconception of orders, were not engaged. The following correspondence then ensued between Com. Davis and the city authorities:

UNITED STATES FLAG STEAMER BENTON, OFF MEMPHIS, June 5, 1862. SIR: I have respectfully to request that you will surrender the city of Memphis to the authority of the United States, which I have the honor to represent. I am, Mr. Mayor, with high respect,

C. H. DAVIS, Flag Officer commanding, etc. To His Honor the Mayor of the City of Memphis. The answer of the mayor was as follows:

MAYOR'S OFFICE, MEMPHIS, June 6, 1882. SIR: Your note of this date is received, and contents

noted. In reply I have only to say that, as the civil authorities have no means of defence, by the force of circumstances the city is in your hands.

Respectfully, JOHN PARK, Mayor. To C. H. Davis, Flag Officer commanding, etc. Commander Davis wrote in reply as follows: UNITED STATES FLAG STEAMER BENTON, OFF MEMPHIS, June 6, 1862.

SIR: The undersigned, commanding the naval military forces of the United States in front of Memphis, has the honor to say to the Mayor and the city that military possession immediately. Col. Fitch, commanding the Indiana brigade, will take

Col. Fitch will be happy to receive the coöperation of His Honor the Mayor and the city authorities in maintaining peace and order. To this end he will be pleased to confer with His Honor the Mayor at the military headquarters at 8 o'clock this afternoon.

Yours, etc.,

C. H. DAVIS,
Flag Officer commanding, etc.
To the Mayor of the City of Memphis.

The military occupation of the city followed, and the appointment of a provost marshal. Memphis is the most populous and important town, on the Mississippi river, between St. Louis and New Orleans. Its population in 1860 was 22,625.

About the 10th. of June the gunboats St. Louis, Mound City, Lexington, and Conestoga, with the transport New National, having on board the 46th Indiana regiment, Col. Fitch, left Memphis, on an expedition up the White river, to open communication with the army of Gen. Curtis, and to remove the obstructions in that river. The White river is formed by the junction of three small branches, which unite a few miles east of Fayetteville, Arkansas. It flows first northwesterly into Missouri, and after making a circuit of about one hundred miles, returns into Arkansas, and pursues a southeasterly course to the mouth of Black river. Thence its direction is nearly south, until it enters the Arkansas fifteen miles above its mouth. It is navigable by steamboats to the mouth of Black river, three hundred and fifty miles, in all stages of water.

As the expedition approached St. Charles, the Mound City, being in advance, was fired on from two concealed batteries. This was returned. Meantime the troops were landed below for the purpose of marching in the rear and capturing the batteries. At this juncture a ball from a siege gun on the bluff struck the forward and left side of the Mound City and penetrated the casemate and passed through the steam drum. The vessel was immediately filled with the escaping vapor and nearly every one on board was scalded; only twentythree of the officers and crew, numbering one hundred and seventy-five, escaped uninjured. A horrible scene ensued. Many of the crew, frantic with pain, jumped overboard, and some were drowned. The boats from the Conestoga, which was coming up at the time, were sent to their relief, but the enemy fired on the men in the water with grape and canister from their field pieces, killing most of those who were

attempting to escape. Meantime Col. Fitch, learning the facts, pushed forward with his regiment and carried the works at the point of the bayonet. They consisted of two batteries, the lower of which mounted six fieldpieces, and the upper one three heavy siege guns. About thirty prisoners were taken, among whom was Col. Frye, commanding the post. This expedition failed to open communication with Gen. Curtis, as has been heretofore stated.

As Memphis was the second important city in the West captured by the Federal troops, a more full statement of affairs there after its occupation will serve as a general illustration of the proceedings in the captured cities.

