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Here, with the aid of the
gunboats, the enemy were held at bay but during the night
Buell1 arrived with 
fresh
troops for Grant's crippled and exhausted army. The next morning
the battle was resumed, and, after a desperate struggle, the
Confederates gave way, and retreated to Corinth, Mississippi.
8. Some time before the
battle, Buell, at Nashville, had been ordered to join his
forces to Grant's. Learning this, the Confederate. determined to
destroy the army at Pittsburg Landing before it should be
reënforced. The plan nearly succeeded. But on the second day
the enemy were driven from the field, leaving behind them most of
the spoils taken the day before. The Federal loss, in killed and
wounded, was nearly ten thousand; in missing and prisoners, nearly
four thousand. The Confederate loss was somewhat greater in killed
and wounded, but in prisoners was less than one thousand. Each
army lost a general mortally wounded -- General William H. L.
Wallace, of the Union army, and General Albert Sydney Johnston,
commander-in-chief of the Confederate forces in the west. When
Buell left Nashville to join Grant, he sent General Ormsby
McKnight Mitchel, with a division, southward. Mitchel marched to
Huntsville, Alabama, and took possession of many miles of
the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.
9. Soon after the battle of Pittsburg
Landing, General Halleck2 assumed command in person,
and having received reënforcements which brought up his army
to more than one hundred thousand men, he slowly advanced upon the
enemy, strongly intrenched at Corinth. This position the
rebels evacuated, after destroying a vast amount of stores, and,
May 80, the Union army took possession. The victors found, within
the defences, a deserted camp and a burning town.
10. In July General Halleck was called to
Washington as general-in-chief of the Federal armies, leaving
General Grant3 in command at Corinth. The next
month the Confederates, under Generals Van Dorn4 and
Price,4 be-an to make a vigorous attempt to retake this
place. Part of the force destined for this purpose was attacked
and routed at Iuka, September 19, by General
Rosecrans,5 who had been transferred from West Virginia
to a command under Grant; and, October 4, the same general
repulsed and put to flight, with frightful slaughter, a
Confederate force, which, outnumbering him nearly two to one,
1 see p. 254, ¶ 4. 2 See p. 250, ¶ 23, and p. 253, note 3. 3 See p. 255, ¶ 7.
4 See p. 258, ¶ 15. 5 See p. 247, ¶ 17.
QUESTIONS. -- 8. What further particulars of the battle of Pittsburg Landing can you give? What is said of Mitchell's expedition to Alabama? 9. Give an account of the capture of Corinth. 10. To what position was General Halleck soon called? Who took command at Corinth? Give an account of the battle of Iuka. Of the rebel attack upon Corinth.
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attacked him in the strong defences of
Corinth. In these two battles the rebels lost probably more
than ten thousand men. The Union loss was about three
thousand.
11. After the fall of Corinth,
Buell1 returned eastward to protect East
Tennessee and Kentucky, where the Confederates soon
began to make strenuous exertions to regain what they had lost.
General Braxton Bragg2 was placed in East Tennessee, in
command of a rebel army of forty-five thousand men. One corps,
under General E. Kirby Smith,3 moved into Kentucky from
Knoxville, defeated a Federal force near Richmond, August
30, and soon after entered Lexington and Frankfort,
and threatened Cincinnati. About the same time, Bragg, with the
rest of his army, moved north from Chattanooga. Buell did but
little more than to watch and defend Nashville and Louisville.
Advancing into Northern Kentucky, the Confederate commander
sent out foraging parties to ravage the country and collect
supplies. The invaders had hoped to find the people in sympathy
with their cause, but in this they were disappointed, and soon
turned southward.
12. On his northward march Bragg
met loyal troops in several engagements. The most important of
these was at Munfordsville, before which, defended by
Colonel John T. Wilder, a part of his army appeared, September 13,
and demanded its surrender. But the gallant colonel did not yield
till the 17th, when he found his garrison of four thousand men
surrounded by an army of twenty-five thousand. The invasion of
Kentucky was preceded and accompanied by raids made by
guerrillas, under Morgan,4 Forrest,5
and other chiefs. These desperadoes, sanctioned by the Confederate
government, overran Central and Eastern Tennessee and Kentucky,
sacking towns and outraging Union people. They even crossed the
Ohio, and plundered Newburg, Indiana.
