222

NATIONALS REPULSED AT SABINE PASS.

and surrendered. Twenty minutes after the attack, the two vessels were in tow of Confederate steamers-small bay craft that had been converted into rams. The Arizona ran aground, and Franklin, seeing the naval force suddenly disabled, made no serious attempt to land, but, with the transports and the grounded vessel, which floated at midnight, hastened over the bar and returned to New Orleans. He left behind him, as trophies for the Confederates, two hundred men as prisoners, fifty killed and wounded,' and two gun-boats, with fifteen heavy rifled guns. Loudly the Texans shouted because of this victory, and with good reason, for the garrison of the fort which repulsed four gun-boats and four thousand land troops consisted of

only honor of the kind known to have been bestowed by the Conspirators upon their servants during the war. Had Franklin landed a major's command for action, the squad in the fort might have been easily driven away by them, and Houston, only forty miles distant, and flanking Galveston, might have been captured, for General Washburne, with a force equal to Franklin's, was ready at Brashear City to co-operate with the latter.

After the failure of Franklin's expedition, and the notification given by it to the Confederates of the intention of the Nationals, it was impracticable to renew the effort there. Banks, therefore, concentrated his forces on the Atchafalaya, with the intention of marching directly on Shreveport. He soon perceived that it would be almost impossible to do so. The country to be traversed, after leaving the railway, was exhausted, having been overrun by both armies. A great drouth was drying up the springs; and over the bad roads through that flat region, liable at that season to being drowned by sudden rains, he could not carry in wagons, full four hundred miles, sufficient supplies of food and forage. So he abandoned the attempt, and determined to grasp Texas by the throat, as it were, by seizing and holding the har bors on its coast.

1 Among the killed, by the steam, was Lieutenant Robert Rhodes, of the navy. Of the killed, wounded. and captured, were ninety of the sharp-shooters of the army.

2 This medal, the appearance of which is given in the above engraving, the exact size of the original, was made of a thin plate of silver, with the initials of "Davis Guards" and a Maltese cross rudely engraved on one side, and the place and date of the achievement on the other. The original, from which the drawing was made. is in the possession of Thomas L. Thornell, of New York City, to whom it was presented by an officer whe received it from one of the Guards. The writer is indebted for its use to the courtesy of his friend, Henry T Drowne, of New York.

EXPEDITION TO THE RIO GRANDE.

223

In the mean time, Taylor, still westward of the Atchafalaya, became quite active. His most efficient leader, General Green, was particularly so, and made occasional raids toward the Mississippi. "Bushwhackers," as armed residents of the country were called, were continually annoying vessels at sharp turns in the river, in the vicinity of Port Hudson, and General Herron was sent to Morgansia to suppress these gangs of annoyers. An out-post was established several miles in the interior, held by the Nineteenth Iowa and Twenty-sixth Indiana, with two guns, under Colonel Lake, supported by one hundred and fifty cavalry under Colonel Montgomery. The whole number of men at the post was less than one thousand. These were surprised on a dark night by General Green, who stealthily crossed a bayou, surrounded the camp, and captured the guns and a large portion of the infantry. Lake and about four hundred of his men became prisoners. Fifty-four were killed and wounded. The cavalry escaped with a loss of five men.

⚫ Sept. 80, 1863.

› Nov. 3.

A month later the Unionists of that region suffered another disaster. In order to mask his expedition against Texas by sea, Banks ordered General C. C. Washburne to advance from Brashear upon Opelousas, to give the impression that a march upon Alexandria or Shreveport was begun. Washburne reached Opelousas without resistance, but when, in obedience to orders, he commenced falling back, Taylor and Green pursued him closely. Finally, they swept stealthily, swiftly, and unexpectedly, out of a thick wood, and fell upon Washburne's right, held by General Burbridge. So little was an attack suspected, that the Twenty-third Wisconsin were engaged in voting for State officers.' Before the men could seize their arms and form for battle they were terribly smitten. The regiment was quickly reduced from two hundred and twenty-six men to ninetyeight, most of them made prisoners. The right, on which the weight of the attack fell, was broken, and the utter ruin of the whole force seemed at one. time certain. General McGinnis brought up some troops, and these, and a few others, with Nims's battery, saved the day. The Confederates were driven to the shelter of the woods, and Washburne pursued his way to Brashear with his shattered force."

