children would, by a prolonged resistance, be called on to endure sufferings of which only the direst necessity could justify the infliction. When Vicksburg surrendered, it was sufficiently evident that no help could be looked for from Johnston, and the failure of the operations of the Trans-Mississippi army annulled any hope of assistance from that quarter. For the garrison to have cut their way out through Grant's strong entrenchments would have been impossible, and to have retreated across the river in the presence of the fleet of gunboats seemed equally impracticable. Under such circumstances ought the general in command to be blamed, if he sought to save the lives of his soldiers and of the inhabitants by a timely surrender? It is not easy to decide so difficult a question; and happy is he who is spared the responsibility of choosing between lines of conduct of which the consequences are so momentous, and which are usually judged, not by fair criticism, but by their results.

The consideration of what followed on the capture of Vicksburg must be deferred until other events, which were as important in their consequences, and which occurred during the great siege, have received their due amount of attention. Of the armies of Tennessee brought more immediately into relation with those of Mississippi, only a passing notice will now be requisite, as the great events of that campaign occurred at a later period of the war; but of those of Virginia a careful perusal of the strategy becomes necessary, in order to understand the circumstances connected with the great battle fought only a few days previous to the surrender of Vicksburg.

CHAPTER XV.

ARMIES OF THE CUMBERLAND AND OHIO.

NOTWITHSTANDING the efforts made by the Federal Government to promote the efficiency of the army of the Mississippi, the army of the Cumberland under Rosecrans had not been neglected, but had been increased in numbers and improved in its organisation since the battle of Murfreesboro. A new army under General Burnside was likewise in process of formation. at Cincinnati preparatory to a combined movement with that of Rosecrans on southern Tennessee. Against these forces General Bragg, weakened by detachments sent to the army of the Mississippi, felt himself unable to contend and at the same time to maintain his position on the Duck River; he therefore prepared to retreat to the line of the Tennessee River and to Chattanooga.

Irrespective of the operations of the grand armies, there were skirmishes in various parts of Kentucky and Tennessee, to which the names of battles were given, but which exercised little influence on the progress of the war. The Confederate Generals sent several expeditions into Eastern Kentucky with the object of enforcing the conscription or procuring horses, and their possession of the passes in the Cumberland mountains enabled them to make these raids with more or less impunity; but

neither in their magnitude nor results can the operations in Kentucky in the spring of 1863 compare with those of Morgan and Kirby Smith during the preceding autumn, or still less with the great invasion of the State by Bragg. There were skirmishes at various places, and as the Federal cavalry penetrated into Georgia and Alabama, so did the Confederate horsemen ride through Kentucky, and even cross the Ohio into Indiana. Many a brave deed and many a dashing affair must be passed over in order to hasten on to the greater battles of the war; and if one event resulting in the execution of two gallant officers receives especial notice, it is more as illustrating the incidents of civil warfare, than as forming matter of peculiar importance.

At dusk on the 8th of June, two officers in the Federal uniform, with proper horse accoutrements, rode into the small town of Franklin, in Tennessee, and immediately reported themselves to the officer in command, showing their passes, and stating that they were the InspectorGeneral and Assistant Inspector-General appointed by General Rosecrans to visit the outposts. They gave their names and answered questions freely, stating that they were anxious to proceed to Nashville on that evening. Something in their manner excited the suspicions of the Federal Colonel, who telegraphed to Murfreesboro to inquire whether there were any inspectors of the names given in the army of the Cumberland. An answer in the negative was immediately received. The circumstance of the presence in Franklin of the two officers was then detailed, and a telegraphic order returned from Rosecrans's head-quarters to assemble a drumhead court-martial, and try them as spies. Finding that no hope remained of preserving their disguise, the officers confessed themselves to be Colonel Williams, formerly an officer of the regular army, and aide

de-camp to General Scott, latterly chief of artillery to General Bragg, and Lieutenant Dunlap, also of the Confederate States army. They protested against the charge brought against them, saying that they were not spies in the ordinary sense of the word. Notwithstanding their plea, a reiterated order was sent from Murfreesboro to hang them at once, for fear lest Forrest, who was known to be in the vicinity, should profit by any information they had gained; and although Colonel Williams, as a last appeal, asked for clemency" on the ground of his father's services and death in the Mexican War, the execution was proceeded with, and on the morning of the 9th a telegram announcing the fact was sent to Murfreesboro. There can be no doubt that the laws of war sanctioned this severity, and the caution necessary in conducting operations against an enemy, speaking the same language and identical in manners and appearance, will excuse any harshness on the part of General Rosecrans; but at the same time few can read of the devotion of these two gallant officers, without admiring their courage and lamenting their fate.

Shortly after this melancholy event, Bragg retreated from his lines on the Duck River, and taking the road to Chattanooga, crossed the Tennessee River. His retreat was harassed by the Federal cavalry, and his army was weakened by numerous desertions, caused probably by the abandonment of Tennessee, and the return to their homes of men who considered their duties terminated when the defence of their State no longer claimed their services.* On the Tennessee River the

Loyalty to the State rather than to the Commonwealth of States, which formed the groundwork on which those who advocated the constitutional right of secession based their arguments, proved more than once to be an element of weakness to the Confederacy.

Confederate army was concentrated, the forces under Generals Bragg and Buckner being opposed to those of Rosecrans and Burnside.

The last-named general, after his resignation of the command of the army of the Potomac, had distinguished himself in his new department of the Ohio more by arbitrary acts of military power, than by operations against the enemy. By the arrest of supposed Southern sympathisers, by the censorship he established over the press, and especially by the imprisonment and trial by court-martial of one of the most able of the members of Congress, he incurred the hatred of the Democratic party, and perhaps of many others who valued the conservation of their liberties more than the augmentation of the authority of a strong central power.

Mr. Vallandingham had for some time rendered himself conspicuous as the leader of a party, known by its enemies as Copperheads,* whose aim was to arrange an armistice, preparatory to a convention, at which the difficulties attending reunion should be arranged, and, if need be, full concessions granted to the Southern States. At a meeting held at New Jersey Mr. Vallandingham had spoken vehemently against the continuance of the war, at the same time protesting that he was equally opposed to disunion, and that he belonged to the party who wished to try the experiment of bringing back the South by conciliation and compromise. At Mount Vernon in Ohio, before an assemblage of about 20,000 people, he had used nearly the same language and arguments; but among his audience were two of Burnside's staff in civilians' clothes, who had been detailed by the General to take down his

So called from a small and venomous serpent.