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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Etext scanned by Dianne Bean of Phoenix, Arizona. + + + + + +HERO TALES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY + +by HENRY CABOT LODGE AND THEODORE ROOSEVELT + +Hence it is that the fathers of these men and ours also, and they +themselves likewise, being nurtured in all freedom and well born, +have shown before all men many and glorious deeds in public and +private, deeming it their duty to fight for the cause of liberty +and the Greeks, even against Greeks, and against Barbarians for +all the Greeks." + --PLATO: "Menexenus." + + +TO E. Y. R. + +To you we owe the suggestion of writing this book. Its purpose, +as you know better than any one else, is to tell in simple +fashion the story of some Americans who showed that they knew how +to live and how to die; who proved their truth by their endeavor; +and who joined to the stern and manly qualities which are +essential to the well-being of a masterful race the virtues of +gentleness, of patriotism, and of lofty adherence to an ideal. + +It is a good thing for all Americans, and it is an especially +good thing for young Americans, to remember the men who have +given their lives in war and peace to the service of their +fellow-countrymen, and to keep in mind the feats of daring and +personal prowess done in time past by some of the many champions +of the nation in the various crises of her history. Thrift, +industry, obedience to law, and intellectual culvation are +essential qualities in the makeup of any successful people; but +no people can be really great unless they possess also the heroic +virtues which are as needful in time of peace as in time of war, +and as important in civil as in military life. As a civilized +people we desire peace, but the only peace worth having is +obtained by instant readiness to fight when wronged--not by +unwillingness or inability to fight at all. Intelligent foresight +in preparation and known capacity to stand well in battle are the +surest safeguards against war. America will cease to be a great +nation whenever her young men cease to possess energy, daring, +and endurance, as well as the wish and the power to fight the +nation's foes. No citizen of a free state should wrong any man; +but it is not enough merely to refrain from infringing on the +rights of others; he must also be able and willing to stand up +for his own rights and those of his country against all comers, +and he must be ready at any time to do his full share in +resisting either malice domestic or foreign levy. + +HENRY CABOT LODGE. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + +WASHINGTON, April 19, 1895. + + + +CONTENTS + +GEORGE WASHINGTON--H. C. Lodge. + +DANIEL BOONE AND THE FOUNDING OF KENTUCKY--Theodore Roosevelt. + +GEORGE ROGERS CLARK AND THE CONQUEST OF THE NORTHWEST--Theodore +Roosevelt. + +THE BATTLE OF TRENTON--H. C. Lodge. + +BENNINGTON--H. C. Lodge. + +KING'S MOUNTAIN--Theodore Roosevelt. + +THE STORMING OF STONY POINT--Theodore Roosevelt. + +GOUVERNEUR MORRIS--H. C. Lodge. + +THE BURNING OF THE "PHILADELPHIA"--H. C. Lodge. + +THE CRUISE OF THE "WASP"--Theodore Roosevelt. + +THE "GENERAL ARMSTRONG" PRIVATEER--Theodore Roosevelt. + +THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS--Theodore Roosevelt. + +JOHN QUINCY ADAMS AND THE RIGHT OF PETITION--H. C. Lodge. + +FRANCIS PARKMAN--H. C. Lodge. + +"REMEMBER THE ALAMO"--Theodore Roosevelt. + +HAMPTON ROADS--Theodore Roosevelt. + +THE FLAG-BEARER--Theodore Roosevelt. + +THE DEATH OF STONEWALL JACK--Theodore Roosevelt. + +THE CHARGE AT GETTYSBURG--Theodore Roosevelt. + +GENERAL GRANT AND THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN--H. C. Lodge. + +ROBERT GOULD SHAW--H. C. Lodge. + +CHARLES RUSSELL LOWELL--H. C. Lodge. + +SHERIDAN AT CEDAR CREEK--H. C. Lodge. + +LIEUTENANT CUSHING AND THE RAM "ALBEMARLE"--Theodore Roosevelt. + +FARRAGUT AT MOBILE BAY--Theodore Roosevelt. + +ABRAHAM LINCOLN--H. C. Lodge. + + + +"Hor. I saw him once; he was a goodly king. +Ham. He was a man, take him for all in all +I shall not look upon his like again." + --Hamlet + + + +HERO TALES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY + + + +WASHINGTON + +The brilliant historian of the English people* has written of +Washington, that "no nobler figure ever stood in the fore-front +of a nation's life." In any book which undertakes to tell, no +matter how slightly, the story of some of the heroic deeds of +American history, that noble figre must always stand in the +fore-front. But to sketch the life of Washington even in the +barest outline is to write the history of the events which made +the United States independent and gave birth to the American +nation. Even to give alist of what he did, to name his battles +and recount his acts as president, would be beyond the limit and +the scope of this book. Yet it is always possible to recall the +man and to consider what he was and what he meant for us and for +mankind He is worthy the study and the remembrance of all men, +and to Americans he is at once a great glory of their past and an +inspiration and an assurance of their future. + +*John Richard Green. + + +To understand Washington at all we must first strip off all the +myths which have gathered about him. We must cast aside into the +dust-heaps all the wretched inventions of the cherry-tree +variety, which were fastened upon him nearly seventy years after +his birth. We must look at him as he looked at life and the facts +about him, without any illusion or deception, and no man in +history can better stand such a scrutiny. + +Born of a distinguished family in the days when the American +colonies were still ruled by an aristocracy, Washington started +with all that good birth and tradition could give. Beyond this, +however, he had little. His family was poor, his mother was left +early a widow, and he was forced after a very limited education +to go out into the world to fight for himself He had strong +within him the adventurous spirit of his race. He became a +surveyor, and in the pursuit of this profession plunged into the +wilderness, where he soon grew to be an expert hunter and +backwoodsman. Even as a boy the gravity of his character and his +mental and physical vigor commended him to those about him, and +responsibility and military command were put in his hands at an +age when most young men are just leaving college. As the times +grew threatening on the frontier, he was sent on a perilous +mission to the Indians, in which, after passing through many +hardships and dangers, he achieved success. When the troubles +came with France it was by the soldiers under his command that +the first shots were fired in the war which was to determine +whether the North American continent should be French or English. +In his earliest expedition he was defeated by the enemy. Later he +was with Braddock, and it was he who tried, to rally the broken +English army on the stricken field near Fort Duquesne. On that +day of surprise and slaughter he displayed not only cool courage +but the reckless daring which was one of his chief +characteristics. He so exposed himself that bullets passed +through his coat and hat, and the Indians and the French who +tried to bring him down thought he bore a charmed life. He +afterwards served with distinction all through the French war, +and when peace came he went back to the estate which he had +inherited from his brother, the most admired man in Virginia. + +At that time he married, and during the ensuing years he lived +the life of a Virginia planter, successful in his private affairs +and serving the public effectively but quietly as a member of the +House of Burgesses. When the troubles with the mother country +began to thicken he was slow to take extreme ground, but he never +wavered in his belief that all attempts to oppress the colonies +should be resisted, and when he once took up his position there +was no shadow of turning. He was one of Virginia's delegates to +the first Continental Congress, and, although he said but little, +he was regarded by all the representatives from the other +colonies as the strongest man among them. There was something +about him even then which commanded the respect and the +confidence of every one who came in contact with him. + +It was from New England, far removed from his own State, that the +demand came for his appointment as commander-in-chief of the +American army. Silently he accepted the duty, and, leaving +Philadelphia, took command of the army at Cambridge. There is no +need to trace him through the events that followed. From the time +when he drew his sword under the famous elm tree, he was the +embodiment of the American Revolution, and without him that +revolution would have failed almost at the start. How he carried +it to victory through defeat and trial and every possible +obstacle is known to all men. + +When it was all over he found himself facing a new situation. He +was the idol of the country and of his soldiers. The army was +unpaid, and the veteran troops, with arms in their hands, were +eager to have him take control of the disordered country as +Cromwell had done in England a little more than a century before. +With the army at his back, and supported by the great forces +which, in every community, desire order before everything else, +and are ready to assent to any arrangement which will bring peace +and quiet, nothing would have been easier than for Washington to +have made himself the ruler of the new nation. But that was not +his conception of duty, and he not only refused to have anything +to do with such a movement himself, but he repressed, by his +dominant personal influence, all such intentions on the part of +the army. On the 23d of December, 1783, he met the Congress at +Annapolis, and there resigned his commission. What he then said +is one of the two most memorable speeches ever made in the United +States, and is also memorable for its meaning and spirit among +all speeches ever made by men. He spoke as follows: + +Mr. President:--The great events on which my resignation depended +having at length taken place, I have now the honor of offering my +sincere congratulations to Congress, and of presenting myself +before them, to surrender into their hands the trust committed to +me and to claim the indulgence of retiring from the service of my +country. + +Happy in the confirmation of our independence and sovereignity +and pleased with the opportunity afforded the United States of +becoming a respectable nation, I resign with satisfaction the +appointment I accepted with diffidence; a diffidence in my +abilities to accomplish so arduous a task, which, however, was +superseded by a confidence in the rectitude of our cause, the +support of the supreme power of the Union, and the patronage of +Heaven. + +The successful termination of the war has verified the most +sanguine expectations, and my gratitude for the interposition of +Providence and the assistance I have received from my countrymen +increases with every review of the momentous contest. + +While I repeat my obligations to the Army in general, I should do +injustice to my own feelings not to acknowledge, in this place, +the peculiar services and distinguished merits of the Gentlemen +who have been attached to my person during the war. It was +impossible that the choice of confidential officers to compose my +family should have been more fortunate. Permit me, sir, to +recommend in particular those who have continued in service to +the present moment as worthy of the favorable notice and +patronage of Congress. + +I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act +of my official life by commending the interests of our dearest +country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the +superintendence of them to His holy keeping. + +Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great +theatre of action, and, bidding an affectionate farewell to this +august body, under whose orders I have so long acted, I here +offer my commission and take my leave of all the employments of +public life." + +The great master of English fiction, writing of this scene at +Annapolis, says: 'Which was the most splendid spectacle ever +witnessed--the opening feast of Prince George in London, or the +resignation of Washington? Which is the noble character for after +ages to admire--yon fribble dancing in lace and spangles, or +yonder hero who sheathes his sword after a life of spotless +honor, a purity unreproached, a courage indomitable and a +consummate victory?" + +Washington did not refuse the dictatorship, or, rather, the +opportunity to take control of the country, because he feared +heavy responsibility, but solely because, as a high-minded and +patriotic man, he did not believe in meeting the situation in +that way. He was, moreover, entirely devoid of personal ambition, +and had no vulgar longing for personal power. After resigning his +commission he returned quietly to Mount Vernon, but he did not +hold himself aloof from public affairs. On the contrary, he +watched their course with the utmost anxiety. He saw the feeble +Confederation breaking to pieces, and he soon realized that that +form of government was an utter failure. In a time when no +American statesman except Hamilton had yet freed himself from the +local feelings of the colonial days, Washington was thoroughly +national in all his views. Out of the thirteen jarring colonies +he meant that a nation should come, and he saw--what no one else +saw--the destiny of the country to the westward. He wished a +nation founded which should cross the Alleghanies, and, holding +the mouths of the Mississippi, take possession of all that vast +and then unknown region. For these reasons he stood at the head +of the national movement, and to him all men turned who desired a +better union and sought to bring order out of chaos. With him +Hamilton and Madison consulted in the preliminary stages which +were to lead to the formation of a new system. It was his vast +personal influence which made that movement a success, and when +the convention to form a constitution met at Philadelphia, he +presided over its deliberations, and it was his commanding will +which, more than anything else, brought a constitution through +difficulties and conflicting interests which more than once made +any result seem well-nigh hopeless. When the Constitution formed +at Philadelphia had been ratified by the States, all men turned +to Washington to stand at the head of the new government. As he +had borne the burden of the Revolution, so he now took up the +task of bringing the government of the Constitution into +existence. For eight years he served as president. He came into +office with a paper constitution, the heir of a bankrupt, +broken-down confederation. He left the United States, when he +went out of office, an effective and vigorous government. When he +was inaugurated, we had nothing but the clauses of the +Constitution as agreed to by the Convention. When he laid down +the presidency, we had an organized government, an established +revenue, a funded debt, a high credit, an efficient system of +banking, a strong judiciary, and an army. We had a vigorous and +well-defined foreign policy; we had recovered the western posts, +which, in the hands of the British, had fettered our march to the +west; and we had proved our power to maintain order at home, to +repress insurrection, to collect the national taxes, and to +enforce the laws made by Congress. Thus Washington had shown that +rare combination of the leader who could first destroy by +revolution, and who, having led his country through a great civil +war, was then able to build up a new and lasting fabric upon the +ruins of a system which had been overthrown. At the close of his +official service he returned again to Mount Vernon, and, after a +few years of quiet retirement, died just as the century in which +he had played so great a part was closing. + +Washington stands among the greatest men of human history, and +those in the same rank with him are very few. Whether measured by +what he did, or what he was, or by the effect of his work upon +the history of mankind, in every aspect he is entitled to the +place he holds among the greatest of his race. Few men in all +time have such a record of achievement. Still fewer can show at +the end of a career so crowded with high deeds and memorable +victories a life so free from spot, a character so unselfish and +so pure, a fame so void of doubtful points demanding either +defense or explanation. Eulogy of such a life is needless, but it +is always important to recall and to freshly remember just what +manner of man he was. In the first place he was physically a +striking figure. He was very tall, powerfully made, with a +strong, handsome face. He was remarkably muscular and powerful. +As a boy he was a leader in all outdoor sports. No one could +fling the bar further than he, and no one could ride more +difficult horses. As a young man he became a woodsman and hunter. +Day after day he could tramp through the wilderness with his gun +and his surveyor's chain, and then sleep at night beneath the +stars. He feared no exposure or fatigue, and outdid the hardiest +backwoodsman in following a winter trail and swimming icy +streams. This habit of vigorous bodily exercise he carried +through life. Whenever he was at Mount Vernon he gave a large +part of his time to fox-hunting, riding after his hounds through +the most difficult country. His physical power and endurance +counted for much in his success when he commanded his army, and +when the heavy anxieties of general and president weighed upon +his mind and heart. + +He was an educated, but not a learned man. He read well and +remembered what he read, but his life was, from the beginning, a +life of action, and the world of men was his school. He was not a +military genius like Hannibal, or Caesar, or Napoleon, of which +the world has had only three or four examples. But he was a great +soldier of the type which the English race has produced, like +Marlborough and Cromwell, Wellington, Grant, and Lee. He was +patient under defeat, capable of large combinations, a stubborn +and often reckless fighter, a winner of battles, but much more, a +conclusive winner in a long war of varying fortunes. He was, in +addition, what very few great soldiers or commanders have ever +been, a great constitutional statesman, able to lead a people +along the paths of free government without undertaking himself to +play the part of the strong man, the usurper, or the savior of +society. + +He was a very silent man. Of no man of equal importance in the +world's history have we so few sayings of a personal kind. He was +ready enough to talk or to write about the public duties which he +had in hand, but he hardly ever talked of himself. Yet there can +be no greater error than to suppose Washington cold and +unfeeling, because of his silence and reserve. He was by nature a +man of strong desires and stormy passions. Now and again he would +break out, even as late as the presidency, into a gust of anger +that would sweep everything before it. He was always reckless of +personal danger, and had a fierce fighting spirit which nothing +could check when it was once unchained. + +But as a rule these fiery impulses and strong passions were under +the absolute control of an iron will, and they never clouded his +judgment or warped his keen sense of justice. + +But if he was not of a cold nature, still less was he hard or +unfeeling. His pity always went out to the poor, the oppressed, +or the unhappy, and he was all that was kind and gentle to those +immediately about him. + +We have to look carefully into his life to learn all these +things, for the world saw only a silent, reserved man, of +courteous and serious manner, who seemed to stand alone and +apart, and who impressed every one who came near him with a sense +of awe and reverence. + +One quality he had which was, perhaps, more characteristic of the +man and his greatness than any other. This was his perfect +veracity of mind. He was, of course, the soul of truth and honor, +but he was even more than that. He never deceived himself He +always looked facts squarely in the face and dealt with them as +such, dreaming no dreams, cherishing no delusions, asking no +impossibilities,--just to others as to himself, and thus winning +alike in war and in peace. + +He gave dignity as well as victory to his country and his cause. +He was, in truth, a "character for after ages to admire." + + + +DANIEL BOONE AND THE FOUNDING OF KENTUCKY + +. . . Boone lived hunting up to ninety; +And, what's still stranger, left behind a name + For which men vainly decimate the throng, +Not only famous, but of that GOOD fame, + Without which glory's but a tavern song,-- +Simple, serene, the antipodes of shame, + Which hate nor envy e'er could tinge with wrong; + +'T is true he shrank from men, even of his nation; + When they built up unto his darling trees, +He moved some hundred miles off, for a station + Where there were fewer houses and more ease; + + * * * * * * * + +But where he met the individual man, +He showed himself as kind as mortal can. + + * * * * * * * + +The freeborn forest found and kept them free, +And fresh as is a torrent or a tree. + +And tall, and strong, and swift of foot were they, + Beyond the dwarfing city's pale abortions, +Because their thoughts had never been the prey + Of care or gain; the green woods were their portions + + * * * * * * * + +Simple they were, not savage; and their rifles, +Though very true, were yet not used for trifles. + + * * * + +Serene, not sullen, were the solitudes +Of this unsighing people of the woods. + --Byron. + + + +DANIEL BOONE AND THE FOUNDING OF KENTUCKY + +Daniel Boone will always occupy a unique place in our history as +the archetype of the hunter and wilderness wanderer. He was a +true pioneer, and stood at the head of that class of +Indian-fighters, game-hunters, forest-fellers, and backwoods +farmers who, generation after generation, pushed westward the +border of civilization from the Alleghanies to the Pacific. As he +himself said, he was "an instrument ordained of God to settle the +wilderness." Born in Pennsylvania, he drifted south into western +North Carolina, and settled on what was then the extreme +frontier. There he married, built a log cabin, and hunted, +chopped trees, and tilled the ground like any other frontiersman. +The Alleghany Mountains still marked a boundary beyond which the +settlers dared not go; for west of them lay immense reaches of +frowning forest, uninhabited save by bands of warlike Indians. +Occasionally some venturesome hunter or trapper penetrated this +immense wilderness, and returned with strange stories of what he +had seen and done. + +In 1769 Boone, excited by these vague and wondrous tales, +determined himself to cross the mountains and find out what +manner of land it was that lay beyond. With a few chosen +companions he set out, making his own trail through the gloomy +forest. After weeks of wandering, he at last emerged into the +beautiful and fertile country of Kentucky, for which, in after +years, the red men and the white strove with such obstinate fury +that it grew to be called "the dark and bloody ground." But when +Boone first saw it, it was a fair and smiling land of groves and +glades and running waters, where the open forest grew tall and +beautiful, and where innumerable herds of game grazed, roaming +ceaselessly to and fro along the trails they had trodden during +countless generations. Kentucky was not owned by any Indian +tribe, and was visited only by wandering war-parties and +hunting-parties who came from among the savage nations living +north of the Ohio or south of the Tennessee. + +A roving war-party stumbled upon one of Boone's companions and +killed him, and the others then left Boone and journeyed home; +but his brother came out to join him, and the two spent the +winter together. Self-reliant, fearless, and the frowning defiles +of Cumberland Gap, they were attacked by Indians, and driven +back--two of Boone's own sons being slain. In 1775, however, he +made another attempt; and this attempt was successful. The +Indians attacked the newcomers; but by this time the parties of +would-be settlers were sufficiently numerous to hold their own. +They beat back the Indians, and built rough little hamlets, +surrounded by log stockades, at Boonesborough and Harrodsburg; +and the permanent settlement of Kentucky had begun. + +The next few years were passed by Boone amid unending Indian +conflicts. He was a leader among the settlers, both in peace and +in war. At one time he represented them in the House of Burgesses +of Virginia; at another time he was a member of the first little +Kentucky parliament itself; and he became a colonel of the +frontier militia. He tilled the land, and he chopped the trees +himself; he helped to