of Port Royal Island and the neighboring ones, and found them deserted by the planters and their families. Most of the slaves remained. They had refused to follow their masters, who tried to frighten them by horrible stories about the people of the North-the "Yankees"-who, they told them, were coming to steal and sell the negroes in Cuba, or to kill them and bury them in the sand. The colored people did not believe these tales; and when the National ships approached, and the masters and mistresses of the slaves fled in terror, these simple people--men, women and children -stood in groups on the sea-shore, with little bundles of clothing in their hands, desiring to go on board.

The last efforts of the Confederates to defend the Sea Islands below Charleston, where the most valuable cotton was raised, was made at Port Royal Ferry, between Port Royal Island and the main, on the 1st of January, 1862. After a severe conflict the Confederates were defeated and dispersed. Dupont, in the meantime, had taken possession of Big Tybee Island, near Fort Pulaski, at the mouth of the Savannah River; and before the close of 1861, the National authority was supreme over the coast islands from Warsaw Sound to the mouth of the North Edisto River. A fleet of twenty old wooden ships, chiefly whalers, heavily laden with rough blocks of granite, which had been sent from New England to be sunk in the four channels of the entrance to Charleston harbor, and so assist in the blockade services, arrived at their destination at about this time. It was when this "stone fleet" approached, that a fire which laid a large portion of Charleston in ashes (an event already mentioned), was raging. Quicksands swallowed the "stone fleet," and its services were of very little account.

We have seen that General McClellan was called from Western Virginia to take charge of the army of the Potomac, as the forces around Washington were called after the battle of Bull's Run. He assumed command on the 27th of July. He brought to the service youth, a spotless moral character, robust health, a sound theoretic military education with some practical experience, untiring industry, the prestige of recent success in the field, and the unlimited confidence of the loyal people. He found at his disposal about fifty thousand infantry, less than one thousand cavalry, six hundred and fifty artillerymen, and thirty pieces of cannon. He was very popular, and was called a "Young Napoleon;" and when on the 1st of November, 1861, General Scott resigned his place as General-in-Chief of the armies, McClellan was appointed to fill that office. The act was hailed as a promise of a speedy termination of the conflict, for he had said that the war should be short, sharp, and decisive." He thoroughly reorganized the army which had been shattered by the terrible blow of Bull's Run; and it was

CHAP. XII.

INACTIVITY OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

1535

believed that Richmond, which had become the Confederate capital, would be in the possession of the National troops before the close of September.

The Confederates under General Johnston remained encamped at Manassas, and were compelled to be idle for want of cavalry and adequate subsistence; while the National army was hourly increasing in strength at the rate of two thousand men a day from the teeming free-labor States, with ample supplies of munitions of war. Beauregard urged Johnston to attack the National fortifications which were rising around Washington, but the wise leader prudently refused; and while the hearts of the loyal people yearned to see a forward movement, and some of the newspapers raised and prolonged the insane cry of "On to Richmond!" the civil and military leaders of the Government, remembering the disaster at Bull's Run, were circumspect and cautious. For several months these two principal armies lay within thirty miles of each other, the quiet of camp life broken only by an occasional skirmish or midnight alarm. Detachments of Confederates reconnoitering, sometimes approached within a few miles of Washington; and they held possession of Munson's Hill, within six miles of the dome of the Capitol, as the bird flies. They also kept up the blockade of the Potomac River by batteries on the Virginia shore, already alluded to-a state of things not only perilous to the capital and the army that surrounded it, but exceedingly disgraceful to that great army. So felt the Government, and in September it was resolved to remove these obstructions. McClellan was ordered to co-operate with the naval force on the river, in the necessary business; but his unfortunate habit of procrastination paralyzed the efforts of the naval commanders, and the blockade was kept up until the Confederates voluntarily abandoned their position in front of Washington, in the spring of 1862.

When the Government ordered the removal of the blockade of the Potomac, the National troops began to push back the Confederate advance on the Virginia side of the river. Late in September the latter retired from Munson's Hill; and struggles for the possession of the Upper Potomac occurred at Lewinsville in Virginia, and Darnestown in Maryland. In these struggles the Nationals won the victory; and by the middle of October (1861) they occupied a line from Fairfax Court-House well up toward Leesburg, and the most advanced outpost of the Confederates was at or near Centreville. Meanwhile some National troops had crossed the Potomac at Harper's Ferry to seize some wheat, when they were menaced by a large body of Confederates. Colonel (afterward General) Geary went over with reinforcements for the invaders, and on the hills back of the village, he had

a severe engagement with the insurgents, and repulsed them. Then all the Nationals recrossed the river with their spoils.