13. Bragg, on his southward march, was
followed by the Union army. At Perryville6 he
made a stand, and on the 8th of October, hurled the main body of
his army upon one corps of the pursuing Federals, which, commanded
by General Alexander McD. McCook, stubbornly maintained the
unequal contest, almost unaided, till night. The Confederates
then
1 See p, 256, ¶ 7. 2 See p. 213, note 1, and p. 275, ¶ 52. 3 See p. 309, ¶ 56.
4 See p. ¶ 29. 5 See p. 306, ¶ 47.
6 The battle fought here is also called the battle of Chaplin Hills.
QUESTIONS. -- Result of these two battles? 11. After the fall of Corinth, in what direction did Buell move, and for what purpose? Who had command of the rebel army in East Tennessee? Describe the movements of Smith's corps of this army. Of the rest of the army under Bragg 12. Give some further particulars of Bragg's northward march. Of the operations of guerrillas. 13. Give an account of the battle of Perryville.
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resumed their retreat, and escaped with their
immense booty. The losses were not far from four thousand on
each
side. Bragg's operations compelled the Union troops to evacuate
the important post of Cumberland Gap.
14. Late in October Buell2 was
superseded by General Rosecrans,3 who closed the
campaign of this year, in Tennessee, by a dearly-bought victory
over General Bragg, near Murfreesboro'.4 The
battle began December 31, and lasted three days.
There had been skirmishing several days
before the general battle began, as there was January 3, on the
night of which day the Confederates retired. The Federal loss was
fully twelve thousand; that of the rebels somewhat less. The Union
troops numbered about forty-five thousand men. Careful estimates
make the number of the enemy
greater.5
15. West of the Mississippi6
General Halleck had given General Samuel R. Curtis7 the
command in south-western Missouri; and this officer, about
the middle of February, pushed Price8 across the
Arkansas border. The rebels now made the most zealous
efforts to support Price, and there were speedily collected twenty
thousand men, the whole under Earl Van Dorn.9 Curtis
had but little more than one half that number, and it was now his
turn to stand on the defensive. He selected a position on Pea
Ridge. Here a battle was fought, March 7 and 8, resulting in
the defeat of the enemy, who were compelled to retreat
southward.
The rebels had enforced a rigorous
conscription in Arkansas; General Pike had scoured the Indian
Territory for savage allies; General McCulloch had brought in
reënforcements. The Union General Sigel10 had
occupied an advanced position before the battle of Pea
Ridge.11 While he was withdrawing towards the main
body, on the 6th, the enemy endeavored to overwhelm him; but he
beat off their assaults with his artillery, handling his six
hundred men so skillfully that Van Dorn reported them as seven
thousand. In this battle the national loss was over thirteen
hundred men; the Confederate loss was much greater.12
Among the killed were
1 Bragg's spoils are said to have loaded nearly four thousand wagons; and besides, he drove off thousands of cattle, mules, and sheep. According to a statement in the Richmond Examiner, E. Kirby Smith alone had a wagon train of plunder forty miles long.
2 See p. 257, ¶ 11. 3 See p. 256, ¶ 10. 4 Called also the battle of Stone River.
5 See p. 275, ¶ 52. 6 See pp. 248, ¶ 18--250, ¶ 25. 7 See P. 301, ¶ 33.
8 See p. 249, ¶ 20. 9 See p. 217. note 2 and p. 276, ¶ 53. 10 See p. 248, ¶ 19.
11 Sometimes called the battle of Elkhorn.
12 "But," says an historian, "their shattered battalions can never furnish a correct report of their killed and wounded."
QUESTIONS. -- What further result of Bragg's operations is mentioned? 14. Who superseded Buell? now did Rosecrans close the campaign in Tennessee? -- What further particulars can you give of the battle of Murfreesboro? 15. What is said of operations west of the Mississippi? Give an account of the battle of Pea Ridge. What is said of Sigel's skilful retreat to the main army? Give further particulars of the battle of Pea Ridge.
