soon as the troops crossed the imaginary line and entered North Carolina, there was an immediate change in the treatment of the citizens. It was no longer necessary to restrain the men. All burning and destruction of property was voluntarily abandoned. The troops took only such articles as were needed for their immediate use. Many of the North Carolinians were found strong loyalists. Most of the people remained quietly in their homes, manifesting no fear of the army. Old men with gray beards would frequently come from their dwellings, and tell proudly how their fathers fought in the Revolution to establish our independence, and declaring that they would do nothing to dishonor the flag for which their sires had bled and died.

Our army still spread over a wide extent of country, with divisions traversing different roads, and squadrons of cavalry sweeping in all directions, so that it was impossible for the rebels to obtain any reliable information respecting the movements which were contemplated.

About noon, on the 3d of March, the Seventeenth Corps entered Cheraw. The rebels retreated across the Pedee, burning the bridge behind them. After destroying the military stores which were found here, the columns again moved for Fayetteville, North Carolina. On the 11th of March, the Fourteenth and Seventeenth Corps reached Fayetteville. They had quite a sharp skirmish with Wade Hampton's cavalry, that covered the rear of Hardee's retreating army. During the 12th, 13th, and 14th, the majestic host swept through Fayetteville. Here they destroyed a vast amount of machinery, which the rebels had stolen from the United States Arsenal at Harper's Ferry. All the rebel forces in that region were now gathering in the vicinity of Raleigh. Beauregard, Hardee, Johnston, and Iloke were uniting their separate commands. Their united cavalry was superior to General Sherman's, and the whole army, under the leadership of General Joe Johnston, was so formidable as exceedingly to task General Sherman's military abilities.

Fort Fisher had already fallen beneath the heroic assaults of Admiral Porter and General Terry. Wilmington was occupied by the National troops. Two trusty scouts were dispatched to General Terry at Wilmington, and General Schofield at Newbern, informing them of General Sherman's design to march upon Goldsboro', while he made a feint upon Raleigh. On the morning of March 12th, the army-tug Davidson, ascending the Cape Fear River from Wilmington, brought General Sherman the first news he had received for many weeks from the outer world. Pontoon bridges were soon laid across the river, and the army pressed on its way. The weather continued very bad, and the roads were mere quagmires. It was necessary to corduroy almost every rod to facilitate the passage of the artillery and wagon trains.

On Wednesday, the 15th of March, the columns moved out from Fayetteville. The left wing of the army encountered the enemy in an intrenched position on a narrow, swampy neck of land between Cape Fear and South Rivers. Hardee had assembled here twenty thousand men, hoping to hold General Sherman in check, until most of the rebel army could be assembled. There was no time to be lost; yet it was extremely

diffent to carry the position, from the nature of the ground, which was so soft and miry that Lorses and even men could with difficulty force their

war over it.

The battle of Averysboro, as this conflict was called, commenced about Hoon on Wednesday, the 15th of March. It continued till night. During the whole night there were skirmishes. Through the whole of Thursday the battle raged with unintermitted fury. Assault after assault was repulsed by the rebels behind their intrenchments. On the night of the 16th the rebels ded, Laving lost six hundred men, while the Union loss was nearly a thousand Averysboro' is about thirty miles from Fayetteville, on the direct road to Raleigh, which is distant about thirty-five miles. Eighteen miles east of Averysboro', in an air-line, there is the little village of Bentonville, twenty-six miles west of Goldsboro'. Johnston marched rapidly down from Raleigh, and took position at this village. Here there was another battle hotly contested. Hour after hour war's tempest raged, and no one could tell upon whose banners victory would alight. Now whole brigades of the Union troops were driven more than a mile through the swamp. Again order emerged from apparent chaos, new lines were formed, and the rebels in their turn fled wildly.