A satisfactory arrangement was made as aforesaid with the civil authorities, all the more readily as the mayor and a great many of the citizens-according to some accounts the majority-were Union men. Although previously Col. Ellet, commanding the ram fleet, had made an independent movement toward placing the city under the Federal authority, of which the following is his official report to the Secretary of War:

U.S. RAM SWITZERLAND, OPPOSITE MEMPHIS, June 7, P. M.) Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War: SIR: Yesterday, after the engagement with the rebel fleet had nearly terminated, and the gunboats and one of my rams had passed below, I was informed that a white flag had been raised in the city. I immediately sent my son, a medical cadet, Chas. R.

Ellet, ashore with a flag of truce and the following

note to the authorities:

On receiving this reply the small party proceeded to the post office to raise the national flag, and were there joined by the mayor. It is proper to say that the conduct of the mayor and some of the citizens was unexceptionable. The party was surrounded by an excited crowd, using angry and threatening language, but they ascended to the top of the post office and planted the flag, though fired upon several times and stoned by the mob below. Still I believe this conduct was reprobated by the people of standing in the place; indeed, many evidences of an extensive Union feeling there reach me.

Respectfully,

CHAS. ELLET, JR., Commanding Ram Fleet.

The same evening the citizens, to the number of some two thousand, reported themselves, armed and equipped, to the provost marshal to prevent the destruction of property by the mob, who it was feared would fire the city, in fulfilment of a threat which had been made some time previously; but, beyond the breaking open of the Mississippi and Tennessee Railroad depot, little or no disorder occurred. The same day Col. Fitch issued a proclamation to the citizens, announcing that he had taken military possession of the city. "Residents who may have fled from their homes," he continues, "are exhorted to return; merchants and others who have abandoned their business are requested to reopen their stores and shops, excepting those dealing in intoxicating liquors, who are forbidden to resume that traffic under penalty of having the stock immediately destroyed. The mayor and common council will continue in the exercise of their municipal functions, the military authorities simply cooperating with them in enforcing all proper ordinances, unless some exigency arises rendering it imperative to place the city under martial law. It is hoped and believed, however, nothing will occur to render this step necessary." In fact, the most perfect tranquillity continued to prevail; the municipal authorities cooperated cordially with the military in preserving order; and great numbers of citizens, who had fled on the destruction of the Confederate fleet, began to re1,494 bales of cotton, and large quantities of turn to their homes. Before the surrender, sugar and molassses, had been destroyed by order of the Confederate Government, but the citizens had succeeded in concealing probably $150,000 worth of these staples, which now began to find their way to the levees. Any person was allowed to go North, or ship goods thither, on taking the oath of allegiance. Trade was extremely dull for a week or two; many of the shops remained closed, and owing to the lack of every species of currency except Confederate scrip, Northern merchants, who had sent goods to Memphis, were in several instances compelled to reship them.

June 13th.
The Memphis post office was reopened on

On the same day Col. James R. Slack, of the 47th Indiana volunteers, assumed command of the city, and immediately issued the following order:

General Orders No. 3.

HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES FORCES, MEMPHIS, TENN., June 18, 1862. Hereafter the dealing in and passage of currency known as "Confederate Scrip' or "Confederate Notes" is positively prohibited, and the use thereof as a circulating medium is regarded as an insult to the Government of the United States, and an imposition upon the ignorant and deluded.

All persons offending against the provisions of this order will be promptly arrested and severely punished by the military authorities. By order of JAS. R. SLACK, Colonel Commanding Post. The Mayor and Board of Aldermen addressed

a letter to Col. Slack, representing that in the absence of almost all other money the order above cited was certain to cause great distress and suffering among the laboring class, and requesting him to leave the matter for sixty days "to the judgment and discretion of the people." Their request was not granted, Col. Slack reminding them, in his answer, "that the so-called Confederate States issued all their notes in bills of the denomination of $50's and $20's," and that consequently the laboring class probably had very few of them in their possession. "The ruinous effect to which you allude," he continued, "will strike a different class altogether. The calamity of having to contend with a depreciated currency, and to which you refer, will come upon the people sooner or later, and I see no reason why it may not as well come now as sixty days hence.