build the cabins and stockades with his own +hands, wielding the longhandled, light-headed frontier ax as +skilfully as other frontiersmen. His main business was that of +surveyor, for his knowledge of the country, and his ability to +travel through it, in spite of the danger from Indians, created +much demand for his services among people who wished to lay off +tracts of wild land for their own future use. But whatever he +did, and wherever he went, he had to be sleeplessly on the +lookout for his Indian foes. When he and his fellows tilled the +stump-dotted fields of corn, one or more of the party were always +on guard, with weapon at the ready, for fear of lurking savages. +When he went to the House of Burgesses he carried his long rifle, +and traversed roads not a mile of which was free from the danger +of Indian attack. The settlements in the early years depended +exclusively upon game for their meat, and Boone was the mightiest +of all the hunters, so that upon him devolved the task of keeping +his people supplied. He killed many buffaloes, and pickled the +buffalo beef for use in winter. He killed great numbers of black +bear, and made bacon of them, precisely as if they had been hogs. +The common game were deer and elk. At that time none of the +hunters of Kentucky would waste a shot on anything so small as a +prairie-chicken or wild duck; but they sometimes killed geese and +swans when they came south in winter and lit on the rivers. + +But whenever Boone went into the woods after game, he had +perpetually to keep watch lest he himself might be hunted in +turn. He never lay in wait at a game-lick, save with ears +strained to hear the approach of some crawling red foe. He never +crept up to a turkey he heard calling, without exercising the +utmost care to see that it was not an Indian; for one of the +favorite devices of the Indians was to imitate the turkey call, +and thus allure within range some inexperienced hunter. + +Besides this warfare, which went on in the midst of his usual +vocations, Boone frequently took the field on set expeditions +against the savages. Once when he and a party of other men were +making salt at a lick, they were surprised and carried off by the +Indians. The old hunter was a prisoner with them for some months, +but finally made his escape and came home through the trackless +woods as straight as the wild pigeon flies. He was ever on the +watch to ward off the Indian inroads, and to follow the +warparties, and try to rescue the prisoners. Once his own +daughter, and two other girls who were with her, were carried off +by a band of Indians. Boone raised some friends and followed the +trail steadily for two days and a night; then they came to where +the Indians had killed a buffalo calf and were camped around it. +Firing from a little distance, the whites shot two of the +Indians, and, rushing in, rescued the girls. On another occasion, +when Boone had gone to visit a salt-lick with his brother, the +Indians ambushed them and shot the latter. Boone himself escaped, +but the Indians followed him for three miles by the aid of a +tracking dog, until Boone turned, shot the dog, and then eluded +his pursuers. In company with Simon Kenton and many other noted +hunters and wilderness warriors, he once and again took part in +expeditions into the Indian country, where they killed the braves +and drove off the horses. Twice bands of Indians, accompanied by +French, Tory, and British partizans from Detroit, bearing the +flag of Great Britain, attacked Boonesboroug. In each case Boone +and his fellowsettlers beat them off with loss. At the fatal +battle of the Blue Licks, in which two hundred of the best +riflemen of Kentucky were beaten with terrible slaughter by a +great force of Indians from the lakes, Boone commanded the left +wing. Leading his men, rifle in hand, he pushed back and +overthrew the force against him; but meanwhile the Indians +destroyed the right wing and center, and got round in his rear, +so that there was nothing left for Boone's men except to flee +with all possible speed. + +As Kentucky became settled, Boone grew restless and ill at ease. +He loved the wilderness; he loved the great forests and the great +prairielike glades, and the life in the little lonely cabin, +where from the door he could see the deer come out into the +clearing at nightfall. The neighborhood of his own kind made him +feel cramped and ill at ease. So he moved ever westward with the +frontier; and as Kentucky filled up he crossed the Mississippi +and settled on the borders of the prairie country of Missouri, +where the Spaniards, who ruled the territory, made him an +alcalde, or judge. He lived to a great age, and died out on the +border, a backwoods hunter to the last. + + + +GEORGE ROGERS CLARK AND THE CONQUEST OF THE NORTHWEST + +Have the elder races halted? +Do they droop and end their lesson, wearied over there beyond the +seas ? +We take up the task eternal, and the burden and the lesson, + Pioneers! O Pioneers! + All the past we leave behind, +We debouch upon a newer, mightier world, varied world; + +Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labor and the +march, + Pioneers! O Pioneers! +We detachments steady throwing, +Down the edges, through the passes, up the mountains steep, +Conquering, holding, daring, venturing, as we go the unknown +ways, + Pioneers! O Pioneers! + + * * * * * * * + +The sachem blowing the smoke first towards the sun and then +towards the earth, +The drama of the scalp dance enacted with painted faces and +guttural exclamations, +The setting out of the war-party, the long and stealthy march, +The single file, the swinging hatchets, the surprise and +slaughter of enemies. + --Whitman. + + + +GEORGE ROGERS CLARK AND THE CONQUEST OF THE NORTHWEST + +In 1776, when independence was declared, the United States +included only the thirteen original States on the seaboard. With +the exception of a few hunters there were no white men west of +the Alleghany Mountains, and there was not even an American +hunter in the great country out of which we have since made the +States of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. All +this region north of the Ohio River then formed apart of the +Province of Quebec. It was a wilderness of forests and prairies, +teeming with game, and inhabited by many warlike tribes of +Indians. + +Here and there through it were dotted quaint little towns of +French Creoles, the most important being Detroit, Vincennes on +the Wabash, and Kaskaskia and Kahokia on the Illinois. These +French villages were ruled by British officers comanding small +bodies of regular soldiers or Tory rangers and Creole partizans. +The towns were completely in the power of the British government; +none of the American States had actual possession of a foot of +property in the Northwestern Territory. + +The Northwest was acquired in the midst of the Revolution only by +armed conquest, and if it had not been so acquired, it would have +remained a part of the British Dominion of Canada. + +The man to whom this conquest was clue was a famous backwoods +leader, a mighty hunter, a noted Indian-fighter, George Rogers +Clark. He was a very strong man, with light hair and blue eyes. +He was of good Virginian family. Early in his youth, he embarked +on the adventurous career of a backwoods surveyor, exactly as +Washington and so many other young Virginians of spirit did at +that period. He traveled out to Kentucky soon after it was +founded by Boone, and lived there for a year, either at the +stations or camping by him self in the woods, surveying, hunting, +and making war against the Indians like any other settler; but +all the time his mind was bent on vaster schemes than were +dreamed of by the men around him. He had his spies out in the +Northwestern Territory, and became convinced that with a small +force of resolute backwoodsmen he could conquer it for the United +States. When he went back to Virginia, Governor Patrick Henry +entered heartily into Clark's schemes and gave him authority to +fit out a force for his purpose. + +In 1778, after encountering endless difficulties and delays, he +finally raised a hundred and fifty backwoods riflemen. In May +they started down the Ohio in flatboats to undertake the allotted +task. They drifted and rowed downstream to the Falls of the Ohio, +where Clark founded a log hamlet, which has since become the +great city of Louisville. + +Here he halted for some days and was joined by fifty or sixty +volunteers; but a number of the men deserted, and when, after an +eclipse of the sun, Clark again pushed off to go down with the +current, his force was but about one hundred and sixty riflemen. +All, however, were men on whom he could depend--men well used to +frontier warfare. They were tall, stalwart backwoodsmen, clad in +the hunting-shirt and leggings that formed the national dress of +their kind, and armed with the distinctive weapon of the +backwoods, the long-barreled, small-bore rifle. + +Before reaching the Mississippi the little flotilla landed, and +Clark led his men northward against the Illinois towns. In one of +them, Kaskaskia, dwelt the British commander of the entire +district up to Detroit. The small garrison and the Creole militia +taken together outnumbered Clark's force, and they were in close +alliance with the Indians roundabout. Clark was anxious to take +the town by surprise and avoid bloodshed, as he believed he could +win over the Creoles to the American side. Marching cautiously by +night and generally hiding by day, he came to the outskirts of +the little village on the evening of July 4, and lay in the woods +near by until after nightfall. + +Fortune favored him. That evening the officers of the garrison +had given a great ball to the mirth-loving Creoles, and almost +the entire population of the village had gathered in the fort, +where the dance was held. While the revelry was at its height, +Clark and his tall backwoodsmen, treading silently through the +darkness, came into the town, surprised the sentries, and +surrounded the fort without causing any alarm. + +All the British and French capable of bearing arms were gathered +in the fort to take part in or look on at the merrymaking. When +his men were posted Clark walked boldly forward through the open +door, and, leaning against the wall, looked at the dancers as +they whirled around in the light of the flaring torches. For some +moments no one noticed him. Then an Indian who had been lying +with his chin on his hand, looking carefully over the gaunt +figure of the stranger, sprang to his feet, and uttered the wild +war-whoop. Immediately the dancing ceased and the men ran to and +fro in confusion; but Clark, stepping forward, bade them be at +their ease, but to remember that henceforth they danced under the +flag of the United States, and not under that of Great Britain. + +The surprise was complete, and no resistance was attempted. For +twenty-four hours the Creoles were in abject terror. Then Clark +summoned their chief men together and explained that he came as +their ally, and not as their foe, and that if they would join +with him they should be citizens of the American republic, and +treated in all respects on an equality with their comrades. The +Creoles, caring little for the British, and rather fickle of +nature, accepted the proposition with joy, and with the most +enthusiastic loyalty toward Clark. Not only that, but sending +messengers to their kinsmen on the Wabash, they persuaded the +people of Vincennes likewise to cast off their allegiance to the +British king, and to hoist the American flag. + +So far, Clark had conquered with greater ease than he had dared +to hope. But when the news reached the British governor, +Hamilton, at Detroit, he at once prepared to reconquer the land. +He had much greater forces at his command than Clark had; and in +the fall of that year he came down to Vincennes by stream and +portage, in a great fleet of canoes bearing five hundred fighting +men-British regulars, French partizans, and Indians. The +Vincennes Creoles refused to fight against the British, and the +American officer who had been sent thither by Clark had no +alternative but to surrender. + +If Hamilton had then pushed on and struck Clark in Illinois, +having more than treble Clark's force, he could hardly have +failed to win the victory; but the season was late and the +journey so difficult that he did not believe it could be taken. +Accordingly he disbanded the Indians and sent some of his troops +back to Detroit, announcing that when spring came he would march +against Clark in Illinois. + +If Clark in turn had awaited the blow he would have surely met +defeat; but he was a greater man than his antagonist, and he did +what the other deemed impossible. + +Finding that Hamilton had sent home some of his troops and +dispersed all his Indians, Clark realized that his chance was to +strike before Hamilton's soldiers assembled again in the spring. +Accordingly he gathered together the pick of his men, together +with a few Creoles, one hundred and seventy all told, and set out +for Vincennes. At first the journey was easy enough, for they +passed across the snowy Illinois prairies, broken by great +reaches of lofty woods. They killed elk, buffalo, and deer for +food, there being no difficulty in getting all they wanted to +eat; and at night they built huge fires by which to sleep, and +feasted "like Indian war-dancers," as Clark said in his report. + +But when, in the middle of February, they reached the drowned +lands of the Wabash, where the ice had just broken up and +everything was flooded, the difficulties seemed almost +insuperable, and the march became painful and laborious to a +degree. All day long the troops waded in the icy water, and at +night they could with difficulty find some little hillock on +which to sleep. Only Clark's indomitable courage and cheerfulness +kept the party in heart and enabled them to persevere. However, +persevere they did, and at last, on February 23, they came in +sight of the town of Vincennes. They captured a Creole who was +out shooting ducks, and from him learned that their approach was +utterly unsuspected, and that there were many Indians in town. + +Clark was now in some doubt as to how to make his fight. The +British regulars dwelt in a small fort at one end of the town, +where they had two light guns; but Clark feared lest, if he made +a sudden night attack, the townspeople and Indians would from +sheer fright turn against him. He accordingly arranged, just +before he himself marched in, to send in the captured +duck-hunter, conveying a warning to the Indians and the Creoles +that he was about to attack the town, but that his only quarrel +was with the British, and that if the other inhabitants would +stay in their own homes they would not be molested. Sending the +duck-hunter ahead, Clark took up his march and entered the town +just after nightfall. The news conveyed by the released hunter +astounded the townspeople, and they talked it over eagerly, and +were in doubt what to do. The Indians, not knowing how great +might be the force that would assail the town, at once took +refuge in the neighboring woods, while the Creoles retired to +their own houses. The British knew nothing of what had happened +until the Americans had actually entered the streets of the +little village. Rushing forward, Clark's men soon penned the +regulars within their fort, where they kept them surrounded all +night. The next day a party of Indian warriors, who in the +British interest had been ravaging the settlements of Kentucky, +arrived and entered the town, ignorant that the Americans had +captured it. Marching boldly forward to the fort, they suddenly +found it beleaguered, and before they could flee they were seized +by the backwoodsmen. In their belts they carried the scalps of +the slain settlers. The savages were taken redhanded, and the +American frontiersmen were in no mood to show mercy. All the +Indians were tomahawked in sight of the fort. + +For some time the British defended themselves well; but at length +their guns were disabled, all of the gunners being picked off by +the backwoods marksmen, and finally the garrison dared not so +much as appear at a port-hole, so deadly was the fire from the +long rifles. Under such circumstances Hamilton was forced to +surrender. + +No attempt was afterward made to molest the Americans in the land +they had won, and upon the conclusion of peace the Northwest, +which had been conquered by Clark, became part of the United +States. + + + +THE BATTLE OF TRENTON + +And such they are--and such they will be found: +Not so Leonidas and Washington, +Their every battle-field is holy ground +Which breathes of nations saved, not worlds undone. +How sweetly on the ear such echoes sound! +While the mere victor's may appal or stun +The servile and the vain, such names will be +A watchword till the future shall be free. + --Byron. + +THE BATTLE OF TRENTON + +In December, 1776, the American Revolution was at its lowest ebb. +The first burst of enthusiasm, which drove the British back from +Concord and met them hand to hand at Bunker Hill, which forced +them to abandon Boston and repulsed their attack at Charleston, +had spent its force. The undisciplined American forces called +suddenly from the workshop and the farm had given way, under the +strain of a prolonged contest, and had been greatly scattered, +many of the soldiers returning to their homes. The power of +England, on the other hand, with her disciplined army and +abundant resources, had begun to tell. Washington, fighting +stubbornly, had been driven during the summer and autumn from +Long Island up the Hudson, and New York had passed into the hands +of the British. Then Forts Lee and Washington had been lost, and +finally the Continental army had retreated to New Jersey. On the +second of December Washington was at Princeton with some three +thousand ragged soldiers, and had escaped destruction only by the +rapidity of his movements. By the middle of the month General +Howe felt that the American army, unable as he believed either to +fight or to withstand the winter, must soon dissolve, and, +posting strong detachments at various points, he took up his +winter quarters in New York. The British general had under his +command in his various divisions twenty-five thousand +well-disciplined soldiers, and the conclusion he had reached was +not an unreasonable one; everything, in fact, seemed to confirm +his opinion. Thousands of the colonists were coming in and +accepting his amnesty. The American militia had left the field, +and no more would turn out, despite Washington's earnest appeals. +All that remained of the American Revolution was the little +Continental army and the man who led it. + +Yet even in this dark hour Washington did not despair. He sent in +every direction for troops. Nothing was forgotten. Nothing that +he could do was left undone. Unceasingly he urged action upon +Congress, and at the same time with indomitable fighting spirit +he planned to attack the British. It was a desperate undertaking +in the face of such heavy odds, for in all his divisions he had +only some six thousand men, and even these were scattered. The +single hope was that by his own skill and courage he could snatch +victory from a situation where victory seemed impossible. With +the instinct of a great commander he saw that his only chance was +to fight the British detachments suddenly, unexpectedly, and +separately, and to do this not only required secrecy and perfect +judgment, but also the cool, unwavering courage of which, under +such circumstances, very few men have proved themselves capable. +As Christmas approached his plans were ready. He determined to +fall upon the British detachment of Hessians, under Colonel Rahl, +at Trenton, and there strike his first blow. To each division of +his little army a part in the attack was assigned with careful +forethought. Nothing was overlooked and nothing omitted, and +then, for some reason good or bad, every one of the division +commanders failed to do his part. As the general plan was +arranged, Gates was to march from Bristol with two thousand men; +Ewing was to cross at Trenton; Putnam was to come up from +Philadelphia; and Griffin was to make a diversion against Donop. +When the moment came, Gates, who disapproved the plan, was on his +way to Congress; Griffin abandoned New Jersey and fled before +Donop; Putnam did not attempt to leave Philadelphia; and Ewing +made no effort to cross at Trenton. Cadwalader came down from +Bristol, looked at the river and the floating ice, and then gave +it up as desperate. Nothing remained except Washington himself +with the main army, but he neither gave up, nor hesitated, nor +stopped on account of the ice, or the river, or the perils which +lay beyond. On Christmas Eve, when all the Christian world was +feasting and rejoicing, and while the British were enjoying +themselves in their comfortable quarters, Washington set out. +With twentyfour hundred men he crossed the Delaware through the +floating ice, his boats managed and rowed by the sturdy fishermen +of Marblehead from Glover's regiment. The crossing was +successful, and he landed about nine miles from Trenton. It was +bitter cold, and the sleet and snow drove sharply in the faces of +the troops. Sullivan, marching by the river, sent word that the +arms of his soldiers were wet. "Tell your general," was +Washington's reply to the message, "to use the bayonet, for the +town must be taken." When they reached Trenton it was broad +daylight. Washington, at the front and on the right of the line, +swept down the Pennington road, and, as he drove back the Hessian +pickets, he heard the shout of Sullivan's men as, with Stark +leading the van, they charged in from the river. A company of +jaegers and of light dragoons slipped away. There was some +fighting in the streets, but the attack was so strong and well +calculated that resistance was useless. Colonel Rahl, the British +commander, aroused from his revels, was killed as he rushed out +to rally his men, and in a few moments all was over. A thousand +prisoners fell into Washington's hands, and this important +detachment of the enemy was cut off and destroyed. + +The news of Trenton alarmed the British, and Lord Cornwallis with +seven thousand of the best troops started at once from New York +in hot pursuit of the American army. Washington, who had now +rallied some five thousand men, fell back, skirmishing heavily, +behind the Assunpink, and when Cornwallis reached the river he +found the American army awaiting him on the other side of the +stream. Night was falling, and Cornwallis, feeling sure of his +prey, decided that he would not risk an assault until the next +morning. Many lessons had not yet taught him that it was a fatal +business to give even twelve hours to the great soldier opposed +to him. During the night Washington, leaving his fires burning +and taking a roundabout road which he had already reconnoitered, +marched to Princeton. There he struck another British detachment. +A sharp fight ensued, the British division was broken and +defeated, losing some five hundred men, and Washington withdrew +after this second victory to the highlands of New Jersey to rest +and recruit. + +Frederick the Great is reported to have said that this was the +most brilliant campaign of the century. With a force very much +smaller than that of the enemy, Washington had succeeded in +striking the British at two places with superior forces at each +point of contact. At Trenton he had the benefit of a surprise, +but the second time he was between two hostile armies. He was +ready to fight Cornwallis when the latter reached the Assunpink, +trusting to the strength of his position to make up for his +inferiority of numbers. But when Cornwallis gave him the delay +of. a night, Washington, seeing the advantage offered by his +enemy's mistake, at once changed his whole plan, and, turning in +his tracks, fell upon the smaller of the two forces opposed to +him, wrecking and defeating it before the outgeneraled Cornwallis +could get up with the main army. Washington had thus shown the +highest form of military skill, for there is nothing that +requires so much judgment and knowledge, so much certainty of +movement and quick decision, as to meet a superior enemy at +different points, force the fighting, and at each point to +outnumber and overwhelm him. + +But the military part of this great campaign was not all. Many +great soldiers have not been statesmen, and have failed to +realize the political necessities of the situation. Washington +presented the rare combination of a great soldier and a great +statesman as well. He aimed not only to win battles, but by his +operations in the field to influence the political situation and +affect public opinion. The American Revolution was going to +pieces. Unless some decisive victory could be won immediately, it +would have