• October 26.

In the mean time Banks's expedition, consisting of six thousand troops and some war-vessels, had sailed from New Orleans, directly for the Rio Grande. It was accompanied by that officer in person, but was immediately commanded by General Napoleon J. T. Dana. On the 2d of November the troops debarked at Brazos Santiago, drove a small cavalry force stationed there, and followed them to Brownsville, thirty miles up the river, which Banks's advance entered on the 6th." 4 November. Point Isabel was taken possession of on the 8th; and as soon as possible Banks, who made his head-quarters at Brownsville, sent as many troops as he could spare, up the coast, to seize and occupy the water passes between the Rio Grande and Galveston. By the aid of steamers obtained on the Rio Grande, troops were transported to Mustang Island, off Corpus

1 Several of the States provided for the voting of the troops in the field, so that citizens, fighting for their country away from home, should not be deprived of the sacred right of choosing their rulers.

2 The Union loss was 716 men, of whom 26 were killed and over 500 were made prisoners. The Confederates lost over 400, of whom 60 were killed.

224

1863.

POSSESSION OF THE TEXAN HARBORS.

Christi Bay, from which a force, under General T. E. G. Ransom, went to the Aranzas Pass, farther up the coast, and by a gallant assault Nov. 18, carried the Confederate works there, and captured one hundred prisoners. Corpus Christi was occupied by National troops the same day. Then a force, under General Washburne (then commanding the Thirteenth Army Corps), moved upon Pass Cavallo, at the entrance to Matagorda Bay, where the Confederates had a strong fort, called Esperanza, garrisoned by two thousand men of all arms. It was invested, and, after a sharp action, the Confederates blew up their magazine and fled,' Nov. 30. most of the garrison escaping.

These important conquests, achieved in the space of a month, promised a speedy closing of the coast of Texas to blockade-runners, and great advan tage to the Union cause in that region. No place of importance on that coast was now left to the Confederates, excepting at the mouth of the Brazos and on Galveston Island, at each of which they had formidable works; and a greater portion of their troops in Texas, commanded by General Magruder, were concentrated on the coast, between Houston, Galveston, and Indianola. Banks was anxious to follow up his successes by moving on Indianola, on the west side of Matagorda Bay, or upon Matagorda, at the mouth of the Colorado. This would have brought him into collision with a greater portion of Magruder's troops. He did not feel strong enough to undertake a task so perilous. He asked for re-enforcements, but they could not be furnished, and at about the close of the year he returned to New Orleans, leaving General Dana on the Rio Grande. That officer sent a force more than a hundred miles up that river, and another toward Corpus Christi, but they found no armed Confederates; and when, by order of General Banks, he left the Rio Grande and took post at Pass Cavallo,' he found some National troops in quiet possession of Indianola and of the Matagorda Peninsula, on the opposite side of the bay. The Confederates had withdrawn to Galveston; and all Texas, west of the Colorado, was abandoned by them. With a small additional force Banks might have driven them from Galveston, and secured a permanent military occupation of the State.

• Jan. 12, 1864.

It remains for us now, in considering the military events west of the Mississippi, to the close of 1863, only to take a glance at the trouble with the Indians, toward the head-waters of that stream, in the State of Minnesota. As these troubles had no immediate connection with the war, further than in drawing some troops from the grand theaters of strife, we must be content with only a brief passing note of the events.

At midsummer, 1862, bands of the warlike Sioux Indians, in the State of Minnesota, made open war upon the white people in that region. It is not positively known by what special motive, or under what particular influence they were impelled; and the suspicion that they were incited to hostilities by emissaries of the Conspirators, with the hope of thereby causing a large number of troops fighting the rebellion to be drawn away to a distant point, rests only upon conjecture. The fact is, that a Sioux chief, named Little Crow, a most saintly-looking savage in civilized costume, was the most conspicuous of the leaders in the inauguration of the war, by the butchery of the white inhabitants at Yellow Medicine, New Ulm, and Cedar City, in

WAR WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

@ 1562.

225

Minnesota, in August and September," and at outposts beyond the boundaries of that State. For nine days in October the Indians besieged Fort Ridgeley. Fort Abercrombie was also besieged, and twice assaulted by the savages; and in that region they butchered about five hundred white inhabitants, consisting mostly of defenseless women and children.