This event was soon followed by a more important one at Ball's Bluff, on the Upper Potomac. The left wing of the Confederate army was commanded by General (late Colonel) Evans. It lay at Leesburg, and was confronted by a National force commanded by General Charles P. Stone,

who were encamped between Conrad's and Edwards's ferries. His head quarters were at Poolesville. Misinformation had caused a belief that the Confederates had left Leesburg at a little past the middle of October, when McClellan ordered General McCall, who commanded the advance of the right of the National forces in Virginia, to move forward and occupy Drainsville. At the same time he ordered General Stone to co-operate with General McCall, which he did by making a feint of crossing the river at the two ferries above-named, on the afternoon of Sunday the 20th of October. At the same time a part of a Massachusetts regiment, under Colonel

CHAP. XII.

BATTLE AT BALL'S BLUFF

1537

Devens, was ordered to take post on Harrison's Island in the Potomac, abreast of Ball's Bluff. Devens went with four companies in flat-boats taken from the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Three thousand men commanded by Colonel E. D. Baker, a member of the National Senate, acting as a brigadier, were held in readiness as a reserve, in the event of a battle. These movements of the Nationals caused an opposing one on the part of the Confederates, who had watched their antagonists with keen vigilance, at a point of concealment not far off. Misinformed as to the position of the insurgents, and supposing McCall to be near enough to give aid, if necessary, Stone, on the morning of the 21st, ordered some Massachusetts troops under Colonels Lee and Devens, to cross to the Virginia main, from Harrison's Island, to reconnoitre. They did not find the foe in the neighborhood. But Evans, unperceived, lay near with a strong force; and when the detachment fell back to the vicinity of Ball's Bluff, he attacked them. It was at a little past noon. Colonel Baker had been sent to Harrison's Island, with his reserves, invested with discretionary power to withdraw or reinforce the other troops. He concluded to go forward, supposing the forces of McCall and others to be near; and on reaching the field he took the chief command by virtue of his rank. Very soon afterward he was instantly killed by a bullet that pierced his brain. His troops, unsupported by others, were crushed by a superior force. Pressed back to the verge of the bluff and down the declivity, they fought desperately for awhile at twilight, for they had no means for transportation across the swollen flood. They were soon overpowered. A large number of the Nationals were made prisoners, and many perished in trying to escape by swimming in the dark. Some were shot in the water, and others were drowned. A large flat-boat, overloaded with the wounded and others, was riddled by bullets, and sank. In this affair, the Nationals lost full one thousand men and two pieces of artillery. The loss of Colonel Baker was irreparable. He was a genuine patriot, an acute statesman, and eloquent orator. His death caused sadness wherever his worth was appreciated.

CHAPTER XIII.

INACTION OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC-CAPTURE OF MASON AND SLIDEIL-CONDUCT OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT AND PRESS-PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S WISDOM — RELEASE OF THE CAPTIVES-EXPEDITION TO THE COAST OF NORTH CAROLINA-CAPTURE OF ROANOKE ISLAND - PROCLAMATION ΤΟ THE PEOPLE OF EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT COMMANDERS WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI-MISSOURI PURGED OF ARMED INSURGENTS-THE CAMPAIGN IN MISSOURI-INSURGENTS CHASED INTO ARKANSAS-BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE-MILITARY OPERATIONS IN NEW MEXICO-BATTLE AT VALVERDE-INSURGENTS EXPELLED FROM NEW MEXICO-CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS IN KENTUCKY-BATTLE OF MILL SPRING -THE CONFEDERATE LINE ACROSS KENTUCKY BROKEN AND SHORTENED-BEAUREGARD IN THE WEST.

F

OR the space of almost two months after the battle at Ball's Bluff, the ears of the loyal people were vexed with the unsatisfying announcement made every morning, “All is quiet along the Potomac!" The autumn was dry and the roads in Virginia were never in a better condition for the movement of troops, and particularly of heavy artillery. Washington seemed to be perfectly secure, and there was an ample supply of troops not only for its defence, but to make an easy conquest of Richmond. At the close of the year (1861) there were full two hundred thousand men in the Army of the Potomac, while the Confederates that opposed them were never more than sixty thousand strong. The politicians sneeringly called the latter a mob, and plain people naturally wondered how such a rabble could hold so large an army of disciplined soldiers, under a "young Napoleon" who had promised that the war should be "short, sharp, and decisive," so long and so tightly in and near the National capital. They were impatient because of the delay in the promised forward movement of the Army of the Potomac; and there was a sense of relief that amounted to joyfulness, when, at near Christmas, the monotony was broken for a moment by a fight at Drainsville between the brigade of Nationals under General O. C. Ord, and a smaller force of Confederate foragers led by Colonel J. E. B. Stuart, the famous cavalry leader. The excitement was only momentary. The Confederates, worsted in the sharp conflict, fled, and the people were again teased with the daily croon-"All quiet along the Potomac!" Their hearts were becoming sick with hopes deferred, when two events occurred which