come to an end in the winter of 1776-77. This +Washington knew, and it was this which nerved his arm. The +results justified his forethought. The victories of Trenton and +Princeton restored the failing spirits of the people, and, what +was hardly less important, produced a deep impression in Europe +in favor of the colonies. The country, which had lost heart, and +become supine and almost hostile, revived. The militia again took +the field. Outlying parties of the British were attacked and cut +off, and recruits once more began to come in to the Continental +army. The Revolution was saved. That the English colonies in +North America would have broken away from the mother country +sooner or later cannot be doubted, but that particular Revolution +Of 1776 would have failed within a year, had it not been for +Washington. It is not, however, merely the fact that he was a +great soldier and statesman which we should remember. The most +memorable thing to us, and to all men, is the heroic spirit of +the man, which rose in those dreary December days to its greatest +height, under conditions so adverse that they had crushed the +hope of every one else. Let it be remembered, also, that it was +not a spirit of desperation or of ignorance, a reckless daring +which did not count the cost. No one knew better than +Washington--no one, indeed, so well--the exact state of affairs; +for he, conspicuously among great men, always looked facts +fearlessly in the face, and never deceived himself. He was under +no illusions, and it was this high quality of mind as much as any +other which enabled him to win victories. + +How he really felt we know from what he wrote to Congress on +December 20, when he said: "It may be thought that I am going a +good deal out of the line of my duty to adopt these measures or +to advise thus freely. A character to lose, an estate to forfeit, +the inestimable blessing of liberty at stake, and a life devoted, +must be my excuse." These were the thoughts in his mind when he +was planning this masterly campaign. These same thoughts, we may +readily believe, were with him when his boat was making its way +through the ice of the Delaware on Christmas Eve. It was a very +solemn moment, and he was the only man in the darkness of that +night who fully understood what was at stake; but then, as +always, he was calm and serious, with a high courage which +nothing could depress. + +The familiar picture of a later day depicts Washington crossing +the Delaware at the head of his soldiers. He is standing up in +the boat, looking forward in the teeth of the storm. It matters +little whether the work of the painter is in exact accordance +with the real scene or not. The daring courage, the high resolve, +the stern look forward and onward, which the artist strove to +show in the great leader, are all vitally true. For we may be +sure that the man who led that well-planned but desperate +assault, surrounded by darker conditions than the storms of +nature which gathered about his boat, and carrying with him the +fortunes of his country, was at that moment one of the most +heroic figures in history. + + + +BENNINGTON + +We are but warriors for the working-day; +Our gayness and our guilt are all besmirch'd +With rainy marching in the painful field; +There's not a piece of feather in our host +(Good argument, I hope, we shall not fly), +And time hath worn us into slovenry. +But, by the mass, our hearts are in the trim, +And my poor soldiers tell me, yet ere night +They'll be in fresher robes. + --Henry V. + + +BENNINGTON + +The battle of Saratoga is included by Sir Edward Creasy among his +fifteen decisive battles which have, by their result, affected +the history of the world. It is true that the American Revolution +was saved by Washington in the remarkable Princeton and Trenton +campaign, but it is equally true that the surrender of Burgoyne +at Saratoga, in the following autumn, turned the scale decisively +in favor of the colonists by the impression which it made in +Europe. It was the destruction of Burgoyne's army which +determined France to aid the Americans against England. Hence +came the French alliance, the French troops, and, what was of far +more importance, a French fleet by which Washington was finally +able to get control of the sea, and in this way cut off +Cornwallis at Yorktown and bring the Revolution to a successful +close. That which led, however, more directly than anything else +to the final surrender at Saratoga was the fight at Bennington, +by which Burgoyne's army was severely crippled and weakened, and +by which also, the hardy militia of the North eastern States were +led to turn out in large numbers and join the army of Gates. + +The English ministry had built great hopes upon Burgoyne's +expedition, and neither expense nor effort had been spared to +make it successful. He was amply furnished with money and +supplies as well as with English and German troops, the latter of +whom were bought from their wretched little princes by the +payment of generous subsidies. With an admirably equipped army of +over seven thousand men, and accompanied by a large force of +Indian allies, Burgoyne had started in May, 1777, from Canada. +His plan was to make his way by the lakes to the head waters of +the Hudson, and thence southward along the river to New York, +where he was to unite with Sir William Howe and the main army; in +this way cutting the colonies in two, and separating New England +from the rest of the country. + +At first all went well. The Americans were pushed back from their +posts on the lakes, and by the end of July Burgoyne was at the +head waters of the Hudson. He had. already sent out a force, +under St. Leger, to take possession of the valley of the +Mohawk--an expedition which finally resulted in the defeat of the +British by Herkimer, and the capture of Fort Stanwix. To aid St. +Leger by a diversion, and also to capture certain magazines which +were reported to be at Bennington, Burgoyne sent another +expedition to the eastward. This force consisted of about five +hundred and fifty white troops, chiefly Hessians, and one hundred +and fifty Indians, all under the command of Colonel Baum. They +were within four miles of Bennington on August 13, 1777, and +encamped on a hill just within the boundaries of the State of New +York. The news of the advance of Burgoyne had already roused the +people of New York and New Hampshire, and the legislature of the +latter State had ordered General Stark with a brigade of militia +to stop the progress of the enemy on the western frontier. Stark +raised his standard at Charlestown on the Connecticut River, and +the militia poured into his camp. Disregarding Schuyler's orders +to join the main American army, which was falling back before +Burgoyne, Stark, as soon as he heard of the expedition against +Bennington, marched at once to meet Baum. He was within a mile of +the British camp on August 14, and vainly endeavored to draw Baum +into action. On the 15th it rained heavily, and the British +forces occupied the time in intrenching themselves strongly upon +the hill which they held. Baum meantime had already sent to +Burgoyne for reinforcements, and Burgoyne had detached Colonel +Breymann with over six hundred regular troops to go to Baum's +assistance. On the 16th the weather cleared, and Stark, who had +been reinforced by militia from western Massachusetts, determined +to attack. + +Early in the day he sent men, under Nichols and Herrick, to get +into the rear of Baum's position. The German officer, ignorant of +the country and of the nature of the warfare in which he was +engaged, noticed small bodies of men in their shirtsleeves, and +carrying guns without bayonets, making their way to the rear of +his intrenchments. With singular stupidity he concluded that they +were Tory inhabitants of the country who were coming to his +assistance, and made no attempt to stop them. In this way Stark +was enabled to mass about five hundred men in the rear of the +enemy's position. Distracting the attention of the British by a +feint, Stark also moved about two hundred men to the right, and +having thus brought his forces into position he ordered a general +assault, and the Americans proceeded to storm the British +intrenchments on every side. The fight was a very hot one, and +lasted some two hours. The Indians, at the beginning of the +action, slipped away between the American detachments, but the +British and German regulars stubbornly stood their ground. It is +difficult to get at the exact numbers of the American troops, but +Stark seems to have had between fifteen hundred and two thousand +militia. He thus outnumbered his enemy nearly three to one, but +his men were merely country militia, farmers of the New England +States, very imperfectly disciplined, and armed only with muskets +and fowling-pieces, without bayonets or side-arms. On the other +side Baum had the most highly disciplined troops of England and +Germany under his command, well armed and equipped, and he was +moreover strongly intrenched with artillery well placed behind +the breastworks. The advantage in the fight should have been +clearly with Baum and his regulars, who merely had to hold an +intrenched hill. + +It was not a battle in which either military strategy or a +scientific management of troops was displayed. All that Stark did +was to place his men so that they could attack the enemy's +position on every side, and then the Americans went at it, firing +as they pressed on. The British and Germans stood their ground +stubbornly, while the New England farmers rushed up to within +eight yards of the cannon, and picked off the men who manned the +guns. Stark himself was in the midst of the fray, fighting with +his soldiers, and came out of the conflict so blackened with +powder and smoke that he could hardly be recognized. One +desperate assault succeeded another, while the firing on both +sides was so incessant as to make, in Stark's own words, a +"continuous roar." At the end of two hours the Americans finally +swarmed over the intrenchments, beating down the soldiers with +their clubbed muskets. Baum ordered his infantry with the bayonet +and the dragoons with their sabers to force their way through, +but the Americans repulsed this final charge, and Baum himself +fell mortally wounded. All was then over, and the British forces +surrendered. + +It was only just in time, for Breymann, who had taken thirty +hours to march some twenty-four miles, came up just after Baum's +men had laid down their arms. It seemed for a moment as if all +that had been gained might be lost. The Americans, attacked by +this fresh foe, wavered; but Stark rallied his line, and putting +in Warner, with one hundred and fifty Vermont men who had just +come on the field, stopped Breymann's advance, and finally forced +him to retreat with a loss of nearly one half his men. The +Americans lost in killed and wounded some seventy men, and the +Germans and British about twice as many, but the Americans took +about seven hundred prisoners, and completely wrecked the forces +of Baum and Breymann. + +The blow was a severe one, and Burgoyne's army never recovered +from it. Not only had he lost nearly a thousand of his best +troops, besides cannon, arms, and munitions of war, but the +defeat affected the spirits of his army and destroyed his hold +over his Indian allies, who began to desert in large numbers. +Bennington, in fact, was one of the most important fights of the +Revolution, contributing as it did so largely to the final +surrender of Burgoyne's whole army at Saratoga, and the utter +ruin of the British invasion from the North. It is also +interesting as an extremely gallant bit of fighting. As has been +said, there was no strategy displayed, and there were no military +operations of the higher kind. There stood the enemy strongly +intrenched on a hill, and Stark, calling his undisciplined levies +about him, went at them. He himself was a man of the highest +courage and a reckless fighter. It was Stark who held the +railfence at Bunker Hill, and who led the van when Sullivan's +division poured into Trenton from the river road. He was +admirably adapted for the precise work which was necessary at +Bennington, and he and his men fought well their hand-to-hand +fight on that hot August day, and carried the intrenchments +filled with regular troops and defended by artillery. It was a +daring feat of arms, as well as a battle which had an important +effect upon the course of history and upon the fate of the +British empire in America. + + + +KING'S MOUNTAIN + +Our fortress is the good greenwood, + Our tent the cypress tree; +We know the forest round us + As seamen know the sea. +We know its walls of thorny vines, + Its glades of reedy grass, +Its safe and silent islands + Within the dark morass. + --Bryant. + +KING'S MOUNTAIN + +The close of the year 1780 was, in the Southern States, the +darkest time of the Revolutionary struggle. Cornwallis had just +destroyed the army of Gates at Camden, and his two formidable +lieutenants, Tarlton the light horseman, and Ferguson the skilled +rifleman, had destroyed or scattered all the smaller bands that +had been fighting for the patriot cause. The red dragoons rode +hither and thither, and all through Georgia and South Carolina +none dared lift their heads to oppose them, while North Carolina +lay at the feet of Cornwallis, as he started through it with his +army to march into Virginia. There was no organized force against +him, and the cause of the patriots seemed hopeless. It was at +this hour that the wild backwoodsmen of the western border +gathered to strike a blow for liberty. + +When Cornwallis invaded North Carolina he sent Ferguson into the +western part of the State to crush out any of the patriot forces +that might still be lingering among the foot-hills. Ferguson was +a very gallant and able officer, and a man of much influence with +the people wherever he went, so that he was peculiarly fitted for +this scrambling border warfare. He had under him a battalion of +regular troops and several other battalions of Tory militia, in +all eleven or twelve hundred men. He shattered and drove the +small bands of Whigs that were yet in arms, and finally pushed to +the foot of the mountain wall, till he could see in his front the +high ranges of the Great Smokies. Here he learned for the first +time that beyond the mountains there lay a few hamlets of +frontiersmen, whose homes were on what were then called the +Western Waters, that is, the waters which flowed into the +Mississippi. To these he sent word that if they did not prove +loyal to the king, he would cross their mountains, hang their +leaders, and burn their villages. + +Beyond the, mountains, in the valleys of the Holston and Watauga, +dwelt men who were stout of heart and mighty in battle, and when +they heard the threats of Ferguson they burned with a sullen +flame of anger. Hitherto the foes against whom they had warred +had been not the British, but the Indian allies of the British, +Creek, and Cherokee, and Shawnee. Now that the army of the king +had come to their thresholds, they turned to meet it as fiercely +as they had met his Indian allies. Among the backwoodsmen of this +region there were at that time three men of special note: Sevier, +who afterward became governor of Tennessee; Shelby, who afterward +became governor of Kentucky; and Campbell, the Virginian, who +died in the Revolutionary War. Sevier had given a great barbecue, +where oxen and deer were roasted whole, while horseraces were +run, and the backwoodsmen tried their skill as marksmen and +wrestlers. In the midst of the feasting Shelby appeared, hot with +hard riding, to tell of the approach of Ferguson and the British. +Immediately the feasting was stopped, and the feasters made ready +for war. Sevier and Shelby sent word to Campbell to rouse the men +of his own district and come without delay, and they sent +messengers to and fro in their own neighborhood to summon the +settlers from their log huts on the stump-dotted clearings and +the hunters from their smoky cabins in the deep woods. + +The meeting-place was at the Sycamore Shoals. On the appointed +day the backwoodsmen gathered sixteen hundred strong, each man +carrying a long rifle, and mounted on a tough, shaggy horse. They +were a wild and fierce people, accustomed to the chase and to +warfare with the Indians. Their hunting-shirts of buckskin or +homespun were girded in by bead-worked belts, and the trappings +of their horses were stained red and yellow. At the gathering +there was a black-frocked Presbyterian preacher, and before they +started he addressed the tall riflemen in words of burning zeal, +urging them to stand stoutly in the battle, and to smite with the +sword of the Lord and of Gideon. Then the army started, the +backwoods colonels riding in front. Two or three days later, word +was brought to Ferguson that the Back-water men had come over the +mountains; that the Indian-fighters of the frontier, leaving +unguarded their homes on the Western Waters, had crossed by +wooded and precipitous defiles to the help of the beaten men of +the plains. Ferguson at once fell back, sending out messengers +for help. When he came to King's Mountain, a wooded, hog-back +hill on the border line between North and South Carolina, he +camped on its top, deeming that there he was safe, for he +supposed that before the backwoodsmen could come near enough to +attack him help would reach him. But the backwoods leaders felt +as keenly as he the need of haste, and choosing out nine hundred +picked men, the best warriors of their force, and the best +mounted and armed, they made a long forced march to assail +Ferguson before help could come to him. All night long they rode +the dim forest trails and splashed across the fords of the +rushing rivers. All the next day, October 16, they rode, until in +mid-afternoon, just as a heavy shower cleared away, they came in +sight of King's Mountain. The little armies were about equal in +numbers. Ferguson's regulars were armed with the bayonet, and so +were some of his Tory militia, whereas the Americans had not a +bayonet among them; but they were picked men, confident in their +skill as riflemen, and they were so sure of victory that their +aim was not only to defeat the British but to capture their whole +force. The backwoods colonels, counseling together as they rode +at the head of the column, decided to surround the mountain and +assail it on all sides. Accordingly the bands of frontiersmen +split one from the other, and soon circled the craggy hill where +Ferguson's forces were encamped. They left their horses in the +rear and immediately began the battle, swarming forward on foot, +their commanders leading the attack. + +The march had been so quick and the attack so sudden that +Ferguson had barely time to marshal his men before the assault +was made. Most of his militia he scattered around the top of the +hill to fire down at the Americans as they came up, while with +his regulars and with a few picked militia he charged with the +bayonet in person, first down one side of the mountain and then +down the other. Sevier, Shelby, Campbell, and the other colonels +of the frontiersmen, led each his force of riflemen straight +toward the summit. Each body in turn when charged by the regulars +was forced to give way, for there were no bayonets wherewith to +meet the foe; but the backwoodsmen retreated only so long as the +charge lasted, and the minute that it stopped they stopped too, +and came back ever closer to the ridge and ever with a deadlier +fire. Ferguson, blowing a silver whistle as a signal to his men, +led these charges, sword in hand, on horseback. At last, just as +he was once again rallying his men, the riflemen of Sevier and +Shelby crowned the top of the ridge. The gallant British +commander became a fair target for the backwoodsmen, and as for +the last time he led his men against them, seven bullets entered +his body and he fell dead. With his fall resistance ceased. The +regulars and Tories huddled together in a confused mass, while +the exultant Americans rushed forward. A flag of truce was +hoisted, and all the British who were not dead surrendered. + +The victory was complete, and the backwoodsmen at once started to +return to their log hamlets and rough, lonely farms. They could +not stay, for they dared not leave their homes at the mercy of +the Indians. They had rendered a great service; for Cornwallis, +when he heard of the disaster to his trusted lieutenant, +abandoned his march northward, and retired to South Carolina. +When he again resumed the offensive, he found his path barred by +stubborn General Greene and his troops of the Continental line. + + + +THE STORMING OF STONY POINT + + In their ragged regimentals + Stood the old Continentals, + Yielding not, + When the grenadiers were lunging, + And like hail fell the plunging + Cannon-shot; + When the files + Of the isles +From the smoky night encampment bore the banner of the rampant +Unicorn, +And grummer, grummer, grummer, rolled the roll of the drummer, + Through the morn! + + Then with eyes to the front all, + And with guns horizontal, + Stood our sires; + And the balls whistled deadly, + And in streams flashing redly + Blazed the fires; + As the roar + On the shore +Swept the strong battle-breakers o'er the green-sodded acres + Of the plain; +And louder, louder, louder cracked the black gunpowder, + Cracked amain! + --Guy Humphrey McMaster. + + + +THE STORMING OF STONY POINT + +One of the heroic figures of the Revolution was Anthony Wayne, +Major-General of the Continental line. With the exception of +Washington, and perhaps Greene, he was the bestgeneral the +Americans developed in the contest; and without exception he +showed himself to be the hardest fighter produced on either side. +He belongs, as regards this latter characteristic, with the men +like Winfield Scott, Phil Kearney, Hancock, and Forrest, who +reveled in the danger and the actual shock of arms. Indeed, his +eager loveof battle, and splendid disregard of peril, have made +many writers forget his really great qualities as a general. +Soldiers are always prompt to recognize the prime virtue of +physical courage, and Wayne's followers christened their daring +commander "Mad Anthony," in loving allusion to his reckless +bravery. It is perfectly true that Wayne had this courage, and +that he was a born fighter; otherwise, he never would have been a +great commander. A man who lacks the fondness for fighting, the +eager desire to punish his adversary, and the willingness to +suffer punishment in return, may be a great organizer, like +McClellan, but can never become a great general or win great +victories. There are, however, plenty of men who, though they +possess these fine manly traits, yet lack the head to command an +army; but Wayne had not only the heart and the hand but the head +likewise. No man could dare as greatly as he did without +incurring the risk of an occasional check; but he was an able and +bold tactician, a vigilant and cautious leader, well fitted to +bear the terrible burden of responsibility which rests upon a +commander-in-chief. + +Of course, at times he had some rather severe lessons. Quite +early in his career, just after the battle of the Brandywine, +when he was set to watch the enemy, he was surprised at night by +the British general Grey, a redoubtable fighter, who attacked him +with the bayonet, killed a number of his men, and forced him to +fall back some distance from the field of action. This mortifying +experience had no effect whatever on Wayne's courage or +self-reliance, but it did give him a valuable lesson in caution. +He showed what he had learned by the skill with which, many years +later, he conducted the famous campaign in which he overthrew the +Northwestern Indians at the Fight of the Fallen Timbers. + +Wayne's favorite weapon was the bayonet, and, like Scott he +taught his troops, until they were able in the shock of +hand-to-hand conflict to overthrow the renowned British infantry, +who have always justly prided themselves on their prowess with +cold steel. At the battle of Germantown it was Wayne's troops +who, falling on with the bayonet, drove the Hessians and the +British light infantry, and only retreated under orders when the +attack had failed elsewhere. At Monmouth it was Wayne and his +Continentals who first checked the British advance by repulsing +the bayonet charge of the guards and grenadiers. + +Washington, a true leader of men, was prompt to recognize in +Wayne a soldier to whom could be intrusted any especially +difficult enterprise which called for the exercise alike of +intelligence and of cool daring. In the summer of 1780 he was +very anxious to capture the British fort at Stony Point, which +commanded the Hudson. It was impracticable to attack it by +regular siege while the British frigates lay in the river, and +the defenses ere so strong that open