"Those who have been the most active in getting up this wicked rebellion, are the individuals whose pockets are lined with Confederate notes; and if sixty days' time should be given them, it is only giving that much time for those who are responsible for its issue to get rid of it without loss, and the worthless

trash will be found in the hands of the unsuspecting and credulous, who have always been the dupes of designing Shylocks, by inducing them to accept of a circulating medium which

was issued to aid in the destruction of the first and best Government ever known to civilization."

On the 17th Gen. Lewis Wallace arrived at Memphis, and assumed the chief command by virtue of his rank. His principal official act, during the few days that he remained in Memphis, was to take possession of the "Argus newspaper office, where he installed the correspondents of the "New York Herald" and "New York Tribune" as editors. The provost marshal also issued orders to the guard to shoot any one tearing down United States flags, and imprison citizens carrying concealed weapons. On the 20th Col. Slack issued the following "General Orders No. 8:"

Members of the Board of Aldermen, the Mayor, City Recorder, and all other persons discharging any official duty within the city of Memphis, and under the charter thereof, are required to come before the Provost Marshal and take the oath of allegiance to the Government of the United States within three days, or, in default thereof, will be regarded as sympathizing, aiding, and abetting rebellion, and will be arrested and treated as only traitors deserve.

On the 25th a Union meeting was held in Court House Square, at which some 350 or 400 persons were present, about 200 of them being citizens. After several speeches had been made, a series of resolutions were passed pledging the support of the meeting to the Union ticket at the municipal election to be held the next day; and the meeting then adjourned, to reassemble in the evening for the purpose of nominating candidates. The election on the 26th passed off quietly, not more than 700 votes being cast. John Park, the Union candidate, was reelected

mayor without opposition. All persons offering to vote were required to take the oath of allegiance.

The city was now for some weeks the headquarters of Gen. Grant, and Col. J. D. Webster was appointed commandant of the post. The editors of the "Argus" were permitted to resume the direction of their paper, with the understanding that their immediate arrest and the suppression of the paper would follow the appearance of any disunion article in it.

The Northern shipments from Memphis up to the 27th of June were, according to the report of the Trade Committee, 9,206 hhds. of sugar, 8,117 hhds. of molasses, and 7,061 bales of cotton. The number of persons who had taken the oath of allegiance in the city at the same date was estimated at 3,000.

On the 1st of July the "Memphis Avalanche" was suppressed, but its reissue being allowed on condition of the retirement of the chief editor, it appeared the next day as a "Bulletin." On the 10th of July Gen. Grant published the following order:

The families now residing in the city of Memphis, of the following persons, are required to move South beyond our lines within five days from the date hereof: 1. All persons holding commissions in the so-called Confederate army, or who are voluntarily enlisted in said army, or who accompany and are connected with

the same.

2. All persons holding office under or in the employ of the so-called Confederate Government.

3. All persons holding State, county, or municipal offices, who claim allegiance to the said so-called Confederate Government, and who have abandoned their families and gone South.

Gen. Grant went to Corinth on the 11th, and was succeeded at Memphis by Gen. A. P. Hovey, who published an order on the 16th requiring all male residents of the city, between 18 and 45 years of age, to take the oath of allegiance within six days or go South. About 1,300 took the oath and 500 were sent South. On the 17th it was discovered that a Confederate telegraph operator had interrupted the line between Memphis and Corinth, over which passed Gen. Halleck's messages to Flag-Officer Davis, Gen. Curtis, and the commandant at Memphis, and with the aid of a pocket instrument had read all the official despatches sent over the wires for four days.

Maj.-Gen. W. T. Sherman reached Memphis with reënforcements on the 20th, and took command of the post. On the 24th he published an order reopening trade and communication with the surrounding country under certain restrictions. Travel into and out of the city, over five specified roads, without passes or any hindrance except the right of search by the guard at the discretion of the officer in command, was freely permitted to farmers, planters, and business men with their families and servants. This travel must in all cases be by daylight, except in the case of market and supply carts. Another order prohibited the payment of gold, silver, or treasury

notes for cotton, and ordered quartermasters to seize all cotton purchased after that date and send it North to be sold, the proceeds to be held subject to the claim of the owners. Tennessee or Southern paper might be used for the purchase of cotton, or buyers might give obligations to pay at the end of the war, or at the pleasure of the Government, or might deposit the value of it with the quartermaster, to be held in trust for the planters. This order was soon afterward modified by direction of the Government at Washington.