Hour after hour, through the afternoon and the evening, the "fate of the day trembled in the balance." At night, after very heavy losses on both sides, the rebels retired, leaving the field to the Union troops. So far as could be ascertained, our loss was about two thousand, that of the enemy about three thousand. Johnston's entire infantry force was on the field, giving him probably over thirty thousand men. By daybreak on the 20th, several divisions of the Union army had come up. Johnston had again made a stand. Howard, Davis, Logan, Blair, hurled their forces upon the foe, and after another desperate conflict, at night the rebels again retired. They retreated upon Smithfield, abandoning the contest for Goldsboro'.

General Schofield had already occupied the place, ascending from Newbern. Sherman's army, the next day, with irrepressible enthusiasm, marched into the town, and joined the comrades from whom they had been so long separated. General Sherman now hurried to the head-quarters of General Grant, to arrange with him new plans of conquest. He left Goldsboro' on the 25th, and reached City Point on the evening of the 27th. The two armies were now in a position to coöperate in striking those few last but tremendous blows, before which Richmond and the Confederacy were doomed to fall. The next day, General Sherman returned to his victorious troops, having arranged, all his plans to pursue the rebel Johnston to Raleigh, and to demolish or capture his army.

On Tuesday, April 12th, our columns were again in motion towards Raleigh. Just as they were getting under march on Wednesday morning, General Saxton and his staff riding in advance of the corps, those in the rear heard the most enthusiastic cheering from the front, for which they could not account. Soon two horsemen came galloping down the road, waving their hats and shouting: "GENERAL LEE HAS SURRENDERED HIS WHOLE ARMY TO GENERAL GRANT!"

In an instant,

The joyful tidings flew as on the wings of the wind. as it were by some magnetic impulse, the shout rolled along the whole line, those in the rear sympathetically catching the strain, though as yet uninformed as to the cause of the joyful cry. Soon General Couch rode along with his head uncovered, holding a paper in his hands. The brigade commanders assembled their several brigades by columns of regiments massed as close together as they could stand. Then Colonel Moore, with his staff officers and commanders of brigades around him, read the following order :

"The General Commanding announces to the army that he has official notice from General Grant, that General Lee surrendered to him his entire army, on the 9th instant, at Appomattox Court-House.

"Glory be to God, and to our country; and all honor to our comrades in arms, towards whom we are marching. A little more labor, a little more toil on our part, and the great race is won, and our Government stands regenerated, after its four long years of bloody war.

"W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General Commanding."

The scene which ensued can neither be described nor imagined. A brigade band struck up "The Star-Spangled Banner." But the triumphant tones were lost in the tumult of countless thousands of voices. Hats were tossed into the air, knapsacks were thrown about, soldiers and officers laughed, cried, and embraced each other. Some rolled upon the ground in the exuberance of their joy; banners were waved. It was a long time before this frenzy subsided into silence and order.

The troops then resumed their march. As they advanced, the country improved, becoming more hilly and dry, so that the army could proceed with more rapidity. They crossed the Neuse two miles below Smithfield, on two pontoon bridges, and encamped that night about nine miles from Raleigh. The next morning they were in motion at early light. All the commands, pressing rapidly forward by different roads, were converging towards the capital. As the Union army drew nigh, General Johnston, with his rebel army, retired, and a deputation of the citizens rode out to General Sherman, tendering the surrender of the city.

The country became more attractive, with cultivated fields and not a few beautiful mansions. Soon the dome of the capitol appeared rising over the luxuriant foliage. Gradually the roads became blocked up with the troops and trains crowding into the city. They passed long lines of abandoned earthworks, but no banners were to be seen except those of our own regiments floating gayly in the breeze. Without firing a hostile shot or uttering a shout of exultation, the patriot troops, marching to the gen tle tap of the drum, entered the capital of North Carolina.

Raleigh was a beautiful city. It suffered far less than any other important place which our armies occupied during the war. The city had contained about five thousand inhabitants, and supported several fine schools. The university at Chapel Hill, with an able corps of professors, and nearly five hundred pupils, had attained a national reputation. The

fine residences and ornamented grounds bore witness to the opulence and refinement of many of its inhabitants. The capitol was the finest building in North Carolina, and was esteemed superior to that of any other State in the South. It was situated in the centre of the city, upon the highest point, from which the four principal streets diverged, east, west, north,

and south.