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the rebel Generals McCulloch1 and McIntosh. After
this, Curtis sent a large part of his army to assist at the siege
of Corinth,2 and led the rest to Helena, on the
Mississippi.
16. For some time after this battle no
important military operations were undertaken in Arkansas
or Missouri. But in the latter part of the year the rebel
General Hindman gathered a large army in the former state. His
troops, poorly armed and disciplined, were encountered and
defeated, December 7, by a smaller army under Generals Blunt and
Herron, at Prairie Grove.3 The battles of Pea
Ridge and Prairie Grove determined the fate of Missouri and
Arkansas. These states, however, continued for a long time to be
the theatre of a devastating guerrilla warfare.
17. Far to the west of Arkansas
the war extended, and New Mexico was the scene of desperate
fighting. The rebels were victorious, February 21, in the battle
of Valverde, near Fort Craig, and soon after captured
Santa Fe. But they were unable to maintain themselves
there, and in April they were forced to evacuate the
territory.4
18. Meanwhile the rebel posts on the
Mississippi River5 were falling into the hands
of the national forces. Columbus, Hickman,6 New
Madrid, Island No. 10,7 Fort Pillow, Fort
Randolph,8 and Memphis successively yielded
to Federal arms or to Federal strategy.
After the surrender of Fort
Donelson,9 Columbus and Hickman were no
longer tenable; and, on the approach of the Federal gunboats,
their garrisons evacuated them and fortified Island No. 10 and New
Madrid. To General Pope10 and Commodore
Foote9 was assigned the duty of reducing these posts.
Pope first secured a position on the river, which cut off
reënforcements and supplies from below, and then laid siege
to New Madrid, which, after one day's fierce bombardment,
was evacuated on the night of March 13, the garrison fleeing
across the river. Two days later, Foote, approaching from above
with his flotilla, began a severe cannonade upon Island No.
10, which continued till Pope could cross the river, and bring
up his army on the Tennessee side, so as to cut off the retreat of
the garrison. This took three weeks of almost
1 See p. 249, ¶ 20. 2 See p. 256, ¶ 9.
3 Near Fayetteville. The battle fought here is also called the battle of Crawford's Prairie.
4 See p. 278, ¶ 59. 5 See p. 251, ¶¶ 29, 30. 6 See p. 250, ¶ 26.
7 The islands in the Mississippi below the junctions of the Ohio with that river are numbered in their order, from the junction.
8 Twelve miles below Fort Pillow. 9 See p. 254, ¶ 4. 10 See p. 249, ¶ 20.
QUESTIONS. -- 16. What is said of military operations in Arkansas and Missouri after the battle of Pea Ridge? What of General Hindman and the battle of Prairie Grove? What did the battles of Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove determine? What of guerrilla warfare in Missouri and Arkansas? 17. What can you tell of the war in New Mexico. 18. What is said of the rebel posts on the Mississippi? -- What rendered Columbus and Hickman no longer tenable? Give an account of the capture of New Madrid. Of Island No. 10.
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incredible toil.1 The crossing was made April 7, on
which day the island was surrendered2 to Commodore
Foote.
Most of the garrison attempted to escape, but were pursued and
captured the next day by Pope's army. About five thousand
prisoners, several steamers, and a vast quantity of military
stores fell to the Federals. No battle-field had hitherto yielded
so valuable spoils of war as this bloodless victory.
19. Pope now went,
with the larger part of his army, to take part in the siege of
Corinth.3 The flotilla immediately moved down to
Fort Pillow, and kept its garrison employed till after the
evacuation of Corinth, when it, as well as Fort Randolph,
was evacuated on the night of June 4. Foote4 had been
obliged to leave the service on account of a wound received at
Fort Donelson, and his command devolved on Captain Charles H.
Davis,5 who, June 6, attacked the rebel fleet defending
Memphis. In an hour all the rebel gunboats but one were
captured or destroyed, and Memphis was in Federal power. The
Mississippi was now open from its source to Vicksburg. In
the latter part of December an unsuccessful attempt was made by
Generals Grant6 and William T. Sherman7 to
capture this position, which had then become one of immense
strength. Sherman placed his troops in the rear of the Confederate
works, and made an assault which was defeated with heavy loss.