A few days later Gen. Grant directed Gen. Sherman to "take possession of all vacant stores and houses in the city, and have them rented at reasonable rates, and to be paid monthly in advance." These buildings, with their tenants, were to be turned over to the proprietors on proof of loyalty. Houses which had been leased by disloyal owners were also to be seized, and the rents appropriated by the United States. Early in August he also ordered the families of all persons absent in the Confederate States to be sent out of Memphis.

On the 9th of the same month it was announced that one artillery and three infantry companies, comprising in the aggregate 400 men, had been enlisted in Memphis for the Federal army and had taken the field, and two others were recruiting.

Toward the close of the month Gen. Sherman issued an order prohibiting the importation and sale, except by permit, of arms, ammunition, salt, and salt meat; and commanding dealers to keep an account of goods received and the disposition made of them, said account to be subject to inspection at all times by the provost marshal. Dealers in arms and medicines, detected in endeavoring to get the same outside the Union lines, were to suffer the extreme penalty of military law.

A meeting of citizens was called by the General on the 7th of September, at which he made an address in answer to various complaints which had been made of his administration. The attendance was very large, and an unmistakable feeling of loyalty was indicated by the assembly.

About the 10th a joint order was issued by Gen. Sherman and W. D. Gallagher, agent of the Treasury Department, for the regulation of commercial intercourse between Memphis, Helena, and other points. No boats were to receive goods without permits, and persons who had never encouraged secession were to receive facilities for shipping supplies on their taking oath that no part of the same were to be sold to disloyal parties.

On the 25th of October Gen. Sherman published stringent regulations for the government of the city. A military commission of three army officers was to sit daily to try offenders under the laws of war. Vagrants, thieves, and other disreputable characters, were to be or ganized into gangs and set to work in the trenches or on the streets. Citizens lurking about the camps were to be treated as spies. The inhabitants were to keep within doors between tattoo and reveille, unless attending church, places of amusement, a party of friends, or necessary business. After midnight all persons must be in their houses, except the guard. Assemblages of negroes were forbidden, except by permission previously obtained from the provost marshal.

On the 7th of November another Union meeting was held at Memphis.

About the same time the general commanding prohibited the importation of liquors, except by gentlemen-citizens and officers, for the exclusive use of themselves and their families; by regular apothecaries for medicinal purposes, to be retailed on a physician's prescription; or by keepers of hotels and licensed saloons, in limited quantities, not exceeding one month's supply at a time.

Gen. Sherman took the field about the middle of December, and the command of Memphis devolved upon Gen. Hurlbut, who immediately caused all drinking saloons to be closed.

On the 21st of December the guerrillas, who had been for some time growing daily bolder in their operations about Memphis, burning cotton, intercepting supplies, and forcing conscripts into the Confederate army, attacked the suburbs of the city, committed great depredations, and carried off 100 head of cattle and 180 mules. The next day a meeting of the citizens was held to provide means of defence. On the 24th the guerrillas appeared again, drove the Federal pickets within the fortifications, and plundered the neighboring shops and houses. Two companies of citizens were immediately enrolled for home defence, and the provost marshal interdicted for the time all trade with the surrounding country. The arrival of two regiments of Federal troops, however, soon quieted the public alarm. In consequence of these occurrences, the election for member of Congress in the district of which Memphis forms a part, which was to have been held, under Gov. Johnson's proclamation, on the 29th of December, was postponed twenty days A quiet state of affairs ensued. The population of Memphis in 1860 was 22,623.