Feb. 28,

1863.

General H. H. Sibley, with a body of militia, was sent to crush the Indians, but the latter were too numerous to suffer more than partial disasters here and there. Sibley attacked a large force of Indians, under Little Crow, at Wood Lake, and drove them into Dakota, with a loss of five hundred of their number made prisoners. These were tried by court-martial, and three hundred of them were found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. Their execution was stayed by the President. Finally, thirtyseven of the worst offenders were hanged at Markato,' and the remainder were released. But the "Sioux War" was not ended until the following summer, when General Pope took command of the Department, picketed the line of settlements in the far Northwest with two thousand soldiers, and took vigorous measures to disperse the hostile bands. In June, Sibley moved westward from Fort Snelling, and General Sully went up the Missouri River to co-operate with him. Both fought and drove the savages at different places, and finally scattered them among the wilds of the eastern slopes of the spurs of the Rocky Mountains.'

€ 1863.

Our horror and indignation because of the atrocities committed from time to time by the savage tribes on the borders of civilization, should be somewhat tempered by the reflection, that these may be logical and righteous retributions for wrongs committed by the Government in its dealings with the Indians, which, unfortunately, fall upon individuals. It is believed that the origin of nine-tenths of the troubles with the Indians may be traced directly to the agents of the Government in their dealings with these ignorant and confiding children of the forest. Such being the acknowledged fact, the important question arises, whether it would not be wiser and more. humane to incorporate all the nations and tribes of Indians into the body politic of each State and Territory in which they exist, and hold each individual amenable to the laws, as a citizen. An army of officials might thus be dispensed with, the chief causes of irritation be removed, and the work of civilizing and Christianizing of the savages be greatly facilitated.

1 Little Crow, the "foremost hunter and orator" of the Sioux, was shot near Hutchinson, in Minnesota, by Mr. Lamson, while the chief was picking blackberries. His skeleton is preserved in the collections of the Minnesota Historical Society. It is said that Little Crow (whose Indian name was Tah-o-ah- ta-doo-tah, “his scarlet people ") was urged into making war against his better judgment. For a full account of this "Indian trouble," see History of the Sioux War, by Isaac V. D, Heard.

VOL. III.-15

226

THE NATIONAL FINANCES.

CHAPTER VIII.

CIVIL AFFAIRS IN 1863.-MILITARY OPERATIONS BETWEEN THE MOUNTAINS AND THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

EFORE proceeding to a consideration of military affairs in 1864, let us take a brief glance at the aspect of civil affairs at the beginning of that year.

The management of the finances of the nation was yet in the able hands of Secretary Chase; and so fully did the people and Congress confide in his judgment and patriotism, that his suggestions were generally accepted as eminently wise, and the measures he proposed were usually carried into execution. From the day when he assumed the duties of Minister of Finance, and his plans began to develop, the public credit became stronger every hour; and at the time we are considering, when the public debt had reached the appalling sum of over a thousand million dollars, the great war in full career, and that debt increasing enormously every day, the public credit, especially among the people of this country, had never stood higher. "The history of the world," said the Secretary, a year later, when he had been fully sustained by the people, " may be searched in vain for a parallel case of popular financial support to a National Government."

1

When Congress met in December, 1862, Secretary Chase laid before them a statement and estimate which would have appalled the representatives of a less hopeful people. He reported, that, on account of greatly increased expenditures, there remained a balance of disbursements to the amount of nearly two hundred and seventy-seven million dollars, for which provision must be made; and he asked for an additional sum to meet the estimated expenditures of the Government to the close of the fiscal year, at the end of June, 1864, which would make the whole sum to be provided for, for the next eighteen months, more than nine hundred million dollars.' The important question, How is this vast sum to be provided? had to be met. The able Minister of Finance was ready with an answer. Keeping in mind the four objects in view which had controlled his action up to that time, namely, "moderate interest, general distribution, future controllability, and incidental utility," he now renewed propositions which he had already made, and recommended two immediate measures of safety, in connection with a

? The National debt on the first of July, 1863, was $1,098,798,181. It was estimated that at the same period In 1864 it would be $1,686,956,190. The average rate of interest on the whole debt, without regard to the varying margin between coin and notes, had been reduced from 4.86 per cent., on the first of July, 1862, to 8-77 per cent on the first of July. 1863.