اسه من fire upon the battery. The wooden ves- caused any damage beyond bending the sels, as directed, anchored about thirteen plates. I am happy to report no casualhundred yards below. The Monitor an- ties." The letter from Lieutenant Conchored near, and at nine o'clock she stable, already cited, gives an interesting passed just above the Galena, but found account of the part borne by his vessel, her guns could not be elevated enough the Naugatuck, sometimes called the to reach the battery. She then dropped Stevens, from the name of its inventor, a little below us, and made her shots ef- the builder of the large steam battery at fective. At five minutes after eleven New York, by whom the Naugatuck was o'clock the Galena had expended nearly presented to the government. "We all her ammunition, and I made signal opened fire," says he, "upon the battery to discontinue the action. We had but with our heavy guns, and threw shell six Parrott charges, and not a single and canister from our broadside once infilled nine-inch shell. We had thirteen to the woods. We had thirteen to the woods. Our station was abreast killed and eleven wounded. The rifled of their rifle-pits, and was only about 100-pounder of the Naugatuck burst; forty feet from the shore, so that their half of the part abaft the trunnions going sharpshooters had a fair chance at us. overboard. She is therefore disabled. During the fight, and while our heavy Lieutenant Newman, the executive offi- gun was performing splendidly, it burst; cer, was conspicuous for his gallant and but fortunately disabled but one man. effective services. Mr. Washburne, act- It burst from the vent to the trunnions ing master, behaved admirably. These in two halves, throwing one half overare selected from among the number. board on the port side, while the other The Aroostook, Naugatuck and Port half was landed on deck on the starboard Royal took the stations previously as- side. The muzzle, forward of the trunsigned them, and did everything that nions, remained entire, and was thrown was possible. The Monitor could not forward about two feet. The gun-carhave done better. The barrier is such riage was destroyed, the pilot-house that the vessels of the enemy even, if shattered, part of the upper deck crushthey have any, cannot possibly pass out, ed in, and some of the main deck beams and ours cannot pass in." started. How I escaped, God only knows. I was within two feet of the gun when it burst, having just sighted and trained it upon the battery. My speaking trumpet is completely crushed, and a fragment of the gun weighing about one thousand five hundred weight, fell so closely to me that it tore my coat. I was hit on the head by some part of the gun or carriage (I think it was one of the large rubbers), which stunned me for a moment, although I was able to keep the deck and superintend the fighting of our broadside guns (which were well handled under charge of Wilson), until the squadron fell back for want of ammunition, about an hour and a half after our gun bursted. After heaving up our anchor I fainted away; but after being cupped behind the ears by the sur * The Galena, an ingeniously constructed vessel for light draft, good sailing qualities, and power of resistance, it is stated, was hit forty-six times; twenty-eight shot entered her armor and completely pentrated it; five passed through her smoke-stack, and three passed through deck-plating. One or two shot passed entirely through her. Lieutenant Jeffers, in command of the Monitor, says "the fire of the enemy was remarkably well directed, but vainly, towards this vessel. She was struck three times one solid 8-inch shot square on the turret, and two solid shot on the side armor forward of the pilot-house. Neither *Letter from Lieutenant D. C. Constable, commanding the Naugatuck, to Captain John Faunce. Gunboat Stevens, Hampton Roads, May 19, 1862. New York Evening Post, May 23, 1862. CAMPAIGN IN TENNESSEE. geon of the Aroostook, who came on board to look out for our wounded, I was able to resume the charge of the deck. 433 ful attack upon Fort Darling, as the rebel work on the heights was called, was the chief incident of the naval operations at "Our little broadside guns did splen- this period on James river. The Union did execution, driving the enemy out of gunboats continued to hold possession of their rifle-pits, and clearing the shore of the extended line of navigation below, every enemy within canister range. By but the advantage gained was for the keeping the crew under the protection present of less importance, while the of our iron-clad' cabin, and only ex-York river, on the other side of the posing them for a moment while loading, insula, was made the exclusive channel our loss by their fire was only two of communication with the advancing wounded." This spirited, but unsuccess- army of the Potomac. pen CHAPTER LXVI. GENERAL MITCHEL'S CAMPAIGN IN TENNESSEE. EVACUATION OF CORINTH, CORINTH, to which the Confederate army precipitately retired after the battles at Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing, was an inconsiderable village in northern Mississippi, near the southern boundary of Tennessee, and distant about twenty miles from the scene of the late conflict, and the base of the Union operations on the Tennessee river. It derived its importance at the present moment, from its strategic value, being at the junction of the Mobile and Ohio, and Memphis and Charleston railroads. With these lines in their possession, the control of Western Tennessee was secured to the enemy, and Nashville might at any time be threatened by a superior force. To interrupt this communication, and cut off supplies and reinforcements from the rebel camps at Memphis and Corinth was an indispensable preliminary to the capture of these two places; aud without their capture nothing further could be accomplished on the Mississippi, or in progress by land towards the Gulf. To cut off the enemy's railway communications, and conquer their army at Corinth, was the work which General Halleck found before him, on his arrival at the Union camp on the Tennessee, a few days after the battle at Pittsburg Landing. In these operations he was greatly assisted by the military