apprehend that they will be unable to carry this painful civil war to a safe conclusion. The advantages of resources and means, as well as the logic of reason and morals, are in their favor. The course of events is liable to be much affected by vicissitudes, and these are not to be expected to be divided between the parties disproportionately to their relative advantages and merits.

August 9, 1864. — The failure of our assault upon the fortifications at Petersburg, which I mentioned in my last military summary, proved to be more complete and more disastrous than I had then learned. We retained none of the ground gained, and our loss was 3,500 men, which greatly exceeded that of the enemy. The result protracts the siege, but is not otherwise discouraging. The enemy recently sprang a mine in front of our works, but absolutely without effect.

You will find in the public papers very full reports of the operations of General Sherman. They have been eminently successful and very injurious to the enemy. It seems reasonable to expect a consummation of the siege of Atlanta in a few days. Our cavalry have met with severe losses in cutting off the military communications of the insurgents, but it is understood that these losses are counterbalanced by the strategic advantages gained.

The public mind has been kept highly excited by the récent movements of the insurgent column which lately visited Maryland. It is understood, however, that their operations have been chiefly cavalry movements, and that the damage they have done is confined to the destruction of a considerable portion of Chambersburg. What is believed an adequate force is now advancing against the enemy in the valley of Virginia, under command of General Sheridan. There is at least a significant cessation of the aggressive operations of the insurgents in that quarter, and at the moment I am writing we have official information that the force which destroyed Chambersburg has already been, in effect, destroyed.

We have information, through the insurrectionary press, that Admiral Farragut, after a successful naval battle in the bay of Mobile, has passed the two lower insurgent forts and gone up to that city. We expect decisive news from that quarter without delay.

August 15, 1864. The insurgent force which, under command of Early, threatened Washington and Baltimore in July, and then.

retired across the Potomac, is still in the lower part of the valley, near Grafton. One detachment of it, as you have been already informed, was defeated by General Kelly at New Creek, and subsequently another was routed with severe loss by General Averill. Since that time hostile forces are understood to have been concentrating and retiring up the valley before the pursuit of the Union column, now under command of Major-General Sheridan. We are informed that considerable reinforcements have been sent down to Early by Lee from his army in Petersburg. In consequence of this measure, the column of Major-General Sheridan has been materially strengthened, and we may expect soon to hear of a serious collision in the valley. Profound silence prevails in regard to the operations at Petersburg.

The siege of Atlanta has, during the last week, been attended by no startling incident.

We have not yet received any official reports of the movement against Mobile. Newspaper statements of the 7th instant, at New Orleans, represent the naval engagement to have been very brilliant and successful. They say that our fleet had passed the insurgent line of obstructions in the bay, and would proceed to cross the bar in front of the city. Richmond papers give reports from Mobile on the 9th instant. They are silent concerning operations there after the naval conflict in which Admiral Farragut passed the forts.

Major-General Canby has, for strategic reasons, withdrawn our forces from Brownsville, and the blockade of that port has been reëstablished.

A new piratical vessel named the Tallahassee has appeared off the coast of New York, and committed a series of vexatious depredations. She is said to be an English-built vessel, and is supposed to have been armed at Bermuda. I wait for definite information of these points, to determine whether there is occasion for representations to her Majesty's government concerning the Tallahassee. Notwithstanding a seeming decline of public spirit during the political canvass, recruiting has been resumed, and is carried on with considerable success.

The Alabama, or 290, was built, manned, and armed by British subjects to commit piracies against the United States. She has been

pursuing this course of piracy two years. Her Majesty's government, condemning the enterprise, allege their exemption from responsibility on the ground that they exerted themselves, in good faith, but ineffectually, to prevent it. The Kearsarge, Captain Winslow, finds the Alabama on the high seas - engages and sends her to the bottom. The Deerhound, belonging to the royal yacht association, and by authority of law carrying the British naval ensign, intervenes to save a number of drowning men of the Alabama, with the consent of the Kearsarge, and having rescued them from the waves, without making any explanations, makes haste to convey them from the scene of the action, and to place them in safety on the British shores. And he confesses that in doing so he was actuated by a desire to withdraw them from the presence of the conquering vessel.

The President is surprised that her Majesty's government do not find in these proceedings of the owner of the Deerhound cause of severe censure and regret.

Leaving all the other circumstances of that strange transaction out of view as being debatable in point of fact, there is ground in the case, as it is thus presented, for grave remonstrance with her Majesty's government.

