FAILURE AT CHEAT MOUNTAIN.

173 orders for a united movement upon the forces of the enemy, both at Elk Water and on Cheat Mountain. After great labour and the endurance of severe hardships on the mountain spurs, where the weather was very cold, Gen. Lee succeeded in getting below the enemy at Elk Water, placing other portions of his forces on the spurs of the mountain immediately east and west of the enemy, and marching another portion of his troops down the river close to the enemy. The forces were thus arranged in position for making an attack upon the enemy at Elk Water, and remained there for some hours, waiting the signal from Col. Rust's attack on Cheat Mountain.

That officer, with fifteen hundred troops, chiefly his Arkansas men, had turned the Cheat Summit Fort, and was now in its rear. But he saw at once that his former reconnoissance had been deceptive. The fortified post was literally unapproachable, by reason of thick abattis of felled trees, with branches and undergrowth densely interlaced, extending from the block-house nearly half a mile down the rugged sides of the mountain. Col. Rust gave no signal for the advance, awaited by the forces at Elk Water; he thought his enterprise hopeless, and withdrew his troops. Gen. Lee, informed of the miscarriage of this part of his plan, abandoned the whole of it, and retired his command without any results whatever.

The failure to dislodge the enemy from Cheat Mountain, and thus re lieve Northwestern Virginia, was a disappointment to the Southern public, whose expectations had been greatly raised by vague rumours of Lec's strategy and plans. It was thought, too, that this distinguished commander might have realized some results of his well-matured plan, if, despite of the disconcert of Rust, he had risked an attack upon the enemy's position at Elk Water, which a portion of his forces had surrounded. But regrets were unavailing now; danger was imminent in another quarter. Learning by couriers of the union of Rosecrans and Cox, and of their advance upon Wise and Floyd, Gen. Lee decided at once to reinforce the Southern armies on the line of Lewisburg. He reached Gen. Floyd's camp at Meadow Bluff, on the 20th of September, and after conferring with him for two days, joined Gen. Wise at Sewell Mountain, on the 22d. The experienced eye of Lee saw at once that Wise's position was very strong, and capable of arresting a very heavy hostile force. He accordingly ordered forward his troops to the spot, and extended the defensive works already planned.

Meanwhile Gen. Rosecrans, with fifteen thousand men, advanced, and took possession of the top of Big Sewell Mountain, skirmishing with the forward troops of the Wise brigade. Gen. Lee daily expected an attack, and was prepared for it. His force was now quite equal to that of the enemy. He was within sight of him; each apparently awaiting an attack from the other. But the opportunity of a decisive battle in Western Vir

ginia was again to be lost. On the night of the 6th of October, Rosecrans' troops moved to the rear in the dark, and the next morning, when the Confederates looked out from their camp, the whole of the threatening host that had confronted them for twelve days before, was gone. Gen. Lee made no attempt to pursue them. It was said that the mud, the swollen streams, and the reduced condition of his artillery horses made pursuit impracticable.

But one incident of success was to occur in a campaign of so many disappointments. When Gen. Lee withdrew from the Cheat Mountain region, he left Gen. II. R. Jackson with twenty-five hundred men to hold his position on the Greenbrier River. On the 3d of October, the enemy, about four thousand strong, attacked Jackson's position. A severe artillery engagement occurred, in which Jackson could not bring more than five pieces in action to return the fire of the enemy's eight. Masses of infantry were then thrown forward on Jackson's right and front, marching up the wooded sides of a hill that rose from the river. The location of the hill was such that they could not fire effectively until they crossed the river; and as they attempted to form and deploy, in order to a charge, the 12th Georgia Regiment fired several rapid volleys of musketry into them, which instantly checked their advance. At the same time, Shumaker's guns were directed to the point in the woods in which they were known to be crowded, and completed their discomfiture by playing upon them with destructive effect. The regiments on the hill-side retreated rapidly, and soon the whole force of the enemy's infantry, artillery, and cavalry was moving in a confused mass to the rear. His loss in the engagement in killed and wounded was estimated at from two hundred and fifty to three hundred. The loss of the Confederates was officially reported as six killed and thirty-one wounded.