achievements, in the central portion of the State, of General Mitchel, who, on the departure of General Buel from Nashville, proceeded with his division, of about ten thousand men, by the direct southerly line of the Nashville and Stevenson railroad toward the main stations of the Memphis and Charleston railroad in Northern Alabama. The vulnerable points of the road in this direction were at Stevenson or Bridgeport on the east, and Decatur on the west, at each of which places the line crossed the Tennesee river in its winding course. With the destruction of the two bridges, the communication of the enemy with the eastward would be effectually interrupted. To accomplish this, General Mitchel set out from Nashville. Everywhere on his march he found the enemy had destroyed the railway and turnpike bridges. As it was necessary that he should keep open a ready means of communication for his supplies, his force was employed, as he three the whole column was in motion, proceeded, in reconstructing the bridges. advancing in profound silence through On the 9th of April, having rebuilt 1,200 the darkness, like an army of specters. feet of heavy bridging in ten days, his Nothing could be heard except the occacommand thus reached Shelbyville by sional rumble of the artillery over a railway, fifty-seven miles from Nashville, bridge or some stony part of the road. and about the same distance from Hunts- The cavalry scouts away in the advance ville. Having thus secured a base of ran down, seized, and sent back every supplies, General Mitchel lost no time in person who was astir. The entire divipushing his force forward. By an extra- sion passed through a small village seven ordinary march of two days, the advance miles from Huntsville, without disturbing were, on the evening of the 10th of April, the slumbers of a single inhabitant. On within ten miles of Huntsville. A cor- reaching a point four miles from the city respondent has given a vivid description we learned that no considerable force of of the preparations of that night, and of the enemy was in town. the enemy was in town. The whistle of the energy displayed by General Mitchel locomotives began to be heard in several in carrying out his plans. "The night directions. The cavalry were ordered of the 10th," says he, was one of the forward to the front of the column, supdeepest solicitude. Our commanding ported by two pieces of artillery; and general visited every bivouac in person, now the work became exciting beyond and told the soldiers that the morning's the power of words to describe. The work was to be of the greatest import-detachment of cavalry ordered to the ance. Orders were issued that they right broke away at full speed. That should be roused quietly without sound ordered to the left, in like manner, was of drum or trumpet, and that the line of soon seen flying through the fields. Lomarch was to be formed in perfect silence. comotives, like some mighty living game During the night time many negroes, ar- of the forest, startled by the hunter, rested by our pickets and videttes, were were now heard sounding their whistles brought in. At twelve o'clock we learn- in every direction. The cavalry dashed ed from a negro that 5,000 of the ene- forward, followed at a rapid pace by the my's troops had reached Huntsville artillery. | during the preceding afternoon, and his master asserted that they knew of our approach, and were ready to receive us. The plans were all formed during the night. Three detachments of cavalry were organized with specific instructions. The first, as the force approached Huntsville in the morning, was ordered to break to the right, cut the telegraph wires, and tear up the railway track; the second was to perform a similar duty on the left, while to the third was assigned the duty of seizing the telegraph with all the dispatches, should we be so fortunate as to enter the city. At two o'clock in the morning the troops were all aroused, and as they marched past the commanding general he addressed to each regiment a few words of caution. By April 18, 1862. In a few moments the first gun was fired, whose heavy boom was followed by the rattle of infantry, and immediately three out of four of the locomotives on the track were brought to and captured. The whole column now dashed into the city. Everything was promptly seized, and we found, to our inexpressible gratification, some fifteen or twenty engines, with rolling stock in proportion."* This important achievement, so brilliantly conducted, was thus telegraphed to the War Department, by General Mitchel, on the 11th: "After a forced march of incredible difficulty, leaving Fayetteville yesterday at twelve o'clock M., my advanced guard, consisting of Turchin's * Correspondence New York Tribune, Huntsville, Ala., GENERAL MITCHEL'S PROGRESS. 435 brigade, Kennett's Ohio cavalry, and railways running from Nashville. From Simonson's Ohio battery, entered Hunts- Decatur the Union troops advanced by ville this morning, at six o'clock. The the road, and occupied Tuscumbia. "In city was completely taken by surprise, three days," said General Mitchel to his no one having considered the march troops, in an address, on the 16th of practicable in the time. We have cap- April, "you have extended your front tured about two hundred prisoners, fif- of operations more than 120 miles, and teen locomotives, a large amount of your morning gun at Tuscumbia may passenger and box platform cars, the now be heard by your comrades on the telegraph apparatus and office, and two battle-field recently made glorious by Southern mails. We have at last suc- their victory before Corinth." In a disceeded in cutting the great artery of rail- patch to a friend in New York, he wrote, way communication between the Southern "We have penetrated a magnificent cotStates." Among the spoils of this vic- ton region, have taken, and now hold tory was a dispatch, dated Corinth, and run more than 100 miles of railway, April 9, from General Beauregard, in- well stocked with machinery, and in fine tercepted on its way to Adjutant Gener- condition. I have abandoned the idea al Cooper, at Richmond. It was written of ever coming nearer to an enemy than in cypher, but was readily decyphered long cannon range. This is the third by the scientific commander, General State through which I have hunted him Mitchel. It announced the approach of without success." the Union army, with an overwhelming force of not less than 85,000 men, to which only 35,000 effective troops could be opposed. Van Dorn was looked for with 1,500 more. Reinforcements were asked. "If defeated here," it concluded, "we lose the Mississippi valley, and probably our cause; whereas we could even afford to lose for a while Charleston and Savannah, for the purpose of defeating Buell's army, which would not only insure us the valley of the Mississippi, but our independence." The advantage gained at Huntsville was promptly followed up on the line of the railway to the east and west. Stevenson and Decatur were both entered the next day; the former by General Mitchel; the latter by Colonel Turchin. 