assault by daylight was +equally out of the question. Accordingly Washington suggested to +Wayne that he try a night attack. Wayne eagerly caught at the +idea. It was exactly the kind of enterprise in which he +delighted. The fort was on a rocky promontory, surrounded on +three sides by water, and on the fourth by a neck of land, which +was for the most part mere morass. It was across this neck of +land that any attacking column had to move. The garrison was six +hundred strong. To deliver the assault Wayne took nine hundred +men. The American army was camped about fourteen miles from Stony +Point. One July afternoon Wayne started, and led his troops in +single file along the narrow rocky roads, reaching the hills on +the mainland near the fort after nightfall. He divided his force +into two columns, to advance one along each side of the neck, +detaching two companies of North Carolina troops to move in +between the two columns and make a false attack. The rest of the +force consisted of New Englanders, Pennsylvanians, and +Virginians. Each attacking column was divided into three parts, a +forlorn hope of twenty men leading, which was followed by an +advance guard of one hundred and twenty, and then by the main +body. At the time commanding officers still carried spontoons, +and other old-time weapons, and Wayne, who himself led the right +column, directed its movements spear in hand. It was nearly +midnight when the Americans began to press along the causeways +toward the fort. Before they were near the walls they were +discovered, and the British opened a heavy fire of great guns and +musketry, to which the Carolinians, who were advancing between +the two columns, responded in their turn, according to orders; +but the men in the columns were forbidden to fire. Wayne had +warned them that their work must be done with the bayonet, and +their muskets were not even loaded. Moreover, so strict was the +discipline that no one was allowed to leave the ranks, and when +one of the men did so an officer promptly ran him through the +body. + +No sooner had the British opened fire than the charging columns +broke into a run, and in a moment the forlorn hopes plunged into +the abattis of fallen timber which the British had constructed +just without the walls. On the left, the forlorn hope was very +roughly handled, no less than seventeen of the twenty men being +either killed or wounded, but as the columns came up both burst +through the down timber and swarmed up the long, sloping +embankments of the fort. The British fought well, cheering loudly +as their volley's rang, but the Americans would not be denied, +and pushed silently on to end the contest with the bayonet. A +bullet struck Wayne in the head. He fell, but struggled to his +feet and forward, two of his officers supporting him. A rumor +went among the men that he was dead, but it only impelled them to +charge home, more fiercely than ever. + +With a rush the troops swept to the top of the wall. A fierce but +short fight followed in the intense darkness, which was lit only +by the flashes from the British muskets. The Americans did not +fire, trusting solely to the bayonet. The two columns had kept +almost equal pace, and they swept into the fort from opposite +sides at the same moment. The three men who first got over the +walls were all wounded, but one of them hauled down the British +flag. The Americans had the advantage which always comes from +delivering an attack that is thrust home. Their muskets were +unloaded and they could not hesitate; so, running boldly into +close quarters, they fought hand to hand with their foes and +speedily overthrew them. For a moment the bayonets flashed and +played; then the British lines broke as their assailants thronged +against them, and the struggle was over. The Americans had lost a +hundred in killed and wounded. Of the British sixty-three had +been slain and very many wounded, every one of the dead or +disabled having suffered from the bayonet. A curious coincidence +was that the number of the dead happened to be exactly equal to +the number of Wayne's men who had been killed in the night attack +by the English general, Grey. + +There was great rejoicing among the Americans over the successful +issue of the attack. Wayne speedily recovered from his wound, and +in the joy of his victory it weighed but slightly. He had +performed a most notable feat. No night attack of the kind was +ever delivered with greater boldness, skill, and success. When +the Revolutionary War broke out the American armies were composed +merel y of armed yeomen, stalwart men, of good courage, and +fairly proficient in the use of their weapons, but entirely +without the training which alone could enable them to withstand +the attack of the British regulars in the open, or to deliver an +attack themselves. Washington's victory at Trenton was the first +encounter which showed that the Americans were to be feared when +they took the offensive. With the exception of the battle of +Trenton, and perhaps of Greene's fight at Eutaw Springs, Wayne's +feat was the most successful illustration of daring and +victorious attack by an American army that occurred during the +war; and, unlike Greene, who was only able to fight a drawn +battle, Wayne's triumph was complete. At Monmouth he had shown, +as he afterward showed against Cornwallis, that his troops could +meet the renowned British regulars on even terms in the open. At +Stony Point he showed that he could lead them to a triumphant +assault with the bayonet against regulars who held a fortified +place of strength. No American commander has ever displayed +greater energy and daring, a more resolute courage, or readier +resource, than the chief of the hard-fighting Revolutionary +generals, Mad Anthony Wayne. + + + +GOUVERNEUR MORRIS + +GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. PARIS. AUGUST 10, 1792. + +Justum et tenacem propositi virum +Non civium ardor prava jubentium, + Non vultus instantis tyranni + Mente quatit solida, neque Auster +Dux inquieti turbidus Hadriae, +Nec fulminantis magna manus Jovis: + Si fractus illabatur orbis, + Impavidum ferient ruinae. + --Hor., Lib. III. Carm. III. + + +GOUVERNEUR MORRIS + +The 10th of August, 1792, was one of the most memorable days of +the French Revolution. It was the day on which the French +monarchy received its death-blow, and was accompanied by fighting +and bloodshed which filled Paris with terror. In the morning +before daybreak the tocsin had sounded, and not long after the +mob of Paris, headed by the Marseillais, "Six hundred men not +afraid to die," who had been summoned there by Barbaroux, were +marching upon the Tuileries. The king, or rather the queen, had +at last determined to make a stand and to defend the throne. The +Swiss Guards were there at the palace, well posted to protect the +inner court; and there, too, were the National Guards, who were +expected to uphold the government and guard the king. The tide of +people poured on through the streets, gathering strength as they +went the Marseillais, the armed bands, the Sections, and a vast +floating mob. The crowd drew nearer and nearer, but the squadrons +of the National Guards, who were to check the advance, did not +stir. It is not apparent, indeed, that they made any resistance, +and the king and his family at eight o'clock lost heart and +deserted the Tuileries, to take refuge with the National +Convention. The multitude then passed into the court of the +Carrousel, unchecked by the National Guards, and were face to +face with the Swiss. Deserted by their king, the Swiss knew not +how to act, but still stood their ground. There was some +parleying, and at last the Marseillais fired a cannon. Then the +Swiss fired. They were disciplined troops, and their fire was +effective. There was a heavy slaughter and the mob recoiled, +leaving their cannon, which the Swiss seized. The Revolutionists, +however, returned to the charge, and the fight raged on both +sides, the Swiss holding their ground firmly. + +Suddenly, from the legislative hall, came an order from the king +to the Swiss to cease firing. It was their death warrant. +Paralyzed by the order, they knew not what to do. The mob poured +in, and most of the gallant Swiss were slaughtered where they +stood. Others escaped from the Tuileries only to meet their death +in the street. The palace was sacked and the raging mob was in +possession of the city. No man's life was safe, least of all +those who were known to be friends of the king, who were nobles, +or who had any connection with the court. Some of these people +whose lives were thus in peril at the hands of the bloodstained +and furious mob had been the allies of the United States, and had +fought under Washington in the war for American independence. In +their anguish and distress their thoughts recurred to the country +which they had served in its hour of trial, three thousand miles +away. They sought the legation of the United States and turned to +the American minister for protection. + +Such an exercise of humanity at that moment was not a duty that +any man craved. In those terrible days in Paris, the +representatives of foreign governments were hardly safer than any +one else. Many of the ambassadors and ministers had already left +the country, and others were even then abandoning their posts, +which it seemed impossible to hold at such a time. But the +American minister stood his ground. Gouverneur Morris was not a +man to shrink from what he knew to be his duty. He had been a +leading patriot in our revolution; he had served in the +Continental Congress, and with Robert Morris in the difficult +work of the Treasury, when all our resources seemed to be at +their lowest ebb. In 1788 he had gone abroad on private business, +and had been much in Paris, where he had witnessed the beginning +of the French Revolution and had been consulted by men on both +sides. In 1790, by Washington's direction, he had gone to London +and had consulted the ministry there as to whether they would +receive an American minister. Thence he had returned to Paris, +and at the beginning Of 1792 Washington appointed him minister of +the United States to France. + +As an American, Morris's sympathies had run strongly in favor of +the movement to relieve France from the despotism under which she +was sinking, and to give her a better and more liberal +government. But, as the Revolution progressed, he became outraged +and disgusted by the methods employed. He felt a profound +contempt for both sides. The inability of those who were +conducting the Revolution to carry out intelligent plans or +maintain order, and the feebleness of the king and his advisers, +were alike odious to the man with American conceptions of ordered +liberty. He was especially revolted by the bloodshed and cruelty, +constantly gathering in strength, which were displayed by the +revolutionists, and he had gone to the very verge of diplomatic +propriety in advising the ministers of the king in regard to the +policies to be pursued, and, as he foresaw what was coming, in +urging the king himself to leave France. All his efforts and all +his advice, like those of other intelligent men who kept their +heads during the whirl of the Revolution, were alike vain. + +On August 10 the gathering storm broke with full force, and the +populace rose in arms to sweep away the tottering throne. Then it +was that these people, fleeing for their lives, came to the +representative of the country for which many of them had fought, +and on both public and private grounds besought the protection of +the American minister. Let me tell what happened in the words of +an eye-witness, an American gentleman who was in Paris at that +time, and who published the following account of his experiences: + +On the ever memorable 10th of August, after viewing the +destruction of the Royal Swiss Guards and the dispersion of the +Paris militia by a band of foreign and native incendiaries, the +writer thought it his duty to visit the Minister, who had not +been out of his hotel since the insurrection began, and, as was +to be expected, would be anxious to learn what was passing +without doors. He was surrounded by the old Count d'Estaing, and +about a dozen other persons of distinction, of different sexes, +who had, from their connection with the United States, been his +most intimate acquaintances at Paris, and who had taken refuge +with him for protection from the bloodhounds which, in the forms +of men and women, were prowling in the streets at the time. All +was silence here, except that silence was occasionally +interrupted by the crying of the women and children. As I +retired, the Minister took me aside, and observed: "I have no +doubt, sir, but there are persons on the watch who would find +fault with my conduct as Minister in receiving and protecting +these people, but I call on you to witness the declaration which +I now make, and that is that they were not invited to my house, +but came of their own accord. Whether my house will be a +protection to them or to me, God only knows, but I will not turn +them out of it, let what will happen to me to which he added, +"You see, sir, they are all persons to whom our country is more +or less indebted, and it would be inhuman to force them into the +hands of the assas. sins, had they no such claim upon me." + +Nothing can be added to this simple account, and no American can +read it or repeat the words of Mr. Morris without feeling even +now, a hundred years after the event, a glow of pride that such +words were uttered at such a time by the man who represented the +United States. + +After August 10, when matters in Paris became still worse, Mr. +Morris still stayed at his post. Let me give, in his own words, +what he did and his reasons for it: + +The different ambassadors and ministers are all taking their +flight, and if I stay I shall be alone. I mean, however, to stay, +unless circumstances should command me away, because, in the +admitted case that my letters of credence are to the monarchy, +and not to the Republic of France, it becomes a matter of +indifference whether I remain in this country or go to England +during the time which may be needful to obtain your orders, or to +produce a settlement of affairs here. Going hence, however, would +look like taking part against the late Revolution, and I am not +only unauthorized in this respect, but I am bound to suppose that +if the great majority of the nation adhere to the new form, the +United States will approve thereof; because, in the first place, +we have no right to prescribe to this country the government they +shall adopt, and next, because the basis of our own Constitution +is the indefeasible right of the people to establish it. + +Among those who are leaving Paris is the Venetian ambassador. He +was furnished with passports from the Office of Foreign Affairs, +but he was, nevertheless, stopped at the barrier, was conducted +to the Hotel de Ville, was there questioned for hours, and his +carriages examined and searched. This violation of the rights of +ambassadors could not fail, as you may suppose, to make an +impression. It has been broadly hinted to me that the honor of my +country and my own require that I should go away. But I am of a +different opinion, and rather think that those who give such +hints are somewhat influenced by fear. It is true that the +position is not without danger, but I presume that when the +President did me the honor of naming me to this embassy, it was +not for my personal pleasure or safety, but to promote the +interests of my country. These, therefore, I shall continue to +pursue to the best of my judgment, and as to consequences, they +are in the hand of God. + +He remained there until his successor arrived. When all others +fled, he was faithful, and such conduct should never be +forgotten. Mr. Morris not only risked his life, but he took a +heavy responsibility, and laid himself open to severe attack for +having protected defenseless people against the assaults of the +mob. But his courageous humanity is something which should ever +be remembered, and ought always to be characteristic of the men +who represent the United States in foreign countries. When we +recall the French Revolution, it is cheering to think of that +fearless figure of the American minister, standing firm and calm +in the midst of those awful scenes, with sacked palaces, +slaughtered soldiers, and a bloodstained mob about him, +regardless of danger to himself, determined to do his duty to his +country, and to those to whom his country was indebted. + + + +THE BURNING OF THE "PHILADELPHIA" + +And say besides, that in Aleppo once, +Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk +Beat a Venetian and traduced the state, +I took by the throat the circumcised dog +And smote him, thus. + --Othello. + + + +THE BURNING OF THE "PHILADELPHIA" + +It is difficult to conceive that there ever was a time when the +United States paid a money tribute to anybody. It is even more +difficult to imagine the United States paying blackmail to a set +of small piratical tribes on the coast of Africa. Yet this is +precisely what we once did with the Barbary powers, as they were +called the States of Morocco, Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers, lying +along the northern coast of Africa. The only excuse to be made +for such action was that we merely followed the example of +Christendom. The civilized people of the world were then in the +habit of paying sums of money to these miserable pirates, in +order to secure immunity for their merchant vessels in the +Mediterranean. For this purpose Congress appropriated money, and +treaties were made by the President and ratified by the Senate. +On one occasion, at least, Congress actually revoked the +authorization of some new ships for the navy, and appropriated +more money than was required to build the men-of-war in order to +buy off the Barbary powers. The fund for this disgraceful purpose +was known as the "Mediterranean fund," and was intrusted to the +Secretary of State to be disbursed by him in his discretion. +After we had our brush with France, however, in 1798, and after +Truxtun's brilliant victory over the French frigate L'Insurgente +in the following year, it occurred to our government that perhaps +there was a more direct as well as a more manly way of dealing +with the Barbary pirates than by feebly paying them tribute, and +in 1801 a small squadron, under Commodore Dale, proceeded to the +Mediterranean. + +At the same time events occurred which showed strikingly the +absurdity as well as the weakness of this policy of paying +blackmail to pirates. The Bashaw of Tripoli, complaining that we +had given more money to some of the Algerian ministers than we +had to him, and also that we had presented Algiers with a +frigate, declared war upon us, and cut down the flag-staff in +front of the residence of the American consul. At the same time, +and for the same reason, Morocco and Tunis began to grumble at +the treatment which they had received. The fact was that, with +nations as with individuals, when the payment of blackmail is +once begun there is no end to it. The appearance, however, of our +little squadron in the Mediterranean showed at once the +superiority of a policy of force over one of cowardly submission. +Morocco and Tunis immediately stopped their grumbling and came to +terms with the United States, and this left us free to deal with +Tripoli. + +Commodore Dale had sailed before the declaration of war by +Tripoli was known, and he was therefore hampered by his orders, +which permitted him only to protect our commerce, and which +forbade actual hostilities. Nevertheless, even under these +limited orders, the Enterprise, of twelve guns, commanded by +Lieutenant Sterrett, fought an action with the Tripolitan ship +Tripoli, of fourteen guns. The engagement lasted three hours, +when the Tripoli struck, having lost her mizzenmast, and with +twenty of her crew killed and thirty wounded. Sterrett, having no +orders to make captures, threw all the guns and ammunition of the +Tripoli overboard, cut away her remaining masts, and left her +with only one spar and a single sail to drift back to Tripoli, as +a hint to the Bashaw of the new American policy. + +In 1803 the command of our fleet in the Mediterranean was taken +by Commodore Preble, who had just succeeded in forcing +satisfaction from Morocco for an attack made upon our merchantmen +by a vessel from Tangier. He also proclaimed a blockade of +Tripoli and was preparing to enforce it when the news reached him +that the frigate Philadelphia, forty-four guns, commanded by +Captain Bainbridge, and one of the best ships in our navy, had +gone upon a reef in the harbor of Tripoli, while pursuing a +vessel there, and had been surrounded and captured, with all her +crew, by the Tripolitan gunboats, when she was entirely helpless +either to fight or sail. This was a very serious blow to our navy +and to our operations against Tripoli. It not only weakened our +forces, but it was also a great help to the enemy. The +Tripolitans got the Philadelphia off the rocks, towed her into +the harbor, and anchored her close under the guns of their forts. +They also replaced her batteries, and prepared to make her ready +for sea, where she would have been a most formidable danger to +our shipping. + +Under these circumstances Stephen Decatur, a young lieutenant in +command of the Enterprise, offered to Commodore Preble to go into +the harbor and destroy the Philadelphia. Some delay ensued, as +our squadron was driven by severe gales from the Tripolitan +coast; but at last, in January, 1804, Preble gave orders to +Decatur to undertake the work for which he had volunteered. A +small vessel known as a ketch had been recently captured from the +Tripolitans by Decatur, and this prize was now named the +Intrepid, and assigned to him for the work he had in hand. He +took seventy men from his own ship, the Enterprise, and put them +on the Intrepid, and then, accompanied by Lieutenant Stewart in +the Siren, who was to support him, he set sail for Tripoli. He +and his crew were very much cramped as well as badly fed on the +little vessel which had been given to them, but they succeeded, +nevertheless, in reaching Tripoli in safety, accompanied by the +Siren. + +For nearly a week they were unable to approach the harbor, owing +to severe gales which threatened the loss of their vessel; but on +February 16 the weather moderated and Decatur determined to go +in. It is well to recall, briefly, the extreme peril of the +attack which he was about to make. The Philadelphia, with forty +guns mounted, double-shotted, and ready for firing, and manned by +a full complement of men, was moored within half a gunshot of the +Bashaw's castle, the mole and crown batteries, and within range +of ten other batteries, mounting, altogether, one hundred and +fifteen guns. Some Tripolitan cruisers, two galleys, and nineteen +gunboats also lay between the Philadelphia and the shore. Into +the midst of this powerful armament Decatur had to go with his +little vessel of sixty tons, carrying four small guns and having +a crew of seventy-five men. + +The Americans, however, were entirely undismayed by the odds +against them, and at seven o'clock Decatur went into the harbor +between the reef and shoal which formed its mouth. He steered on +steadily toward the Philadelphia, the breeze getting constantly +lighter, and by half-past nine was within two hundred yards of +the frigate. As they approached Decatur stood at the helm with +the pilot, only two or three men showing on deck and the rest of +the crew lying hidden under the bulwarks. In this way he drifted +to within nearly twenty yards of the Philadelphia. The suspicions +of the Tripolitans, however, were not aroused, and when they +hailed the Intrepid, the pilot answered that they had lost their +anchors in a gale, and asked that they might run a warp to the +frigate and ride by her. While the talk went on the Intrepid's +boat shoved off with the rope, and pulling to the fore-chains of +the Philadelphia, made the line fast. A few of the crew then +began to haul on the lines, and thus the Intrepid was drawn +gradually toward the frigate. + +The suspicions of the Tripolitans were now at last awakened. They +raised the cry of "Americanos!" and ordered off the Intrepiid, +but it was too late. As the vessels came in contact, Decatur +sprang up the main chains of the Philadelphia, calling out the +order to board. He was rapidly followed by his officers and men, +and as they swarmed over the rails and came upon the deck, the +Tripolitan crew gathered, panic-stricken, in a confused mass on +the forecastle. Decatur waited a moment until his men were behind +him, and then, placing himself at their head, drew his sword and +rushed upon the Tripolitans. There was a very short struggle, and +the Tripolitans, crowded together, terrified and surprised, were +cut down or driven overboard. In five minutes the ship was +cleared of the enemy. + +Decatur would have liked to have taken the Philadelphia out of +the harbor, but that was impossible. He therefore gave orders to +burn the ship, and his men, who had been thoroughly instructed in +what they were to do, dispersed into all parts of the frigate +with the combustibles which had been prepared, and in a few +minutes, so well and quickly was the work done, the flames broke +out in all parts of the Philadelphia. As soon as this was +effected the order was given to return to the Intrepid. Without +confusion the men obeyed. It was a moment of great danger, for +fire was breaking out on all sides, and the Intrepid herself, +filled as she was with powder and combustibles, was in great +peril of sudden destruction. The rapidity of Decatur's movements, +however, saved everything. The cables were cut, the sweeps got +out, and the Intrepid drew rapidly away from the burning frigate. +It was a magnificent sight as the flames burst out over the +Philadephia and ran rapidly and fiercely up the masts and +rigging. As her guns became heated they were discharged, one +battery pouring its shots into the town. Finally the cables +parted, and then the Philadelphia, a mass of flames, drifted +across the harbor, and blew up. Meantime the batteries of the +shipping and the castle had been turned upon the Intrepid, but +although the shot struck all around her, she escaped successfully +with only one shot through her mainsail, and, joining the Siren, +bore away. + +This successful attack was carried through by the cool courage of +Decatur and the admirable discipline of his men. The hazard was +very great, the odds were very heavy, and everything depended on +the nerve with which the attack was made and the completeness of +the surprise. Nothing miscarried, and no success could have been +more complete. Nelson, at that time in the Mediterranean, and the +best judge of a naval exploit as well as the greatest naval +commander who has ever lived, pronounced it "the most bold and +daring act of the age." We meet no single feat exactly like it in +our own naval history, brilliant as that has been, until we come +to Cushing's destruction of the A1bemarle in the war of the +rebellion. In the years that have elapsed, and among the great +events that have occurred since that time, Decatur's burning of +the Philadephia has been well-nigh forgotten; but it is one of +those feats of arms which illustrate the high courage of American +seamen, and which ought always to be remembered. + + + +THE CRUISE OF THE "WASP" + +A crash as when some swollen cloud + Cracks o'er the tangled trees! +With side to side, and spar to spar, + Whose smoking decks are these? +I know St. George's blood-red cross, + Thou mistress of the seas, +But what is she whose streaming bars + Roll out before the breeze? + +Ah, well her iron ribs are knit, + Whose thunders strive to quell +The bellowing throats, the blazing lips, + That pealed the Armada's knell! +The mist was cleared,--a wreath of stars + Rose o'er the crimsoned swell, +And, wavering from its haughty peak, + The cross of England fell! + --Holmes. + + +THE CRUISE OF THE "WASP" + +In the war of 1812 the little American navy, including only a +dozen frigates and sloops of war, won a series of victories +against the English, the hitherto undoubted masters of the sea, +that attracted an attention altogether out of proportion to the +force of the combatants or the actual damage done. For one +hundred and fifty years the English ships of war had failed to +find fit rivals in those of any other European power, although +they had been matched against each in turn; and when the unknown +navy of the new nation growing up across the Atlantic did what no +European navy had ever been able to do, not only the English and +Americans, but the people of Continental Europe as well, regarded +the feat as important out of all proportion to the material +aspects of the case. The Americans first proved that the English +could be beaten at their own game on the sea. They did what the +huge fleets of France, Spain, and Holland had failed to do, and +the great modern writers on naval warfare in Continental Europe- +-men like Jurien de la Graviere--have paid the same attention to +these contests of frigates and sloops that they give to whole +fleet actions of other wars. + +Among the famous ships of the Americans in this war were two +named the Wasp. The first was an eighteen-gun ship-sloop, which +at the very outset of the war captured a British brig-sloop of +twenty guns, after an engagement in which the British fought with +great gallantry, but were knocked to Pieces, while the Americans +escaped comparatively unscathed. Immediately afterward a British +seventy-four captured the victor. In memory of her the Americans +gave the same name to one of the new sloops they were building. +These sloops were stoutly made, speedy vessels which in strength +and swiftness compared favorably with any ships of their class in +any other navy of the day, for the American shipwrights were +already as famous as the American gunners and seamen. The new +Wasp, like her sister ships, carried twenty-two guns and a crew +of one hundred and seventy men, and was ship-rigged. Twenty of +her guns were 32-pound carronades, while for bow-chasers she had +two "long Toms." It was in the year 1814 that the Wasp sailed +from the United States to prey on the navy and commerce of Great +Britain. Her commander was a gallant South Carolinian named +Captain Johnson Blakeley. Her crew were nearly all native +Americans, and were an exceptionally fine set of men. Instead of +staying near the American coasts or of sailing the high seas, the +Wasp at once headed boldly for the English Channel, to carry the +war to the very doors of the enemy. + +At that time the English fleets had destroyed the navies of every +other power of Europe, and had obtained such complete supremacy +over the French that the French fleets were kept in port. Off +these ports lay the great squadrons of the English ships of the +line, never, in gale or in calm, relaxing their watch upon the +rival war-ships of the French emperor. So close was the blockade +of the French ports, and so hopeless were the French of making +headway in battle with their antagonists, that not only the great +French three-deckers and two-deckers, but their frigates and +sloops as well, lay harmless in their harbors, and the English +ships patroled the seas unchecked in every direction. A few +French privateers still slipped out now and then, and the far +bolder and more formidable American privateersmen drove hither +and thither across the ocean in their swift schooners and +brigantines, and harried the English commerce without mercy. + +The Wasp proceeded at once to cruise in the English Channel and +off the coasts of England, France, and Spain. Here the water was +traversed continually by English fleets and squadrons and single +ships of war, which were sometimes covoying detachments of troops +for Wellington's Peninsular army, sometimes guarding fleets of +merchant vessels bound homeward, and sometimes merely cruising +for foes. It was this spot, right in the teeth of the British +naval power, that the Wasp chose for her cruising ground. Hither +and thither she sailed through the narrow seas, capturing and +destroying the merchantmen, and by the seamanship of her crew and +the skill and vigilance of her commander, escaping the pursuit of +frigate and ship of the line. Before she had been long on the +ground, one June morning, while in chase of a couple of merchant +ships, she spied a sloop of war, the British brig Reindeer, of +eighteen guns and a hundred and twenty men. The Reindeer was a +weaker ship than the Wasp, her guns were lighter, and her men +fewer; but her commander, Captain Manners, was one of the most +gallant men in the splendid British navy, and he promptly took up +the gage of battle which the Wasp threw down. + +The day was calm and nearly still; only a light wind stirred +across the sea. At one o'clock the Wasp's drum beat to quarters, +and the sailors and marines gathered at their appointed posts. +The drum of the Reindeer responded to the challenge, and with her +sails reduced to fighting trim, her guns run out, and every man +ready, she came down upon the Yankee ship. On her forecastle she +had rigged a light carronade, and coming up from behind, she five +times discharged this pointblank into the American sloop; then in +the light air the latter luffed round, firing her guns as they +bore, and the two ships engaged yard-arm to yard-arm. The guns +leaped and thundered as the grimy gunners hurled them out to fire +and back again to load, working like demons. For a few minutes +the cannonade was tremendous, and the men in the tops could +hardly see the decks for the wreck of flying splinters. Then the +vessels ground together, and through the open ports the rival +gunners hewed, hacked, and thrust at one another, while the black +smoke curled up from between the hulls. The English were +suffering terribly. Captain Manners himself was wounded, and +realizing that he was doomed to defeat unless by some desperate +effort he could avert it, he gave the signal to board. At the +call the boarders gathered, naked to the waist, black with powder +and spattered with blood, cutlas and pistol in hand. But the +Americans were ready. Their marines were drawn up on deck, the +pikemen stood behind the bulwarks, and the officers watched, cool +and alert, every movement of the foe. Then the British sea-dogs +tumbled aboard, only to perish by shot or steel. The combatants +slashed and stabbed with savage fury, and the assailants were +driven back. Manners sprang to their head to lead them again +himself, when a ball fired by one of the sailors in the American +tops crashed through his skull, and he fell, sword in hand, with +his face to the foe, dying as honorable a death as ever a brave +man died in fighting against odds for the flag of his country. As +he fell the American officers passed the word to board. With wild +cheers the fighting sailormen sprang forward, sweeping the wreck +of the British force before them, and in a minute the Reindeer +was in their possession. All of her officers, and nearly two +thirds of the crew, were killed or wounded; but they had proved +themselves as skilful as they were brave, and twenty-six of the +Americans had been killed or wounded. + +The Wasp set fire to her prize, and after retiring to a French +port to refit, came out again to cruise. For some time she met no +antagonist of her own size with which to wage war, and she had to +exercise the sharpest vigilance to escape capture. Late one +September afternoon, when she could see ships of war all around +her, she selected one which was isolated from the others, and +decided to run alongside her and try to sink her after nightfall. +Accordingly she set her sails in pursuit, and drew steadily +toward her antagonist, a big eighteen-gun brig, the Avon, a ship +more powerful than the Reindeer. The Avon kept signaling to two +other British war vessels which were in sight--one an +eighteen-gun brig and the other a twenty-gun ship; they were so +close that the Wasp was afraid they would interfere before the +combat could be ended. Nevertheless, Blakeley persevered, and +made his attack with equal skill and daring. It was after dark +when he ran alongside his opponent, and they began forthwith to +exchange furious broadsides. As the ships plunged and wallowed in +the seas, the Americans could see the clusters of topmen in the +rigging of their opponent, but they knew nothing of the vessel's +name or of her force, save only so far as they felt it. The +firing was fast and furious, but the British shot with bad aim, +while the skilled American gunners hulled their opponent at +almost every discharge. In a very few minutes the Avon was in a +sinking condition, and she struck her flag and cried for quarter, +having lost forty or fifty men, while but three of the Americans +had fallen. Before the Wasp could take possession of her +opponent, however, the two war vessels to which the Avon had been +signaling came up. One of them fired at the Wasp, and as the +latter could not fight two new foes, she ran off easily before +the wind. Neither of her new antagonists followed her, devoting +themselves to picking up the crew of the sinking Avon. + + It would be hard to find a braver feat more skilfully performed +than this; for Captain Blakeley, with hostile foes all round him, +had closed with and sunk one antagonist not greatly his inferior +in force, suffering hardly any loss himself, while two of her +friends were coming to her help. + +Both before and after this the Wasp cruised hither and thither +making prizes. Once she came across a convoy of ships bearing +arms and munitions to Wellington's army, under the care of a +great two-decker. Hovering about, the swift sloop evaded the +two-decker's movements, and actually cut out and captured one of +the transports she was guarding, making her escape unharmed. Then +she sailed for the high seas. She made several other prizes, and +on October 9 spoke a Swedish brig. + +This was the last that was ever heard of the gallant Wasp. She +never again appeared, and no trace of any of those aboard her was +ever found. Whether she was wrecked on some desert coast, whether +she foundered in some furious gale, or what befell her none ever +knew. All that is certain is that she perished, and that all on +board her met death in some one of the myriad forms in which it +must always be faced by those who go down to the sea in ships; +and when she sank there sank one of the most gallant ships of the +American navy, with. as brave a captain and crew as ever sailed +from any port of the New World. + + + +THE "GENERAL ARMSTRONG" PRIVATEER + +We have fought such a fight for a day and a night +As may never be fought again! +We have won great glory, my men! +And a day less or more +At sea or ashore, +We die--does it matter when? + --Tennyson. + + +THE "GENERAL ARMSTRONG" PRIVATEER + +In the revolution, and again in the war of 1812, the seas were +covered by swift-sailing American privateers, which preyed on the +British trade. The hardy seamen of the New England coast, and of +New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, turned readily from their +adventurous careers in the whalers that followed the giants of +the ocean in every sea and every clime, and from trading voyages +to the uttermost parts of the earth, to go into the business of +privateering, which was more remunerative, and not so very much +more dangerous, than their ordinary pursuits. By the end of the, +war of 1812, in particular, the American privateers had won for +themselves a formidable position on the ocean. The schooners, +brigs, and brigantines in which the privateersmen sailed were +beautifully modeled, and were among the fastest craft afloat. +They were usually armed with one heavy gun, the "long Tom," as it +was called, arranged on a pivot forward or amidships, and with a +few lighter pieces of cannon. They carried strong crews of +well-armed men, and their commanders were veteran seamen, used to +brave every danger from the elements or from man. So boldly did +they prey on the British commerce, that they infested even the +Irish Sea and the British Channel, and increased many times the +rate of insurance on vessels passing across those waters. They +also often did battle with the regular men-of-war of the British, +being favorite objects for attack by cutting-out parties from the +British frigates and ships of the line, and also frequently +encountering in fight the smaller sloops-of-war. Usually, in +these contests, the privateersmen were worsted, for they had not +the training which is obtained only in a regular service, and +they were in no way to be compared to the little fleet of regular +vessels which in this same war so gloriously upheld the honor of +the American flag. Nevertheless, here and there a privateer +commanded by an exceptionally brave and able captain, and manned +by an unusually well-trained crew, performed some feat of arms +which deserves to rank with anything ever performed by the +regular navy. Such a feat was the defense of the brig General +Armstrong, in the Portuguese port of Fayal, of the Azores, +against an overwhelming British force. + +The General Armstrong hailed from New York, and her captain was +named Reid. She had a crew of ninety men, and was armed with one +heavy 32 pounder and six lighter guns. In December, 1814, she was +lying in Fayal, a neutral port, when four British war-vessels, a +ship of the line, a frigate and two brigs, hove into sight, and +anchored off the mouth of the harbor. The port was neutral, but +Portugal was friendly to England, and Reid knew well that the +British would pay no respect to the neutrality laws if they +thought that at the cost of their violation they could destroy +the privateer. He immediately made every preparation to resist an +attack, The privateer was anchored close to the shore. The +boarding-nettings were got ready, and were stretched to booms +thrust outward from the brig's side, so as to check the boarders +as they tried to climb over the bulwarks. The guns were loaded +and cast loose, and the men went to quarters armed with muskets, +boarding-pikes, and cutlases. + +On their side the British made ready to carry the privateer by +boarding. The shoals rendered it impossible for the heavy ships +to approach, and the lack of wind and the baffling currents also +interfered for the moment with the movements of the +sloops-of-war. Accordingly recourse was had to a cutting-out +party, always a favorite device with the British seamen of that +age, who were accustomed to carry French frigates by boarding, +and to capture in their boats the heavy privateers and armed +merchantmen, as well as the lighter war-vessels of France and +Spain. + +The British first attempted to get possession of the brig by +surprise, sending out but four boats. These worked down near to +the brig, under pretense of sounding, trying to get close enough +to make a rush and board her. The privateersmen were on their +guard, and warned the boats off, and after the warning had been +repeated once or twice unheeded, they fired into them, killing +and wounding several men. Upon this the boats promptly returned +to the ships. + +This first check greatly irritated the British captains, and they +decided to repeat the experiment that night with a force which +would render resistance vain. Accordingly, after it became dark, +a dozen boats were sent from the liner and the frigate, manned by +four hundred stalwart British seamen, and commanded by the +captain of one of the brigs of war. Through the night they rowed +straight toward the little privateer lying dark and motionless in +the gloom. As before, the privateersmen were ready for their foe, +and when they came within range opened fire upon them, first with +the long gun and then with the lighter cannon; but the British +rowed on with steady strokes, for they were seamen accustomed to +victory over every European foe, and danger had no terrors for +them. With fierce hurrahs they dashed through the shot-riven +smoke and grappled the brig; and the boarders rose, cutlas in +hand, ready to spring over the bulwarks. A terrible struggle +followed. The British hacked at the boarding-nets and strove to +force their way through to the decks of the privateer, while the +Americans stabbed the assailants with their long pikes and +slashed at them with their cutlases. The darkness was lit by the +flashes of flame from the muskets and the cannon, and the air was +rent by the oaths and shouts of the combatants, the heavy +trampling on the decks, the groans of the wounded, the din of +weapon meeting weapon, and all the savage tumult of a +hand-to-hand fight. At the bow the British burst through the +boarding-netting, and forced their way to the deck, killing or +wounding all three of the lieutenants of the privateer; but when +this had happened the boats had elsewhere been beaten back, and +Reid, rallying his grim sea-dogs, led them forward with a rush, +and the boarding party were all killed or tumbled into the sea. +This put an end to the fight. In some of the boats none but +killed and wounded men were left. The others drew slowly off, +like crippled wild-fowl, and disappeared in the darkness toward +the British squadron. Half of the attacking force had been killed +or wounded, while of the Americans but nine had fallen. + +The British commodore and all his officers were maddened with +anger and shame over the repulse, and were bent upon destroying +the privateer at all costs. Next day, after much exertion, one of +the war-brigs was warped into position to attack the American, +but she first took her station at long range, so that her +carronades were not as effective as the pivot gun of the +privateer; and so well was the latter handled, that the British +brig was repeatedly hulled, and finally was actually driven off. +A second attempt was made, however, and this time the +sloop-of-war got so close that she could use her heavy +carronades, which put the privateer completely at her mercy. Then +Captain Reid abandoned his brig and sank her, first carrying +ashore the guns, and marched inland with his men. They were not +further molested; and, if they had lost their brig, they had at +least made their foes pay dear for her destruction, for the +British had lost twice as many men as there were in the whole +hard-fighting crew of the American privateer. + + + +THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS + +The heavy fog of morning + Still hid the plain from sight, +When came a thread of scarlet + Marked faintly in the white. +We fired a single cannon, + And as its thunders rolled, +The mist before us lifted + In many a heavy fold. +The mist before us lifted, + And in their bravery fine +Came rushing to their ruin + The fearless British line. + --Thomas Dunn English. + + +THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS + +When, in 1814, Napoleon was overthrown and forced to retire to +Elba, the British troops that had followed Wellington into +southern France were left free for use against the Americans. A +great expedition was organized to attack and capture New Orleans, +and at its head was placed General Pakenham, the brilliant +commander of the column that delivered the fatal blow at +Salamanca. In December a fleet of British war-ships and +transports, carrying thousands of victorious veterans from the +Peninsula, and manned by sailors who had grown old in a quarter +of a century's triumphant ocean warfare, anchored off the broad +lagoons of the Mississippi delta. The few American gunboats were +carried after a desperate hand-to-hand struggle, the troops were +landed, and on December 23 the advance-guard of two thousand men +reached the banks of the Mississippi, but ten miles below New +Orleans, and there camped for the night. It seemed as if nothing +could save the Creole City from foes who had shown, in the +storming of many a Spanish walled town, that they were as +ruthless in victory as they were terrible in battle. There were +no forts to protect the place, and the militia were ill armed and +ill trained. But the hour found the man. On the afternoon of the +very day when the British reached the banks of the river the +vanguard of Andrew Jackson's Tennesseeans marched into New +Orleans. Clad in hunting-shirts of buckskin or homespun, wearing +wolfskin and coonskin caps, and carrying their long rifles on +their shoulders, the wild soldiery of the backwoods tramped into +the little French town. They were tall men, with sinewy frames +and piercing eyes. Under "Old Hickory's" lead they had won the +bloody battle of the Horseshoe Bend against the Creeks; they had +driven the Spaniards from Pensacola; and now they were eager to +pit themselves against the most renowned troops of all Europe. + +Jackson acted with his usual fiery, hasty decision. It was +absolutely necessary to get time in which to throw up some kind +of breastworks or defenses for the city, and he at once resolved +on a night attack against the British. As for the British, they +had no thought of being molested. They did not dream of an +assault from inferior numbers of undisciplined and ill-armed +militia, who did not possess so much as bayonets to their guns. +They kindled fires along the levees, ate their supper, and then, +as the evening fell, noticed a big schooner drop down the river +in ghostly silence and bring up opposite to them. The soldiers +flocked to the shore, challenging the stranger, and finally fired +one or two shots at her. Then suddenly a rough voice was heard, +"Now give it to them, for the honor of America!" and a shower of +shell and grape fell on the British, driving them off the levee. +The stranger was an American man-of-war schooner. The British +brought up artillery