As our troops entered the city the people generally kept in their houses, peeping through the blinds at the Yankee battalions swarming through the streets. As the divisions of the grand army arrived, they took their positions, one after another, within the city, and upon all the main thoroughfares around it. We regret to say that it is the universal testimony that, throughout all the South, the most venomous rebels were the clergy and the women. In Raleigh, as everywhere else, some of the women, taking advantage of the protection which their sex afforded them, insulted, in every way in their power, even the guards who were stationed to protect their dwellings. Many, however, received the guards not only with civility, but with gratitude.

The citizens testified that Johnston's army, in its retreat through the town, exhibited a spectacle of haggardness, rags, and misery, seldom equalled. The men all seemed dispirited, and thoroughly disgusted with the war. It was the general impression that Johnston would not attempt much longer to carry on the struggle. The people of North Carolina had been very reluctantly drawn into the rebellion. The unintelligent masses had been deceived and betrayed. The arch-traitor Yancey, who possessed wonderful powers of popular eloquence, had harangued the multitude all through the State, assuring them that the Yankees never would fight; that by a little show of boldness they could have every thing their own way, and that he would pledge his honor that he would pay all the expenses of the war with a ten-cent piece, and that with his handkerchief he would wipe up all the blood that would be shed.

Late on Friday evening, April 14th, a flag of truce came in from General Johnston, proposing a conference with General Sherman, with refer ence to a surrender of the rebel army. And here we must leave General Sherman for a time, while we go back in point of time, and visit the Bay of Mobile, and contemplate the stormy scenes which were transpiring there.

CHAPTER XLI.

THE CAPTURE OF MOBILE.

(From July, 1864, to March, 1865.)

ORDER OF ADMIRAL FARRAGUT.-SKILFUL LINE OF BATTLE.-PASSING FORT MORGAN.-FATE OF THE TECUMSEH.-CONTEST WITH THE REBEL RAM TENNESSEE-COMMENDATORY NOTICES.-SURRENDER OF FORT MORGAN.--DISGRACEFUL CONDUCT OF COMMANDER PAGE.-INCIDENTS of THE BATTLE.-INVESTMENT OF MOBILE.-ITS SURRENDER.-CONFLICT BETWEEN THE KEARSARGE AND ALABAMA.

THE conflict in the Bay of Mobile, in which the rebel fleet was destroyed, and Fort Morgan was captured, was one of the most remarkable engagements on record. On the 12th of July, 1864, Admiral Farragut issued the following spirited order to the commanders of the fleet. It was dated from the United States flag-ship Hartford, off Mobile :

GENERAL ORDER, No. 10.

"Strip your vessels and prepare for the conflict. Send down all your superfluous spars and rigging; trice up or remove the whiskers; put up the splinter-nets on the starboard side; and barricade the wheel and steersmen with sails and hammocks. Lay chains or sand-bags on the deck over the machinery, to resist a plunging fire. Ilang the sheet-chains over the side, or make any other arrangement for security that your ingenuity may suggest. Land your starboard boats, or lower and tow them on the port side, and lower the port boats down to the water's edge. Place a leadsman and the pilot in the port quarter-boat, or the one most convenient to the commander.

"The vessels will run past the forts in couples, lashed side by side, as hereinafter designated. The flag-ship will lead and steer from Sand Island, north by east by compass, until abreast of Fort Morgan; then northwest half north, until past the Middle Ground, then north by west; and the others, as designated in the drawing, will follow in due order, until ordered to anchor; but the bow and quarter line must be preserved to give the chase-guns a fair range, and each vessel must be kept astern of the broadside of the next ahead; each vessel will keep a very little on the starboard quarter of his next ahead, and, when abreast of the fort, will keep directly astern, and as we pass the fort, will take the same distance on the port quarter of the next ahead, to enable the stern guns to fire clear of the next vessel astern.

"It will be the object of the admiral to get as close to the fort as possible before opening fire; the ships, however, will open fire the moment the enemy opens upon us, with their chase and other guns, as fast as they