'General Mitchel, destroying a bridge over a creek, spared for the present the more important structure, a few miles beyond, at Bridgeport, while Colonel Turchin arrived in time to save the bridge at Decatur, which had been set fire to by the enemy. General Mitchel had thus, by his effective strategy, pierced the Confederate line in the middle, and gained possession of the junction of two General Turchin held Tuscumbia with a detachment of Illinois and Ohio troops till the 24th of May, when he retired, with some skirmishing along the route, to Jonesboro', a station on the railway, near Decatur, before a superior body of the enemy, advancing from the direction of Corinth. It was the expectation of the enemy to capture a large quantity of supplies which had been sent by General Halleck to General Turchin, by way of Florence, a few miles distant on the Savannah, but they were carried off in safety. Being still threatened by the enemy in force, General Turchin was compelled to destroy a portion of his provisions, and retire across the Tennessee river at Decatur, burning the bridge at this point, a costly structure, 2,200 feet in length. Colonel Lytle's brigade had the post of honor in the retreat. Decatur was evacuated on the 27th, the troops hastening toward Bridgeport. at the eastern extremity of that portion of.the railway held by the Union troops, where the enemy were now making a stand at the bridge. An expedition was sent thither by General Mitchel. Advancing to the creek beyond Stevenson, where, as we have stated, one of the the face of their fire, and saved the minor bridges of the railway had been destroyed, the advance brigade of Colonel Sill crossed the stream by means of cotton bales skillfully fastened together by rails running underneath the ropes, and laid on parallel lines nine or ten feet apart. Across these, boards were placed, providing a secure footing for troops and artillery. The brigade of Colonel Lytle presently joined the advance, and on the 29th General Mitchel, hearing that the enemy had cut the telegraph wires, and attacked, during the night, one of the brigades, left Huntsville to take the field in person. "I started," says he in a brief report after the engagement, to the Secretary of War, "by a train of cars in the morning, followed by two additional regiments of infantry and two companies of cavalry. I found that our pickets had engaged the enemy's pickets four miles from Bridgeport, and after a sharp engagement, in which we lost one man killed, drove them across a stream whose railway bridge I had burned. With four regiments of infantry, two pieces of artillery, dragged by hand, and two companies of cavalry, we advanced to the burnt bridge and opened our fire upon the enemy's pickets on the other side, thus producing the impression that our advance would be by the railway. This accomplished, the entire force was thrown across the country about a mile, and put on the road leading from Stevenson to Bridgeport. The middle column now advanced at a very rapid pace. Our scouts attacked those of the enemy and forced them from the Bridgeport road. We thus succeeded in making a complete surprise, immediately forming our line of battle on the crest of a wooded hill within five hundred yards of the works constructed to defend the bridge. At our first fire the rebels broke and ran. They attempted to blow up the main bridge but failed. They then attempted to fire the further extremity, but the volunteers, at my call, pushed forward in bridge. From the island to the main shore we could not save it. It is of small moment, its length being but about 450 feet. Prisoners taken report five regiments of infantry and 1,800 cavalry stationed at the bridge. This campaign is ended, and I now occupy Huntsville in perfect security; while in all of Alabama north of the Tennessee river floats no flag but that of the Union." The day following this engagement General Mitchel's troops crossed from the island to the main land, and captured two sixpounder cannon and their ammunition. A detachment was then sent out on the road to Chattanooga, and returned after having captured various stores, and a mail, and having destroyed a saltpetre manufactory in a cave. Another expedition penetrated to Jasper, "where," says General Mitchel," the troops found a strong Union feeling. On the same day a skirmish occurred with the enemy's cavalry at Athens. Our outposts were driven back, but, on being reinforced, the enemy retreated in the direction of Florence. There are straggling bands of mounted men, partly citizens, along my entire line, threatening the bridges, one of which they succeeded in destroying."* Colonel Turchin, whose services are so often recorded in the dispatches, of General Mitchel, was a native of Russia who had received a military education, and served in an important position in the army of his native land. He came to the United States in 1856, and was employed in Illinois in the engineer department of the Central railroad. At the breaking out of the rebellion he became Colonel of the 19th regiment of that State, and previous to the present campaign had served in Missouri and Kentucky. His name became widely known from the odium in which he was held by the Confederates, in consequence of the conduct of a portion of his command on aban * General Mitchel to Secretary Stanton. Huntsville, May 4, 1862. |