to drive her off, but before they succeeded +Jackson's land troops burst upon them, and a fierce, indecisive +struggle followed. In the night all order was speedily lost, and +the two sides fought singly or in groups in the utmost confusion. +Finally a fog came up and the combatants separated. Jackson drew +off four or five miles and camped. + +The British had been so roughly handled that they were unable to +advance for three or four days, until the entire army came up. +When they did advance, it was only to find that Jackson had made +good use of the time he had gained by his daring assault. He had +thrown up breastworks of mud and logs from the swamp to the +river. At first the British tried to batter down these +breastworks with their cannon, for they had many more guns than +the Americans. A terrible artillery duel followed. For an hour or +two the result seemed in doubt; but the American gunners showed +themselves to be far more skilful than their antagonists, and +gradually getting the upper hand, they finally silenced every +piece of British artillery. The Americans had used cotton bales +in the embrasures, and the British hogsheads of sugar; but +neither worked well, for the cotton caught fire and the sugar +hogsheads were ripped and splintered by the roundshot, so that +both were abandoned. By the use of red-hot shot the British +succeeded in setting on fire the American schooner which had +caused them such annoyance on the evening of the night attack; +but she had served her purpose, and her destruction caused little +anxiety to Jackson. + +Having failed in his effort to batter down the American +breastworks, and the British artillery having been fairly worsted +by the American, Pakenham. decided to try open assault. He had +ten thousand regular troops, while Jackson had under him but +little over five thousand men, who were trained only as he had +himself trained them in his Indian campaigns. Not a fourth of +them carried bayonets. Both Pakenham and the troops under him +were fresh from victories won over the most renowned marshals of +Napoleon, andover soldiers that had proved themselves on a +hundred stricken fields the masters of all others in Continental +Europe. At Toulouse they had driven Marshal Soult from a position +infinitely stronger than that held by Jackson, and yet Soult had +under him a veteran army. At Badajoz, Ciudad Rodrigo, and San +Sebastian they had carried by open assault fortified towns whose +strength made the intrenchments of the Americans seem like the +mud walls built by children, though these towns were held by the +best soldiers of France. With such troops to follow him, and with +such victories behind him in the past, it did not seem possible +to Pakenham that the assault of the terrible British infantry +could be successfully met by rough backwoods riflemen fighting +under a general as wild and untrained as themselves. + +He decreed that the assault should take place on the morning of +the eighth. Throughout the previous night the American officers +were on the alert, for they could hear the rumbling of artillery +in the British camp, the muffled tread of the battalions as they +were marched to their points in the line, and all the smothered +din of the preparation for assault. Long before dawn the riflemen +were awake and drawn up behind the mud walls, where they lolled +at ease, or, leaning on their long rifles, peered out through the +fog toward the camp of their foes. At last the sun rose and the +fog lifted, showing the scarlet array of the splendid British +infantry. As soon as the air was clear Pakenham gave the word, +and the heavy columns of redcoated grenadiers and kilted +Highlanders moved steadily forward. From the American breastworks +the great guns opened, but not a rifle cracked. Three fourths of +the distance were covered, and the eager soldiers broke into a +run; then sheets of flame burst from the breastworks in their +front as the wild riflemen of the backwoods rose and fired, line +upon line. Under the sweeping hail the head of the British +advance was shattered, and the whole column stopped. Then it +surged forward again, almost to the foot of the breastworks; but +not a man lived to reach them, and in a moment more the troops +broke and ran back. Mad with shame and rage, Pakenham rode among +them to rally and lead them forward, and the officers sprang +around him, smiting the fugitives with their swords and cheering +on the men who stood. For a moment the troops halted, and again +came forward to the charge; but again they were met by a hail of +bullets from the backwoods rifles. One shot struck Pakenham +himself. He reeled and fell from the saddle, and was carried off +the field. The second and third in command fell also, and then +all attempts at further advance were abandoned, and the British +troops ran back to their lines. Another assault had meanwhile +been made by a column close to the river, the charging soldiers +rushing to the top of the breastworks; but they were all killed +or driven back. A body of troops had also been sent across the +river, where they routed a small detachment of Kentucky militia; +but they were, of course, recalled when the main assault failed. + +At last the men who had conquered the conquerors of Europe had +themselves met defeat. Andrew Jackson and his rough riflemen had +worsted, in fair fight, a far larger force of the best of +Wellington's veterans, and had accomplished what no French +marshal and no French troops had been able to accomplish +throughout the long war in the Spanish peninsula. For a week the +sullen British lay in their lines; then, abandoning their heavy +artillery, they marched back to the ships and sailed for Europe. + + + +JOHN QUINCY ADAMS AND THE RIGHT OF PETITION + +He rests with the immortals; his journey has been long: +For him no wail of sorrow, but a paean full and strong! +So well and bravely has he done the work be found to do, +To justice, freedom, duty, God, and man forever true. + --Whittier. + + +JOHN QUINCY ADAMS AND THE RIGHT OF PETITION + +The lot of ex-Presidents of the United States, as a rule, has +been a life of extreme retirement, but to this rule there is one +marked exception. When John Quincy Adams left the White House in +March, 1829, it must have seemed as if public life could hold +nothing more for him. He had had everything apparently that an +American statesman could hope for. He had been Minister to +Holland and Prussia, to Russia and England. He had been a Senator +of the United States, Secretary of State for eight years, and +finally President. Yet, notwithstanding all this, the greatest +part of his career, and his noblest service to his country, were +still before him when he gave up the Presidency. + +In the following year (1830) he was told that he might be elected +to the House of Representatives, and the gentleman who made the +proposition ventured to say that he thought an ex-President, by +taking such a position, "instead of degrading the individual +would elevate the representative character." Mr. Adams replied +that he had "in that respect no scruples whatever. No person can +be degraded by serving the people as Representative in Congress, +nor, in my opinion, would an ex-President of the United States be +degraded by serving as a selectman of his town if elected thereto +by the people." A few weeks later he was chosen to the House, and +the district continued to send him every two years from that time +until his death. He did much excellent work in the House, and was +conspicuous in more than one memorable scene; but here it is +possible to touch on only a single point, where he came forward +as the champion of a great principle, and fought a battle for the +right which will always be remembered among the great deeds of +American public men. + +Soon after Mr. Adams took his seat in Congress, the movement for +the abolition of slavery was begun by a few obscure agitators. It +did not at first attract much attention, but as it went on it +gradually exasperated the overbearing temper of the Southern +slaveholders. One fruit of this agitation was the appearance of +petitions for the abolition of slavery in the House of +Representatives. A few were presented by Mr. Adams without +attracting much notice; but as the petitions multiplied, the +Southern representatives became aroused. They assailed Mr. Adams +for presenting them, and finally passed what was known as the gag +rule, which prevented the reception of these petitions by the +House. Against this rule Mr. Adams protested, in the midst of the +loud shouts of the Southerners, as a violation of his +constitutional rights. But the tyranny of slavery at that time +was so complete that the rule was adopted and enforced, and the +slaveholders, undertook in this way to suppress free speech in +the House, just as they also undertook to prevent the +transmission through the mails of any writings adverse to +slavery. With the wisdom of a statesman and a man of affairs, Mr. +Adams addressed himself to the one practical point of the +contest. He did not enter upon a discussion of slavery or of its +abolition, but turned his whole force toward the vindication of +the right of petition. On every petition day he would offer, in +constantly increasing numbers, petitions which came to him from +all parts of the country for the abolition of slavery, in this +way driving the Southern representatives almost to madness, +despite their rule which prevented the reception of such +documents when offered. Their hatred of Mr. Adams is something +difficult to conceive, and they were burning to break him down, +and, if possible, drive him from the House. On February 6, 1837, +after presenting the usual petitions, Mr. Adams offered one upon +which he said he should like the judgment of the Speaker as to +its propriety, inasmuch as it was a petition from slaves. In a +moment the House was in a tumult, and loud cries of "Expel him!" +"Expel him!" rose in all directions. One resolution after another +was offered looking toward his expulsion or censure, and it was +not until February 9, three days later, that he was able to take +the floor in his own defense. His speech was a masterpiece of +argument, invective, and sarcasm. He showed, among other things, +that he had not offered the petition, but had only asked the +opinion of the Speaker upon it, and that the petition itself +prayed that slavery should not be abolished. When he closed his +speech, which was quite as savage as any made against him, and +infinitely abler, no one desired to reply, and the idea of +censuring him was dropped. + +The greatest struggle, however, came five years later, when, on +January 21, 1842, Mr. Adams presented the petition of certain +citizens of Haverhill, Massachusetts, praying for the dissolution +of the Union on account of slavery. His enemies felt. that now, +at last, he had delivered himself into their hands. Again arose +the cry for his expulsion, and again vituperation was poured out +upon him, and resolutions to expel him freely introduced. When he +got the floor to speak in his own defense, he faced an excited +House, almost unanimously hostile to him, and possessing, as he +well knew, both the will and the power to drive him from its +walls. But there was no wavering in Mr. Adams. "If they say they +will try me," he said, "they must try me. If they say they will +punish me, they must punish me. But if they say that in peace and +mercy they will spare me expulsion, I disdain and cast away their +mercy, and I ask if they will come to such a trial and expel me. +I defy them. I have constituents to go to, and they will have +something to say if this House expels me, nor will it be long +before the gentlemen will see me here again." The fight went on +for nearly a fortnight, and on February 7 the whole subject was +finally laid on the table. The sturdy, dogged fighter, +single-handed and alone, had beaten all the forces of the South +and of slavery. No more memorable fight has ever been made by one +man in a parliamentary body, and after this decisive struggle the +tide began to turn. Every year Mr. Adams renewed his motion to +strike out the gag rule, and forced it to a vote. Gradually the +majority against it dwindled, until at last, on December 3, 1844, +his motion prevailed. Freedom of speech had been vindicated in +the American House of Representatives, the right of petition had +been won, and the first great blow against the slave power had +been struck. + +Four years later Mr. Adams fell, stricken with paralysis, at his +place in the House, and a few hours afterward, with the words, +"This is the last of earth; I am content," upon his lips, he sank +into unconsciousness and died. It was a fit end to a great public +career. His fight for the right of petition is one to be studied +and remembered, and Mr. Adams made it practically alone. The +slaveholders of the South and the representatives of the North +were alike against him. Against him, too, as his biographer, Mr. +Morse, says, was the class in Boston to which he naturally +belonged by birth and education. He had to encounter the bitter +resistance in his own set of the "conscienceless respectability +of wealth," but the great body of the New England people were +with him, as were the voters of his own district. He was an old +man, with the physical infirmities of age. His eyes were weak and +streaming; his hands were trembling; his voice cracked in moments +of excitement; yet in that age of oratory, in the days of Webster +and Clay, he was known as the "old man eloquent." It was what he +said, more than the way he said it, which told. His vigorous mind +never worked more surely and clearly than when he stood alone in +the midst of an angry House, the target of their hatred and +abuse. His arguments were strong, and his large knowledge and +wide experience supplied him with every weapon for defense and +attack. Beneath the lash of his invective and his sarcasm the +hottest of the slaveholders cowered away. He set his back against +a great principle. He never retreated an inch, he never yielded, +he never conciliated, he was always an assailant, and no man and +no body of men had the power to turn him. He had his dark hours, +he felt bitterly the isolation of his position, but he never +swerved. He had good right to set down in his diary, when the gag +rule was repealed, "Blessed, forever blessed, be the name of +God." + + + +FRANCIS PARKMAN + +He told the red man's story; far and wide + He searched the unwritten annals of his race; +He sat a listener at the Sachem's side, + He tracked the hunter through his wild-wood chase. + +High o'er his head the soaring eagle screamed; + The wolfs long howl rang nightly; through the vale +Tramped the lone bear; the panther's eyeballs gleamed; + The bison's gallop thundered on the gale. + +Soon o'er the horizon rose the cloud of strife, + Two proud, strong nations battling for the prize: +Which swarming host should mould a nation's life; + Which royal banner flout the western skies. + +Long raged the conflict; on the crimson sod + Native and alien joined their hosts in vain; +The lilies withered where the lion trod, + Till Peace lay panting on the ravaged plain. + +A nobler task was theirs who strove to win + The blood-stained heathen to the Christian fold; +To free from Satan's clutch the slaves of sin; + These labors, too, with loving grace he told. + +Halting with feeble step, or bending o'er + The sweet-breathed roses which he loved so well, +While through long years his burdening cross he bore, + From those firm lips no coward accents fell. + +A brave bright memory! His the stainless shield + No shame defaces and no envy mars! +When our far future's record is unsealed, + His name will shine among its morning stars. + --Holmes. + + +FRANCIS PARKMAN +(1822-1893) + +The stories in this volume deal, for the most part, with single +actions, generally with deeds of war and feats of arms. In this +one I desire to give if possible the impression, for it can be no +more than an impression, of a life which in its conflicts and its +victories manifested throughout heroic qualities. Such qualities +can be shown in many ways, and the field of battle is only one of +the fields of human endeavor where heroism can be displayed. + +Francis Parkman was born in Boston on September 16, 1822. He came +of a well-known family, and was of a good Puritan stock. He was +rather a delicate boy, with an extremely active mind and of a +highly sensitive, nervous organization. Into everything that +attracted him he threw himself with feverish energy. His first +passion, when he was only about twelve years old, was for +chemistry, and his eager boyish experiments in this direction +were undoubtedly injurious to his health. The interest in +chemistry was succeeded by a passion for the woods and the +wilderness, and out of this came the longing to write the history +of the men of the wilderness, and of the great struggle between +France and England for the control of the North American +continent. All through his college career this desire was with +him, and while in secret he was reading widely to prepare himself +for his task, he also spent a great deal of time in the forests +and on the mountains. To quote his own words, he was "fond of +hardships, and he was vain of enduring them, cherishing a +sovereign scorn for every physical weakness or defect; but +deceived, moreover, by the rapid development of frame and sinew, +which flattered him into the belief that discipline sufficiently +unsparing would harden him into an athlete, he slighted the +precautions of a more reasonable woodcraft, tired old foresters +with long marches, stopped neither for heat nor for rain, and +slept on the earth without blankets." The result was that his +intense energy carried him beyond his strength, and while his +muscles strengthened and hardened, his sensitive nervous +organization began to give way. It was not merely because he led +an active outdoor life. He himself protests against any such +conclusion, and says that "if any pale student glued to his desk +here seek an apology for a way of life whose natural fruit is +that pallid and emasculate scholarship, of which New England has +had too many examples, it will be far better that this sketch had +not been written. For the student there is, in its season, no +better place than the saddle, and no better companion than the +rifle or the oar." + +The evil that was done was due to Parkman's highly irritable +organism, which spurred him to excess in everything he undertook. +The first special sign of the mischief he was doing to himself +and his health appeared in a weakness of sight. It was essential +to his plan of historical work to study not only books and +records but Indian life from the inside. Therefore, having +graduated from college and the law-school, he felt that the time +had come for this investigation, which would enable him to gather +material for his history and at the same time to rest his eyes. +He went to the Rocky Mountains, and after great hardships, living +in the saddle, as he said, with weakness and pain, he joined a +band of Ogallalla Indians. With them he remained despite his +physical suffering, and from them he learned, as he could not +have learned in any other way, what Indian life really was. + +The immediate result of the journey was his first book, instinct +with the freshness and wildness of the mountains and the +prairies, and called by him "The Oregon Trail." Unfortunately, +the book was not the only outcome. The illness incurred during +his journey from fatigue and exposure was followed by other +disorders. The light of the sun became insupportable, and his +nervous vous system was entirely deranged. His sight was now so +impaired that he was almost blind, and could neither read nor +write. It was a terrible prospect for a brilliant and ambitious +man, but Parkman faced it unflinchingly. He devised a frame by +which he could write with closed eyes, and books and manuscripts +were read to him. In this way he began the history of "The +Conspiracy of Pontiac," and for the first half-year the rate of +composition covered about six lines a day. His courage was +rewarded by an improvement in his health, and a little more quiet +in nerves and brain. In two and a half years he managed to +complete the book. He then entered upon his great subject of +"France in the New World." The material was mostly in manuscript, +and had to be examined, gathered, and selected in Europe and in +Canada. He could not read, he could write only a very little and +that with difficulty, and yet he pressed on. He slowly collected +his material and digested and arranged it, using the eyes of +others to do that which he could not do himself, and always on +the verge of a complete breakdown of mind and body. In 1851 he +had an effusion of water on the left knee, which stopped his +outdoor exercise, on which he had always largely depended. All +the irritability of the system then centered in the head, +resulting in intense pain and in a restless and devouring +activity of thought. He himself says: "The whirl, the confusion, +and strange, undefined tortures attending this condition are only +to be conceived by one who has felt them." The resources of +surgery and medicine were exhausted in vain. The trouble in the +head and eyes constantly recurred. In 1858 there came a period +when for four years he was incapable of the slightest mental +application, and the attacks varied in duration from four hours +to as many months. When the pressure was lightened a little he +went back to his work. When work was impossible, he turned to +horticulture, grew roses, and wrote a book about the cultivation +of those flowers which is a standard authority. + +As he grew older the attacks moderated, although they never +departed. Sleeplessness pursued him always, the slightest +excitement would deprive him of the power of exertion, his sight +was always sensitive, and at times he was bordering on blindness. +In this hard-pressed way he fought the battle of life. He says +himself that his books took four times as long to prepare and +write as if he had been strong and able to use his faculties. +That this should have been the case is little wonder, for those +books came into being with failing sight and shattered nerves, +with sleeplessness and pain, and the menace of insanity ever +hanging over the brave man who, nevertheless, carried them +through to an end. + +Yet the result of those fifty years, even in amount, is a noble +one, and would have been great achievement for a man who had +never known a sick day. In quality, and subject, and method of +narration, they leave little to be desired. There, in Parkman's +volumes, is told vividly, strongly, and truthfully, the history +of the great struggle between France and England for the mastery +of the North American continent, one of the most important events +of modern times. This is not the place to give any critical +estimate of Mr. Parkman's work. It is enough to say that it +stands in the front rank. It is a great contribution to history, +and a still greater gift to the literature of this country. All +Americans certainly should read the volumes in which Parkman has +told that wonderful story of hardship and adventure, of fighting +and of statesmanship, which gave this great continent to the +English race and the English speech. But better than the +literature or the history is the heroic spirit of the man, which +triumphed over pain and all other physical obstacles, and brought +a work of such value to his country and his time into existence. +There is a great lesson as well as a lofty example in such a +career, and in the service which such a man rendered by his life +and work to literature and to his country. On the tomb of the +conqueror of Quebec it is written: "Here lies Wolfe victorious." +The same epitaph might with entire justice be carved above the +grave of Wolfe's historian. + + + +"REMEMBER THE ALAMO" + +The muffled drum's sad roll has beat + The soldier's last tattoo; +No more on life's parade shall meet + That brave and fallen few. +On fame's eternal camping-ground + Their silent tents are spread, +And glory guards with solemn round + The bivouac of the dead. + + * * * + +The neighing troop, the flashing blade, + The bugle's stirring blast, +The charge, the dreadful cannonade, + The din and shout are past; +Nor war's wild note, nor glory's peal + Shall thrill with fierce delight +Those breasts that never more may feel + The rapture of the fight. + --Theodore O'Hara. + +"REMEMBER THE ALAMO" + +"Thermopylae had its messengers of death, but the Alamo had +none." These were the words with which a United States senator +referred to one of the most resolute and effective fights ever +waged by brave men against overwhelming odds in the face of +certain death. + +Soon after the close of the second war with Great Britain, +parties of American settlers began to press forward into the +rich, sparsely