Grant was marching down from the north to coöperate with him,
when a Federal garrison left at Holly Springs to protect his
supplies collected there, disgracefully surrendered, and made it
necessary for him to fall back; and Sherman, finding the works too
strong for him alone, gave over the attempt.
20. The effort to open
the Mississippi was not confined to the operations above
Vicksburg. Early this year a naval armament, under Commodore David
G. Farragut,8 was prepared to act in concert with an
army under General Butler,9 for the reduction of New
Orleans. About seventy-five miles below the city, Fort
Jackson, and nearly opposite, Fort St. Philip, guard the approach
from the Gulf. Farragut, having, with little effect, bombarded
these forts for six days, ran the principal vessels of his fleet
past them, April 24, and the next day appeared before the city.
The Confederate forces fled, and New Orleans was at the mercy of
the Federal gunboats. On the 28th, the forts yielded to the
mortar-boats of the fleet,
1 Transports for crossing the river had to be obtained from Foote's flotilla. This was accomplished by cutting a canal, twelve miles long, across the tongue of land formed by the bend in the river, near the island. One half of it was cut through heavy timber standing in the water, by sawing off the trees four and a half feet below the surface. The remainder of the canal ran through bayous filled with tangled brush.
2 The same day that Island No. 10 was surrendered. the battle of Pittsburg Landing, More than a hundred miles distant, was gained. See p. 255, ¶ 7. 3 See p. 256, ¶ 9.
4 See p. 259, ¶ 18. He died in June, 1863. He had been raised to the rank of rear admiral.
5 See p. 279, ¶ 62. 6 See p. 256, ¶ 10. 7 See p. 250. 27.
8 See p. 300, ¶ 32. 9 See p. 251, ¶ 31.
QUESTIONS. -- 9 What is said of Forts Pillow and Randolph? Of the capture of Memphis? Of the attempt to take Vicksburg? 20. Give an account of the capture of New Orleans.
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under Commander David A Porter.1
Butler took military possession of the city, and quickly brought
its treason into subjection to the national authority. The capture
of New Orleans was the severest blow yet inflicted upon the
rebellion.
21. Ship Island was the rendezvous
for the expedition against New Orleans.2 The
fleet consisted of forty-six vessels, carrying near three hundred
guns. The army under Butler numbered fourteen thousand men. No
event of the war exhibits greater coolness and daring than the
passage of the forts by the fleet. They sent forth a continuous
storm of shot and shell upon the passing ships, which, with
difficulty avoiding the fire-rafts of the enemy, encountered and
destroyed the Confederate squadron of rams, gunboats, and floating
batteries. When the rebel soldiers fled from the city they
destroyed a great number of ships, steamers, and storehouses, and
a vast amount of cotton and other property.
22. After the surrender of the city, the
fleet, proceeding up the river, took Baton Rouge and
Natchez. Farragut kept on as far as Vicksburg, and running
past the batteries there, joined the Union fleet above. Here the
rebel ram Arkansas, darting out from the Yazoo River,
inflicted considerable damage upon the fleet, and took refuge
under the guns of Vicksburg. Finding that this stronghold could
not be reduced without the coöperation of an army, Farragut
returned to New Orleans. On the 5th of August the Confederates,
under General Breckinridge3 made an attack on Baton
Rouge. After a bloody contest the assailants were repulsed by
the Federal troops, commanded by General Thomas Williams, who, in
the conflict, fell, shot through the heart. The Arkansas came down
to take part in the action; but her engines gave out, and her crew
set her on fire and abandoned her. Soon afterwards the Federal
troops evacuated the city. Late in October General Godfrey Weitzel
led an expedition into the Lafourche district, to the
south-west of New Orleans, defeated the rebels there, and took
possession of the district. The property of disloyal citizens was
confiscated, by order of General Butler.4
1 See p. 304, ¶ 40. 2 see p. 251, ¶ 29. 3 See p. 250, note 9. 4 See p. 279, ¶ 61.
QUESTIONS. -- What is said of General Butler? 21. Give further particulars of the capture of New Orleans. 22. What did Farragut next do? What is said of the rebel ram Arkansas? What can you tell of the battle of Baton Rouge, and of the fate of the ram Arkansas? Of operation in the Lafourche district?
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