This government and the whole American people are justly so full of admiration and gratitude to Captain Winslow, that they will excuse almost any error of judgment on his part that proceeds from magnanimity. Nevertheless, I hope that he has not released the pirates you have named, or any other of the pirates he has captured.

The insurgents refuse to recognize negro soldiers, when captured, as entitled to the customary privileges of prisoners of war; hence has resulted an absolute obstruction of all exchanges. Thousands of our citizens are languishing in the prisons of the traitors.

August 22, 1864. The military immobility which had begun to wear upon the public mind has recently given way. Activity again appears, although, thus far, it has produced no decisive

results.

I am sure that you will read with pride and satisfaction the details of the great naval engagement in Mobile Bay. The restoration of the national flag over Fort Powell gives us Grant's passage, while the recapture of Fort Gaines marks an advance in the work of restoring

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the Union. Protected by these fortifications, together with Fort Morgan, the insurgents had really made no demonstration towards the creation of a naval force. The destruction of their gunboat Gaines, and the transfer of the ram Tennessee, which is secured to the national service, have materially weakened the enemy. We learn that the siege of Fort Morgan has begun, and that a portion of our fleet has assailed the land fortifications which surround the city of Mobile.

On the south side of the James River General Grant has successfully seized and he now holds the Weldon road between Petersburg and North Carolina, after having resisted two or three fierce assaults, with great loss to the insurgents. There is no doubt of the fact that the insurgents are suffering a material reduction of their force by casualties and by desertions. General Grant has already sent to the Indian campaign a regiment of enlisted deserters from the army of Lee.

General Sherman still prosecutes his operations against the enemy at Atlanta with unabated confidence. We have official reports that his cavalry have cut off the railroad connection between that place and Macon.

Lee has reinforced Early, and he has thereupon moved down the valley from the neighborhood of Strasburg to Winchester. General Sheridan has retired to Charlestown, and the upper Potomac thus again becomes a theatre of war. The approach of a draft to maintain the armies at their full strength is creating much uneasiness, and this uneasiness speaks out through the press. On the other hand, it is true, although not yet generally understood, that recruiting has begun in good earnest. Later returns show that the number of men mustered into the army is twelve hundred per day, an increase of ten-fold per day since the proclamation calling for reinforcements was issued.

You will hardly need to be told that the reports published of armistices, pretended changes in the Cabinet, and the appointment of commissioners to negotiate with the insurgents, which figure largely in the political canvass, have no foundation in fact.

August 29, 1864. — The principal military events of which information has been received during the week are the capture of Fort Morgan, and the unsuccessful attempts of the enemy to recover possession of the Petersburg and Weldon railroad. The

assaults upon our forces at the latter point were made with energy,
almost with desperation, and the ensuing battles are reported to
have been as sanguinary and as severely contested as any during
the war.
The final repulse of the enemy, however, was complete.
This result is regarded as a decided advantage in the campaign.

In regard to the capture of Fort Morgan the mere announcement. of that important success in the Richmond newspapers is the only information that has as yet been received.

September 5, 1864. The past week has been marked by important military successes. Detailed information in regard to the surrender of Fort Morgan has been received. Six hundred prisoners and sixty guns were taken. The entrances to Mobile Bay are now in our possession, rendering the blockade effective with a less number of vessels than heretofore, and enabling the naval to cooperate with the land forces in any attack upon the city itself.

Atlanta has succumbed. On the 1st instant, General Sherman made a successful attack upon the enemy's principal line of communication. Vigorous efforts were, made to regain it. A severe and general engagement followed, resulting successfully to our arms. The victorious army now holds the city, and the enemy, weakened by heavy losses, is reported to be retreating southward. As a centre of railroad communications, and a depot of arms, manufactures, and supplies, Atlanta was a point which the insurgents have deemed it essentially important to hold, and the advantages accruing from its capture are very great.1

The force which has been so long menacing an invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania from the Shenandoah valley, having been confronted and checked by General Sheridan, is retreating in the direction of Richmond. General Sheridan's force is in pursuit, and some captures of prisoners, wagons, and supplies have already been made.

The enlistments under the recent call are going on, not only satisfactorily but with constantly increasing rapidity, and the reinforcements thus gained are daily adding to the effective strength of the armies in the field.

September 17, 1864. Your private note of the 19th of August, as I perceive, was written under the influence of wearisome waiting for good news.

1 See Mr. Seward's speech on the fall of Atlanta, post, page 491.