settled territory of Texas, then a portion. of +Mexico. At first these immigrants were well received, but the +Mexicans speedily grew jealous of them, and oppressed them in +various ways. In consequence, when the settlers felt themselves +strong enough, they revolted against Mexican rule, and declared +Texas to be an independent republic. Immediately Santa Anna, the +Dictator of Mexico, gathered a large army, and invaded Texas. The +slender forces of the settlers were unable to meet his hosts. +They were pressed back by the Mexicans, and dreadful atrocities +were committed by Santa Anna and his lieutenants. In the United +States there was great enthusiasm for the struggling Texans, and +many bold backwoodsmen and Indian-fighters swarmed to their help. +Among them the two most famous were Sam Houston and David +Crockett. Houston was the younger man, and had already led an +extraordinary and varied career. When a mere lad he had run away +from home and joined the Cherokees, living among them for some +years; then he returned home. He had fought under Andrew Jackson +in his campaigns against the Creeks, and had been severely +wounded at the battle of the Horse-shoe Bend. He had risen to the +highest political honors in his State, becoming governor of +Tennessee; and then suddenly, in a fit of moody longing for the +life of the wilderness, he gave up his governorship, left the +State, and crossed the Mississippi, going to join his old +comrades, the Cherokees, in their new home along the waters of +the Arkansas. Here he dressed, lived, fought, hunted, and drank +precisely like any Indian, becoming one of the chiefs. + +David Crockett was born soon after the Revolutionary War. He, +too, had taken part under Jackson in the campaigns against the +Creeks, and had afterward become a man of mark in Tennessee, and +gone to Congress as a Whig; but he had quarreled with Jackson, +and been beaten for Congress, and in his disgust he left the +State and decided to join the Texans. He was the most famous +rifle-shot in all the United States, and the most successful +hunter, so that his skill was a proverb all along the border. + +David Crockett journeyed south, by boat and horse, making his way +steadily toward the distant plains where the Texans were waging +their life-and-death fight. Texas was a wild place in those days, +and the old hunter had more than one hairbreadth escape from +Indians, desperadoes, and savage beasts, ere he got to the +neighborhood of San Antonio, and joined another adventurer, a +bee-hunter, bent on the same errand as himself. The two had been +in ignorance of exactly what the situation in Texas was; but they +soon found that the Mexican army was marching toward San Antonio, +whither they were going. Near the town was an old Spanish fort, +the Alamo, in which the hundred and fifty American defenders of +the place had gathered. Santa Anna had four thousand troops with +him. The Alamo was a mere shell, utterly unable to withstand +either a bombardment or a regular assault. It was evident, +therefore, that those within it would be in the utmost jeopardy +if the place were seriously assaulted, but old Crockett and his +companion never wavered. They were fearless and resolute, and +masters of woodcraft, and they managed to slip through the +Mexican lines and join the defenders within the walls. The +bravest, the hardiest, the most reckless men of the border were +there; among them were Colonel Travis, the commander of the fort, +and Bowie, the inventor of the famous bowie-knife. They were a +wild and ill-disciplined band, little used to restraint or +control, but they were men of iron courage and great bodily +powers, skilled in the use of their weapons, and ready to meet +with stern and uncomplaining indifference whatever doom fate +might have in store for them. + +Soon Santa Anna approached with his army, took possession of the +town, and besieged the fort. The defenders knew there was +scarcely a chance of rescue, and that it was hopeless to expect +that one hundred and fifty men, behind defenses so weak, could +beat off four thousand trained soldiers, well armed and provided +with heavy artillery; but they had no idea of flinching, and made +a desperate defense. The days went by, and no help came, while +Santa Anna got ready his lines, and began a furious cannonade. +His gunners were unskilled, however, and he had to serve the guns +from a distance; for when they were pushed nearer, the American +riflemen crept forward under cover, and picked off the +artillerymen. Old Crockett thus killed five men at one gun. But, +by degrees, the bombardment told. The walls of the Alamo were +battered and riddled; and when they had been breached so as to +afford no obstacle to the rush of his soldiers, Santa Anna +commanded that they be stormed. + +The storm took place on March 6, 1836. The Mexican troops came on +well and steadily, breaking through the outer defenses at every +point, for the lines were too long to be manned by the few +Americans. The frontiersmen then retreated to the inner building, +and a desperate hand-to-hand conflict followed, the Mexicans +thronging in, shooting the Americans with their muskets, and +thrusting at them with lance and bayonet, while the Americans, +after firing their long rifles, clubbed them, and fought +desperately, one against many; and they also used their +bowie-knives and revolvers with deadly effect. The fight reeled +to and fro between the shattered walls, each American the center +of a group of foes; but, for all their strength and their wild +fighting courage, the defenders were too few, and the struggle +could have but one end. One by one the tall riflemen succumbed, +after repeated thrusts with bayonet and lance, until but three or +four were left. Colonel Travis, the commander, was among them; +and so was Bowie, who was sick and weak from a wasting disease, +but who rallied all his strength to die fighting, and who, in the +final struggle, slew several Mexicans with his revolver, and with +his big knife of the kind to which he had given his name. Then +these fell too, and the last man stood at bay. It was old Davy +Crockett. Wounded in a dozen places, he faced his foes with his +back to the wall, ringed around by the bodies of the men he had +slain. So desperate was the fight he waged, that the Mexicans who +thronged round about him were beaten back for the moment, and no +one dared to run in upon him. Accordingly, while the lancers held +him where he was, for, weakened by wounds and loss of blood, he +could not break through them, the musketeers loaded their +carbines and shot him down. Santa Anna declined to give him +mercy. Some say that when Crockett fell from his wounds, he was +taken alive, and was then shot by Santa Anna's order; but his +fate cannot be told with certainty, for not a single American was +left alive. At any rate, after Crockett fell the fight was over. +Every one of the hardy men who had held the Alamo lay still in +death. Yet they died well avenged, for four times their number +fell at their hands in the battle. + +Santa Anna had but a short while in which to exult over his +bloody and hard-won victory. Already a rider from the rolling +Texas plains, going north through the Indian Territory, had told +Houston that the Texans were up and were striving for their +liberty. At once in Houston's mind there kindled a longing to +return to the men of his race at the time of their need. Mounting +his horse, he rode south by night and day, and was hailed by the +Texans as a heaven-sent leader. He took command of their forces, +eleven hundred stark riflemen, and at the battle of San Jacinto, +he and his men charged the Mexican hosts with the cry of +"Remember the Alamo." Almost immediately, the Mexicans were +overthrown with terrible slaughter; Santa Anna himself was +captured, and the freedom of Texas was won at a blow. + + + +HAMPTON ROADS + +Then far away to the south uprose + A little feather of snow-white smoke, +And we knew that the iron ship of our foes + Was steadily steering its course + To try the force +Of our ribs of oak. + +Down upon us heavily runs, + Silent and sullen, the floating fort; +Then comes a puff of smoke from her guns, + And leaps the terrible death, With fiery breath, +From her open port. + + * * * + +Ho! brave hearts, that went down in the seas! + Ye are at peace in the troubled stream; +Ho! brave land! with hearts like these, + Thy flag, that is rent in twain, + Shall be one again, +And without a seam! + --Longfellow + + +HAMPTON ROADS + +The naval battles of the Civil War possess an immense importance, +because they mark the line of cleavage between naval warfare +under the old, and naval warfare under the new, conditions. The +ships with which Hull and Decatur and McDonough won glory in the +war of 1812 were essentially like those with which Drake and +Hawkins and Frobisher had harried the Spanish armadas two +centuries and a half earlier. They were wooden sailing-vessels, +carrying many guns mounted in broadside, like those of De Ruyter +and Tromp, of Blake and Nelson. Throughout this period all the +great admirals, all the famous single-ship fighters,--whose skill +reached its highest expression in our own navy during the war of +1812,--commanded craft built and armed in a substantially similar +manner, and fought with the same weapons and under much the same +conditions. But in the Civil War weapons and methods were +introduced which caused a revolution greater even than that which +divided the sailingship from the galley. The use of steam, the +casing of ships in iron armor, and the employment of the torpedo, +the ram, and the gun of high power, produced such radically new +types that the old ships of the line became at one stroke as +antiquated as the galleys of Hamilcar or Alcibiades. Some of +these new engines of destruction were invented, and all were for +the first time tried in actual combat, during our own Civil War. +The first occasion on which any of the new methods were +thoroughly tested was attended by incidents which made it one of +the most striking of naval battles. + + +In Chesapeake Bay, near Hampton Roads, the United States had +collected a fleet of wooden ships; some of them old-style +sailing-vessels, others steamers. The Confederates were known to +be building a great iron-clad ram, and the wooden vessels were +eagerly watching for her appearance when she should come out of +Gosport Harbor. Her powers and capacity were utterly unknown. She +was made out of the former United States steamfrigate Merrimac, +cut down so as to make her fore and aft decks nearly flat, and +not much above the water, while the guns were mounted in a +covered central battery, with sloping flanks. Her sides, deck, +and battery were coated with iron, and she was armed with +formidable rifle-guns, and, most important of all, with a steel +ram thrust out under water forward from her bow. She was +commanded by a gallant and efficient officer, Captain Buchanan. + +It was March 8, 1862, when the ram at last made her appearance +within sight of the Union fleet. The day was calm and very clear, +so that the throngs of spectators on shore could see every +feature of the battle. With the great ram came three light +gunboats, all of which took part in the action, haraising the +vessels which she assailed; but they were not factors of +importance in the fight. On the Union side the vessels nearest +were the sailing-ships Cumberland and Congress, and the +steam-frigate Minnesota. The Congress and Cumberland were +anchored not far from each other; the Minnesota got aground, and +was some distance off. Owing to the currents and shoals and the +lack of wind, no other vessel was able to get up in time to take +a part in the fight. + +As soon as the ram appeared, out of the harbor, she turned and +steamed toward the Congress and the Cumberland, the black smoke +rising from her funnels, and the great ripples running from each +side of her iron prow as she drove steadily through the still +waters. On board of the Congress and Cumberland there was eager +anticipation, but not a particle of fear. The officers in +command, Captain Smith and Lieutenant Morris, were two of the +most gallant men in a service where gallantry has always been too +common to need special comment. The crews were composed of +veterans, well trained, self-confident, and proud beyond measure +of the flag whose honor they upheld. The guns were run out, and +the men stood at quarters, while the officers eagerly conned the +approaching ironclad. The Congress was the first to open fire; +and, as her volleys flew, the men on the Cumberland were +astounded to see the cannon-shot bound off the sloping sides of +the ram as hailstones bound from a windowpane. The ram answered, +and her rifle-shells tore the sides of the Congress; but for her +first victim she aimed at the Cumberland, and, firing her bow +guns, came straight as an arrow at the little sloop-of-war, which +lay broadside to her. + +It was an absolutely hopeless struggle. The Cumberland was a +sailing-ship, at anchor, with wooden sides, and a battery of +light guns. Against the formidable steam ironclad, with her heavy +rifles and steel ram, she was as powerless as if she had been a +rowboat; and from the moment the men saw the cannon-shot bound +from the ram's sides they knew they were doomed. But none of them +flinched. Once and again they fired their guns full against the +approaching ram, and in response received a few shells from the +great bow-rifles of the latter. Then, forging ahead, the Merrimac +struck her antagonist with her steel prow, and the sloop-of-war +reeled and shuddered, and through the great rent in her side the +black water rushed. She foundered in a few minutes; but her crew +fought her to the last, cheering as they ran out the guns, and +sending shot after shot against the ram as the latter backed off +after delivering her blow. The rush of the water soon swamped the +lower decks, but the men above continued to serve their guns +until the upper deck also was awash, and the vessel had not ten +seconds of life left. Then, with her flags flying, her men +cheering, and her guns firing, the Cumberland sank. It was +shallow where she settled down, so that her masts remained above +the water. The glorious flag for which the brave men aboard her +had died flew proudly in the wind all that day, while the fight +went on, and throughout the night; and next morning it was still +streaming over the beautiful bay, to mark the resting-place of as +gallant a vessel as ever sailed or fought on the high seas. + +After the Cumberland sank, the ram turned her attention to the +Congress. Finding it difficult to get to her in the shoal water, +she began to knock her to pieces with her great rifle-guns. The +unequal fight between the ironclad and the wooden ship lasted for +perhaps half an hour. By that time the commander of the Congress +had been killed, and her decks looked like a slaughterhouse. She +was utterly unable to make any impression on her foe, and finally +she took fire and blew up. The Minnesota was the third victim +marked for destruction, and the Merrimac began the attack upon +her at once; but it was getting very late, and as the water was +shoal and she could not get close, the rain finally drew back to +her anchorage, to wait until next day before renewing and +completing her work of destruction. + +All that night there was the wildest exultation among the +Confederates, while the gloom and panic of the Union men cannot +be described. It was evident that the United States ships-of-war +were as helpless as cockle-shells against their iron-clad foe, +and there was no question but that she could destroy the whole +fleet with ease and with absolute impunity. This meant not only +the breaking of the blockade; but the sweeping away at one blow +of the North's naval supremacy, which was indispensable to the +success of the war for the Union. It is small wonder that during +that night the wisest and bravest should have almost despaired. + +But in the hour of the nation's greatest need a champion suddenly +appeared, in time to play the last scene in this great drama of +sea warfare. The North, too, had been trying its hand at building +ironclads. The most successful of them was the little Monitor, a +flat-decked, low, turreted. ironclad, armed with a couple of +heavy guns. She was the first experiment of her kind, and her +absolutely flat surface, nearly level with the water, her +revolving turret, and her utter unlikeness to any pre-existing +naval type, had made her an object of mirth among most practical +seamen; but her inventor, Ericsson, was not disheartened in the +least by the jeers. Under the command of a gallant naval officer, +Captain Worden, she was sent South from New York, and though she +almost foundered in a gale she managed to weather it, and reached +the scene of the battle at Hampton Roads at the moment when her +presence was allimportant. + +Early the following morning the Merrimac, now under Captain Jones +(for Buchanan had been wounded), again steamed forth to take up +the work she had so well begun and to destroy the Union fleet. +She steered straight for the Minnesota; but when she was almost +there, to her astonishment a strange-looking little craft +advanced from the side of the big wooden frigate and boldly +barred the Merrimac's path. For a moment the Confederates could +hardly believe their eyes. The Monitor was tiny, compared to +their ship, for she was not one fifth the size, and her queer +appearance made them look at their new foe with contempt; but the +first shock of battle did away with this feeling. The Merrimac +turned on her foe her rifleguns, intending to blow her out of the +water, but the shot glanced from the thick iron turret of the +Monitor. Then the Monitors guns opened fire, and as the great +balls struck the sides of the ram her plates started and her +timbers gave. Had the Monitor been such a vessel as those of her +type produced later in the war, the ram would have been sunk then +and there; but as it was her shot were not quite heavy enough to +pierce the iron walls. Around and around the two strange +combatants hovered, their guns bellowing without cessation, while +the men on the frigates and on shore watched the result with +breathless interest. Neither the Merrimac nor the Monitor could +dispose of its antagonist. The ram's guns could not damage the +turret, and the Monitor was able dexterously to avoid the stroke +of the formidable prow. On the other hand, the shot of the +Monitor could not penetrate the Merrimac's tough sides. +Accordingly, fierce though the struggle was, and much though +there was that hinged on it, it was not bloody in character. The +Merrimac could neither destroy nor evade the Monitor. She could +not sink her when she tried to, and when she abandoned her and +turned to attack one of the other wooden vessels, the little +turreted ship was thrown across her path, so that the fight had +to be renewed. Both sides grew thoroughly exhausted, and finally +the battle ceased by mutual consent. + +Nothing more could be done. The ram was badly damaged, and there +was no help for her save to put back to the port whence she had +come. Twice afterward she came out, but neither time did she come +near enough to the Monitor to attack her, and the latter could +not move off where she would cease to protect the wooden vessels. +The ram was ultimately blown up by the Confederates on the +advance of the Union army. + +Tactically, the fight was a drawn battle--neither ship being able +to damage the other, and both ships, being fought to a +standstill; but the moral and material effects were wholly in +favor of the Monitor. Her victory was hailed with exultant joy +throughout the whole Union, and exercised a correspondingly +depressing effect in the Confederacy; while every naval man +throughout the world, who possessed eyes to see, saw that the +fight in Hampton Roads had inaugurated a new era in ocean +warfare, and that the Monitor and Merrimac, which had waged so +gallant and so terrible a battle, were the first ships of the new +era, and that as such their names would be forever famous. + + + +THE FLAG-BEARER + +Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; +He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are +stored; +He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword; + His truth is marching on. + +I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps; +They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; +I can read his righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps; + His day is marching on. + +He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never beat retreat; +He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat; +Oh! be swift, my soul, to answer him! be jubilant, my feet! + Our God is marching on. + --Julia Ward Howe. + + +THE FLAG-BEARER + +In no war since the close of the great Napoleonic struggles has +the fighting been so obstinate and bloody as in the Civil War. +Much has been said in song and story of the resolute courage of +the Guards at Inkerman, of the charge of the Light Brigade, and +of the terrible fighting and loss of the German armies at Mars La +Tour and Gravelotte. The praise bestowed, upon the British and +Germans for their valor, and for the loss that proved their +valor, was well deserved; but there were over one hundred and +twenty regiments, Union and Confederate, each of which, in some +one battle of the Civil War, suffered a greater loss than any +English regiment at Inkerman or at any other battle in the +Crimea, a greater loss than was suffered by any German regiment +at Gravelotte or at any other battle of the Franco-Prussian war. +No European regiment in any recent struggle has suffered such +losses as at Gettysburg befell the 1st Minnesota, when 82 per +cent. of the officers and men were killed and wounded; or the +141st Pennsylvania, which lost 76 per cent.; or the 26th North +Carolina, which lost 72 per cent.; such as at the second battle +of Manassas befell the 101st New York, which lost 74 per cent., +and the 21st Georgia, which lost 76 per cent. At Cold Harbor the +25th Massachusetts lost 70 per cent., and the 10th Tennessee at +Chickamauga 68 per cent.; while at Shiloh the 9th Illinois lost +63 per cent., and the 6th Mississippi 70 per cent.; and at +Antietam the 1st Texas lost 82 percent. The loss of the Light +Brigade in killed and wounded in its famous charge at Balaklava +was but 37 per cent. + +These figures show the terrible punishment endured by these +regiments, chosen at random from the head of the list which shows +the slaughter-roll of the Civil War. Yet the shattered remnants +of each regiment preserved their organization, and many of the +severest losses were incurred in the hour of triumph, and not of +disaster. Thus, the 1st Minnesota, at Gettysburg, suffered its +appalling loss while charging a greatly superior force, which it +drove before it; and the little huddle of wounded and unwounded +men who survived their victorious charge actually kept both the +flag they had captured and the ground from which they had driven +their foes. + +A number of the Continental regiments under Washington, Greene, +and Wayne did valiant fighting and endured heavy punishment. +Several of the regiments raised on the northern frontier in 1814 +showed, under Brown and Scott, that they were able to meet the +best troops of Britain on equal terms in the open, and even to +overmatch them in fair fight with the bayonet. The regiments +which, in the Mexican war, under the lead of Taylor, captured +Monterey, and beat back Santa Anna at Buena Vista, or which, with +Scott as commander, stormed Molino Del Rey and Chapultepec, +proved their ability to bear terrible loss, to wrest victory from +overwhelming numbers, and to carry by open assault positions of +formidable strength held by a veteran army. But in none of these +three wars was the fighting so resolute and bloody as in the +Civil War. + +Countless deeds of heroism were performed by Northerner and by +Southerner, by officer and by private, in every year of the great +struggle. The immense majority of these deeds went unrecorded, +and were known to few beyond the immediate participants. Of those +that were noticed it would be impossible even to make a dry +catalogue in ten such volumes as this. All that can be done is to +choose out two or three acts of heroism, not as exceptions, but +as examples of hundreds of others. The times of war are iron +times, and bring out all that is best as well as all that is +basest in the human heart. In a full recital of the civil war, as +of every other great conflict, there would stand out in naked +relief feats of wonderful daring and self-devotion, and, mixed +among them, deeds of cowardice, of treachery, of barbarous +brutality. Sadder still, such a recital would show strange +contrasts in the careers of individual men, men who at one time +acted well and nobly, and at another