THE military operations in Tennessee, which finally controlled the movements of the Mississippi River expedition, had paused after the capture of Nashville, as above described, but were soon resumed again. The first step consisted in fitting out a great expedition to proceed under Gen. Grant up the Tennessee River. More than fifty-seven steamers and two gunboats were required to transport and convoy the force. It was organized in five divisions, each consisting of infantry, cavalry, and artillery. The advance was under the command of Gen. Sherman, 2d division under Gen. Hurlbut, 3d division under Gen. McClernard, 4th division under Gen. L. Wallace, and 5th division under Col. Lanman of the 7th Iowa regiment. On the 11th of March the transports began to arrive at Savannah in Tennessee. On the night of the 12th the Tyler and Lexington were sent up the river to reconnoitre as far as Eastport, forty miles above Savannah. The enemy was found constructing fortifications and with a considerable force. It was known that the Confederate forces were also concentrated along the lines of railroad south and southwest of the river.

The line of defence now adopted by the Confederate commander after his first line was broken up, had for its base the Charleston and Memphis Railroad, the preservation of which was absolutely necessary to any pretence of resistance through northern Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. Along this railroad are Tuscumbia and Florence, at the foot of the Muscle shoals in the Tennessee River and the junction with the Florence and Nashville Railroad; Decatur, near the head of the lower Muscle Shoal; Huntsville and Bellefontaine; Stevenson, important as the junction with the railroad from Nashville through Murfreesboro' and Chattanooga, a strong position. All these points are east of Corinth. On the west of Corinth the railroad runs in a nearly straight line to Memphis, ninety-three miles distant; and northwest runs the road to Jackson, almost in the centre of West Tennessee.

The Union line was the Tennessee River, extending from Paducah, Kentucky, to Eastport in Mississippi. The gunboats Lexington and Tyler, by moving up and down the river, prevented the erection of batteries. Above Eastport, at Chickasaw Bluffs and at some other points, Confederate batteries were placed to command the navigation of the river.

On the 5th of March Gen. Beauregard as

sumed the command of the Southern forces in this department, when he issued the following address to his soldiers:

SOLDIERS: I assume this day the command of the army of the Mississippi, for the defence of our homesteads and liberties, and to resist the subjugation, spoliation, and dishonor of our people. Our mothers and wives, our sisters and children, expect us to do our duty, even to the sacrifice of our lives.

Our losses since the commencement of this war, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, are now about the same as those of the enemy.

lately experienced. Those reverses, far from dis heartening, must nerve us to new deeds of valor and patriotism, and should inspire us with an unconquerable determination to drive back our invaders. before us, let him transfer his arms and equipments at Should any one in this army be unequal to the task once to braver, firmer hands, and return to his home.

He must be made to atone for the reverses we have

Our cause is as just and sacred as ever animated men to take up arms; and if we are true to it and to ourselves, with the continued protection of the Almighty we must and shall triumph.

Associated with Gen. Beauregard in command were Gens. Albert Sidney Johnston, Bragg, Polk, Pillow, Cheatham, and others. The Confederate force consisted not only of the troops from the adjacent States which had been in service for months, but also of new levies now called out by the governors on the requisition of Mr. Davis. They were encamped principally at Corinth, with detachments at various points on the railroad, so situated that they could be easily concentrated on any point.

Corinth is at the intersection of the Mobile and Ohio and Memphis and Charleston Railroads, in Tishemingo Co., Mississippi, forty miles from Grand Junction, fifty-eight miles from Jackson, Tennessee, and about eighteen miles from Pittsburg on the Tennessee River. It is situated in a hilly, semi-mountainous country.

The Federal forces at first concentrated at Savannah, a small town of two hundred inhabitants, on the Tennessee River, about one hundred and seventy miles above Fort Henry. The number of transports which arrived by the 13th of March, was eighty-two. This force comprised all of Gen. Grant's original command, with an additional force of infantry, almost entirely from the State of Ohio. All the steamers that formed the regular line of packets between Louisville and New Orleans and between Louisville and St. Louis were in the fleet, carrying from 1,200 to 1,500 men each, and heavily laden. The demonstrations of the inhabitants along the shore of the river were of the most extravagant character. One declared