The approaching rigours of winter terminated the campaign in Western Virginia; or it may be said to have been virtually abandoned by the Richmond authorities. Gen. Lee, who had shed such little blood in the campaign, and obtained such indifferent reputation in mountain warfare, was appointed to take charge of the coast defences of South Carolina and Georgia. Gen. Wise was ordered to report to Richmond, and was subsequently assigned to important duty in North Carolina. Gen. Floyd lingered in the mountains; had some desultory affairs with the enemy; subsequently retired to Southwestern Virginia; and from there was transferred by the Government to the now imposing theatre of war in Tennessee and Kentucky.

Thus ended the effort of the Confederate authorities to reclaim the larger portion of Western Virginia. We have put in a brief space its narrative of military events; for, after all, it was a mere series of local adventures, compared with other operations of the war.

CHAPTER X.

THE CONGRESS IN WASHINGTON.-NEW DEVELOPMENT OF NORTHERN POLICY.-LINCOLN' POLITICAL DISCOVERY.-HIS REMARKABLE MEASURES OF WAR.-AN ERA OF DESPOTISM. -VIOLENT ACTS OF CONGRESS.-THE SEED OF ABOLITION.-SUSPENSION OF THE HABEAS CORPUS.-CURIOUS APOLOGY FOR IT.-MILITARY ARRESTS.-A CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENT FROM M'CLELLAN.-CURIOUS DISPOSITION OF THE NORTHERN PEOPLE TO SUR RENDER THEIR LIBERTIES.-CONSERVATISM OF THE CONFEDERATE CAUSE.-LINCOLN'S VIEW OF STATE NEUTRALITY IN THE WAR.-APPLICATION OF IT TO KENTUCKY.THE ELECTIONS IN KENTUCKY.-THE CONFEDERATES ANTICIPATE THE FEDERAL OCCUPATION OF KENTUCKY.-ZOLLICOFFER'S COMMAND.-POLK'S COMMAND.-JUSTIFICATION OF THE CONFEDERATE OCCUPATION.-CLAIMS AND DESIGNS OF THE FEDERALS IN KENTUCKY.-POLK'S OCCUPATION OF COLUMBUS.-HIS PROFFER OF WITHDRAWAL.-ARRESTS IN KENTUCKY.-DESPOTIC AND BRUTAL LEGISLATION.-DISTINGUISHED REFUGEES.-BRECKINRIDGE'S ADDRESS.-EARLY MILITARY MOVEMENTS IN KENTUCKY.-ZOLLICOFFER'S OPERATIONS.-BUCKNER'S OCCUPATION OF BOWLING GREEN. THE BATTLE OF BELMONT.-MOVEMENT OF U. 8. GRANT.-GEN. PILLOW'S COMMAND ENGAGED AT DISADVANTAGE. THE CONFEDERATES DRIVEN BACK.-TIMELY REINFORCEMENTS.-SUDDEN CONVERSION OF A DEFEAT INTO A VICTORY.-RETREAT OF GRANT.-HIS OFFICIAL MISREPRESENTATION OF THE DAY.-PROSPECT OF THE WAR IN THE WEST.

THE new Federal Congress, pursuant to the summons of President Lincoln, met in Washington on the 4th of July. The event was the occasion of a new development of the Northern policy, and a remarkable enlargement of the operations of the war.

In his message, Mr. Lincoln announced a great political discovery. It was that all former statesmen of America had lived, and written, and labored under a great delusion; that the States, instead of having created the Union, were its creatures; that they obtained their sovereignty and independence from it, and never possessed either until the Convention of 1787. This singular doctrine of consolidation was the natural preface to a series of measures to strengthen the Government, to enlarge the Executive power, and to conduct the war with new decision, and on a most unexpected scale of magnitude.

President Lincoln had already instituted certain remarkable measures of war. He had published his proclamation declaring the ports of the