time ill and basely. The +ugly truths must not be blinked, and the lessons they teach +should be set forth by every historian, and learned by every +statesman and soldier; but, for our good fortune, the lessons +best worth learning in the nation's past are lessons of heroism. + +From immemorial time the armies of every warlike people have set +the highest value upon the standards they bore to battle. To +guard one's own flag against capture is the pride, to capture the +flag of one's enemy the ambition, of every valiant soldier. In +consequence, in every war between peoples of good military +record, feats of daring performed by color-bearers are honorably +common. The Civil War was full of such incidents. Out of very +many two or three may be mentioned as noteworthy. + +One occurred at Fredericksburg on the day when half the brigades +of Meagher and Caldwell lay on the bloody slope leading up to the +Confederate entrenchments. Among the assaulting regiments was the +5th New Hampshire, and it lost one hundred and eighty-six out of +three hundred men who made the charge. The survivors fell +sullenly back behind a fence, within easy range of the +Confederate rifle-pits. Just before reaching it the last of the +color guard was shot, and the flag fell in the open. A Captain +Perry instantly ran out to rescue it, and as he reached it was +shot through the heart; another, Captain Murray, made the same +attempt and was also killed; and so was a third, Moore. Several +private soldiers met a like fate. They were all killed close to +the flag, and their dead bodies fell across one another. Taking +advantage of this breastwork, Lieutenant Nettleton crawled from +behind the fence to the colors, seized them, and bore back the +bloodwon trophy. + +Another took place at Gaines' Mill, where Gregg's 1st South +Carolina formed part of the attacking force. The resistance was +desperate, and the fury of the assault unsurpassed. At one point +it fell to the lot of this regiment to bear the brunt of carrying +a certain strong position. Moving forward at a run, the South +Carolinians were swept by a fierce and searching fire. Young +James Taylor, a lad of sixteen, was carrying the flag, and was +killed after being shot down three times, twice rising and +struggling onward with the colors. The third time he fell the +flag was seized by George Cotchet, and when he, in turn, fell, by +Shubrick Hayne. Hayne was also struck down almost immediately, +and the fourth lad, for none of them were over twenty years old, +grasped the colors, and fell mortally wounded across the body of +his friend. The fifth, Gadsden Holmes, was pierced with no less +than seven balls. The sixth man, Dominick Spellman, more +fortunate, but not less brave, bore the flag throughout the rest +of the battle. + +Yet another occurred at Antietam. The 7th Maine, then under the +command of Major T. W. Hyde, was one of the hundreds of regiments +that on many hard-fought fields established a reputation for dash +and unyielding endurance. Toward the early part of the day at +Antietam it merely took its share in the charging and long-range +firing, together with the New York and Vermont regiments which +were its immediate neighbors in the line. The fighting was very +heavy. In one of the charges, the Maine men passed over what had +been a Confederate regiment. The gray-clad soldiers were lying, +both ranks, privates and officers, as they fell, for so many had +been killed or disabled that it seemed as if the whole regiment +was prone in death. + +Much of the time the Maine men lay on the battle-field, hugging +the ground, under a heavy artillery fire, but beyond the reach of +ordinary musketry. One of the privates, named Knox, was a +wonderful shot, and had received permission to use his own +special rifle, a weapon accurately sighted for very long range. +While the regiment thus lay under the storm of shot and shell, he +asked leave to go to the front; and for an hour afterward his +companions heard his rifle crack every few minutes. Major Hyde +finally, from curiosity, crept forward to see what he was doing, +and found that he had driven every man away from one section of a +Confederate battery, tumbling over gunner after gunner as they +came forward to fire. One of his victims was a general officer, +whose horse he killed. At the end of an hour or so, a piece of +shell took off the breech of his pet rifle, and he returned +disconsolate; but after a few minutes he gathered three rifles +that were left by wounded men, and went back again to his work. + +At five o'clock in the afternoon the regiment was suddenly called +upon to undertake a hopeless charge, owing to the blunder of the +brigade commander, who was a gallant veteran of the Mexican war, +but who was also given to drink. Opposite the Union lines at this +point were some haystacks, near a group of farm buildings. They +were right in the center of the Confederate position, and +sharpshooters stationed among them were picking off the Union +gunners. The brigadier, thinking that they were held by but a few +skirmishers, rode to where the 7th Maine was lying on the ground, +and said: "Major Hyde, take your regiment and drive the enemy +from those trees and buildings." Hyde saluted, and said that he +had seen a large force of rebels go in among the buildings, +probably two brigades in all. The brigadier answered, "Are you +afraid to go, sir?" and repeated the order emphatically. "Give +the order, so the regiment can hear it, and we are ready, sir," +said Hyde. This was done, and "Attention" brought every man to +his feet. With the regiment were two young boys who carried the +marking guidons, and Hyde ordered these to the rear. They +pretended to go, but as soon as the regiment charged came along +with it. One of them lost his arm, and the other was killed on +the field. The colors were carried by the color corporal, Harry +Campbell. + +Hyde gave the orders to left face and forward and the Maine men +marched out in front of a Vermont regiment which lay beside them; +then, facing to the front, they crossed a sunken road, which was +so filled with dead and wounded Confederates that Hyde's horse +had to step on them to get over. + +Once across, they stopped for a moment in the trampled corn to +straighten the line, and then charged toward the right of the +barns. On they went at the double-quick, fifteen skirmishers +ahead under Lieutenant Butler, Major Hyde on the right on his +Virginia thoroughbred, and Adjutant Haskell to the left on a big +white horse. The latter was shot down at once, as was his horse, +and Hyde rode round in front of the regiment just in time to see +a long line of men in gray rise from behind the stone wall of the +Hagerstown pike, which was to their right, and pour in a volley; +but it mostly went too high. He then ordered his men to left +oblique. + +Just as they were abreast a hill to the right of the barns, Hyde, +being some twenty feet ahead, looked over its top and saw several +regiments of Confederates, jammed close together and waiting at +the ready; so he gave the order left flank, and, still at the +double quick, took his column past the barns and buildings toward +an orchard on the hither side, hoping that he could get them back +before they were cut off, for they were faced by ten times their +number. By going through the orchard he expected to be able to +take advantage of a hollow, and partially escape the destructive +flank fire on his return. + +To hope to keep the barns from which they had driven the +sharpshooters was vain, for the single Maine regiment found +itself opposed to portions of no less than four Confederate +brigades, at least a dozen regiments all told. When the men got +to the orchard fence, Sergeant Benson wrenched apart the tall +pickets to let through Hyde's horse. While he was doing this, a +shot struck his haversack, and the men all laughed at the sight +of the flying hardtack. + +Going into the orchard there was a rise of ground, and the +Confederates fired several volleys at the Maine men, and then +charged them. Hyde's horse was twice wounded, but was still able +to go on. + +No sooner were the men in blue beyond the fence than they got +into line and met the Confederates, as they came crowding behind, +with a slaughtering fire, and then charged, driving them back. +The color corporal was still carrying the colors, though one of +his arms had been broken; but when half way through the orchard, +Hyde heard him call out as he fell, and turned back to save the +colors, if possible. + +The apple-trees were short and thick, and he could not see much, +and the Confederates speedily got between him and his men. +Immediately, with the cry of "Rally, boys, to save the Major," +back surged the regiment, and a volley at arm's length again +destroyed all the foremost of their pursuers; so they rescued +both their commander and the flag, which was carried off by +Corporal Ring. + +Hyde then formed the regiment on the colors, sixty-eight men all +told, out of two hundred and forty who had begun the charge, and +they slowly marched back toward their place in the Union line, +while the New Yorkers and Vermonters rose from the ground +cheering and waving their hats. Next day, when the Confederates +had retired a little from the field, the color corporal, +Campbell, was found in the orchard, dead, propped up against a +tree, with his half-smoked pipe beside him. + + + +THE DEATH OF STONEWALL JACKSON + +Like a servant of the Lord, with his bible and his sword, + Our general rode along us, to form us for the fight. + --Macaulay. + + +THE DEATH OF STONEWALL JACKSON + +The Civil War has left, as all wars of brother against brother +must leave, terrible and heartrending memories; but there remains +as an offset the glory which has accrued to the nation by the +countless deeds of heroism performed by both sides in the +struggle. The captains and the armies that, after long years of +dreary campaigning and bloody, stubborn fighting, brought the war +to a close, have left us more than a reunited realm. North and +South, all Americans, now have a common fund of glorious +memories. We are the richer for each grim campaign, for each +hard-fought battle. We are the richer for valor displayed alike +by those who fought so valiantly for the right, and by those who, +no less valiantly, fought for what they deemed the right. We have +in us nobler capacities for what is great and good because of the +infinite woe and suffering, and because of the splendid ultimate +triumph. We hold that it was vital to the welfare, not only of +our people on this continent, but of the whole human race, that +the Union should be preserved and slavery abolished; that one +flag should fly from the Great Lakes to the Rio Grande; that we +should all be free in fact as well as in name, and that the +United States should stand as one nation--the greatest nation on +the earth. But we recognize gladly that, South as well as North, +when the fight was once on, the leaders of the armies, and the +soldiers whom they led, displayed the same qualities of daring +and steadfast courage, of disinterested loyalty and enthusiasm, +and of high devotion to an ideal. + +The greatest general of the South was Lee, and his greatest +lieutenant was Jackson. Both were Virginians, and both were +strongly opposed to disunion. Lee went so far as to deny the +right of secession, while Jackson insisted that the South ought +to try to get its rights inside the Union, and not outside. But +when Virginia joined the Southern Confederacy, and the war had +actually begun, both men cast their lot with the South. + +It is often said that the Civil War was in one sense a repetition +of the old struggle between the Puritan and the Cavalier; but +Puritan and Cavalier types were common to the two armies. In dash +and light-hearted daring, Custer and Kearney stood as conspicuous +as Stuart and Morgan; and, on the other hand, no Northern general +approached the Roundhead type--the type of the stern, religious +warriors who fought under Cromwell--so closely as Stonewall +Jackson. He was a man of intense religious conviction, who +carried into every thought and deed of his daily life the +precepts of the faith he cherished. He was a tender and loving +husband and father, kindhearted and gentle to all with whom he +was brought in contact; yet in the times that tried men's souls, +he proved not only a commander of genius, but a fighter of iron +will and temper, who joyed in the battle, and always showed at +his best when the danger was greatest. The vein of fanaticism +that ran through his character helped to render him a terrible +opponent. He knew no such word as falter, and when he had once +put his hand to a piece of work, he did it thoroughly and with +all his heart. It was quite in keeping with his character that +this gentle, high-minded, and religious man should, early in the +contest, have proposed to hoist the black flag, neither take nor +give quarter, and make the war one of extermination. No such +policy was practical in the nineteenth century and in the +American Republic; but it would have seemed quite natural and +proper to Jackson's ancestors, the grim Scotch-Irish, who +defended Londonderry against the forces of the Stuart king, or to +their forefathers, the Covenanters of Scotland, and the Puritans +who in England rejoiced at the beheading of King Charles I. + +In the first battle in which Jackson took part, the confused +struggle at Bull Run, he gained his name of Stonewall from the +firmness with which he kept his men to their work and repulsed +the attack of the Union troops. From that time until his death, +less than two years afterward, his career was one of brilliant +and almost uninterrupted success; whether serving with an +independent command in the Valley, or acting under Lee as his +right arm in the pitched battles with McClellan, Pope, and +Burnside. Few generals as great as Lee have ever had as great a +lieutenant as Jackson. He was a master of strategy and tactics, +fearless of responsibility, able to instil into his men. his own +intense ardor in battle, and so quick in his movements, so ready +to march as well as fight, that his troops were known to the rest +of the army as the "foot cavalry." + +In the spring of 1863 Hooker had command of the Army of the +Potomac. Like McClellan, he was able to perfect the discipline of +his forces and to organize them, and as a division commander he +was better than McClellan, but he failed even more signally when +given a great independent command. He had under him 120,000 men +when, toward the end of April, he prepared to attack Lee's army, +which was but half as strong. + +The Union army lay opposite Fredericksburg, looking at the +fortified heights where they had received so bloody a repulse at +the beginning of the winter. Hooker decided to distract the +attention of the Confederates by letting a small portion of his +force, under General Sedgwick, attack Fredericksburg, while he +himself took the bulk of the army across the river to the right +hand so as to crush Lee by an assault on his flank. All went well +at the beginning, and on the first of May Hooker found himself at +Chancellorsville, face-to-face with the bulk of Lee's forces; and +Sedgwick, crossing the river and charging with the utmost +determination, had driven out of Fredericksburg the Confederate +division of Early; but when Hooker found himself in front of Lee +he hesitated, faltered instead of pushing on, and allowed the +consummate general to whom he was opposed to take the initiative. + +Lee fully realized his danger, and saw that his only chance was, +first to beat back Hooker, and then to turn and overwhelm +Sedgwick, who was in his rear. He consulted with Jackson, and +Jackson begged to be allowed to make one of his favorite flank +attacks upon the Union army; attacks which could have been +successfully delivered only by a skilled and resolute general, +and by troops equally able to march and to fight. Lee consented, +and Jackson at once made off. The country was thickly covered +with a forest of rather small growth, for it was a wild region, +in which there was still plenty of game. Shielded by the forest, +Jackson marched his gray columns rapidly to the left along the +narrow country roads until he was square on the flank of the +Union right wing, which was held by the Eleventh Corps, under +Howard. The Union scouts got track of the movement and reported +it at headquarters, but the Union generals thought the +Confederates were retreating; and when finally the scouts brought +word to Howard that he was menaced by a flank attack he paid no +heed to the information, and actually let his whole corps be +surprised in broad daylight. Yet all the while the battle was +going on elsewhere, and Berdan's sharpshooters had surrounded and +captured a Georgia regiment, from which information was received +showing definitely that Jackson was not retreating, and must be +preparing to strike a heavy blow. + +The Eleventh Corps had not the slightest idea that it was about +to be assailed. The men were not even in line. Many of them had +stacked their muskets and were lounging about, some playing +cards, others cooking supper, intermingled with the pack-mules +and beef cattle. While they were thus utterly unprepared +Jackson's gray-clad veterans pushed straight through the forest +and rushed fiercely to the attack. The first notice the troops of +the Eleventh Corps received did not come from the pickets, but +from the deer, rabbits and foxes which, fleeing from their +coverts at the approach of the Confederates, suddenly came +running over and into the Union lines. In another minute the +frightened pickets came tumbling back, and right behind them came +the long files of charging, yelling Confederates; With one fierce +rush Jackson's men swept over the Union lines, and at a blow the +Eleventh Corps became a horde of panicstruck fugitives. Some of +the regiments resisted for a few moments, and then they too were +carried away in the flight. + +For a while it seemed as if the whole army would be swept off; +but Hooker and his subordinates exerted every effort to restore +order. It was imperative to gain time so that the untouched +portions of the army could form across the line of the +Confederate advance. + +Keenan's regiment of Pennsylvania cavalry, but four hundred +sabers strong, was accordingly sent full against the front of the +ten thousand victorious Confederates. + +Keenan himself fell, pierced by bayonets, and the charge was +repulsed at once; but a few priceless moments had been saved, and +Pleasanton had been given time to post twenty-two guns, loaded +with double canister, where they would bear upon the enemy. + +The Confederates advanced in a dense mass, yelling and cheering, +and the discharge of the guns fairly blew them back across the +work's they had just taken. Again they charged, and again were +driven back; and when the battle once more began the Union +reinforcements had arrived. + +It was about this time that Jackson himself was mortally wounded. +He had been leading and urging on the advance of his men, +cheering them with voice and gesture, his pale face flushed with +joy and excitement, while from time to time as he sat on his +horse he took off his hat and, looking upward, thanked heaven for +the victory it had vouchsafed him. As darkness drew near he was +in the front, where friend and foe were mingled in almost +inextricable confusion. He and his staff were fired at, at close +range, by the Union troops, and, as they turned, were fired at +again, through a mistake, by the Confederates behind them. +Jackson fell, struck in several places. He was put in a litter +and carried back; but he never lost consciousness, and when one +of his generals complained of the terrible effect of the Union +cannonade he answered: + +"You must hold your ground." + +For several days he lingered, hearing how Lee beat Hooker, in +detail, and forced him back across the river. Then the old +Puritan died. At the end his mind wandered, and he thought he was +again commanding in battle, and his last words were. + +"Let us cross over the river and rest in the shade." + +Thus perished Stonewall Jackson, one of the ablest of soldiers +and one of the most upright of men, in the last of his many +triumphs. + + + +THE CHARGE AT GETTYSBURG + + For the Lord + On the whirlwind is abroad; +In the earthquake he has spoken; + He has smitten with his thunder + The iron walls asunder, +And the gates of brass are broken! + --Whittier + +With bray of the trumpet, + And roll of the drum, +And keen ring of bugle + The cavalry come: +Sharp clank the steel scabbards, + The bridle-chains ring, +And foam from red nostrils + The wild chargers fling! + +Tramp, tramp o'er the greensward + That quivers below, +Scarce held by the curb bit + The fierce horses go! +And the grim-visaged colonel, + With ear-rending shout, +Peals forth to the squadrons + The order, "Trot Out"! + --Francis A. Durivage. + + +THE CHARGE AT GETTYSBURG + +The battle of Chancellorsville marked the zenith of Confederate +good fortune. Immediately afterward, in June, 1863, Lee led the +victorious army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania. The South +was now the invader, not the invaded, and its heart beat proudly +with hopes of success; but these hopes went down in bloody wreck +on July 4, when word was sent to the world that the high valor of +Virginia had failed at last on the field of Gettysburg, and that +in the far West Vicksburg had been taken by the army of the +"silent soldier." + +At Gettysburg Lee had under him some seventy thousand men, and +his opponent, Meade, about ninety thousand. Both armies were +composed mainly of seasoned veterans, trained to the highest +point by campaign after campaign and battle after battle; and +there was nothing to choose between them as to the fighting power +of the rank and file. The Union army was the larger, yet most of +the time it stood on the defensive; for the difference between +the generals, Lee and Meade, was greater than could be bridged by +twenty thousand men. For three days the battle raged. No other +battle of recent time has been so obstinate and so bloody. The +victorious Union army lost a greater percentage in killed and +wounded than the allied armies of England, Germany, and the +Netherlands lost at Waterloo. Four of its seven corps suffered +each a greater relative loss than befell the world-renowned +British infantry on the day that saw the doom of the French +emperor. The defeated Confederates at Gettysburg lost, +relatively, as many men as the defeated French at Waterloo; but +whereas the French army became a mere rabble, Lee withdrew his +formidable soldiery with their courage unbroken, and their +fighting power only diminished by their actual losses in the +field. + +The decisive moment of the battle, and perhaps of the whole war, +was in the afternoon of the third day, when Lee sent forward his +choicest troops in a last effort to break the middle of the Union +line. The center of the attacking force was Pickett's division, +the flower of the Virginia infantry; but many other brigades took +part in the assault, and the column, all told, numbered over +fifteen thousand men. At the same time, the Confederates attacked +the Union left to create a diversion. The attack was preceded by +a terrific cannonade, Lee gathering one hundred and fifteen guns, +and opening a fire on the center of the Union line. In response, +Hunt, the Union chief of artillery, and Tyler, of the artillery +reserves, gathered eighty guns on the crest of the gently sloping +hill, where attack was threatened. For two hours, from one till +three, the cannonade lasted, and the batteries on both sides +suffered severely. In both the Union and Confederate lines +caissons were blown up by the fire, riderless horses dashed +hither and thither, the dead lay in heaps, and throngs of wounded +streamed to the rear. Every man lay down and sought what cover he +could. It was evident that the Confederate cannonade was but a +prelude to a great infantry attack, and at three o'clock Hunt +ordered the fire to stop, that the guns might cool, to be ready +for the coming assault. The Confederates thought that they had +silenced the hostile artillery, and for a few minutes their +firing continued; then, suddenly, it ceased, and there was a +lull. + +The men on the Union side who were not at the point directly +menaced peered anxiously across the space between the lines to +watch the next move, while the men in the divisions which it was +certain were about to be assaulted, lay hugging the ground and +gripping their muskets, excited, but confident and resolute. They +saw the smoke clouds rise slowly from the opposite crest, where +the Confederate army lay, and the sunlight glinted again on the +long line of brass and iron guns which had been hidden from view +during the cannonade. In another moment, out of the lifting smoke +there appeared, beautiful and terrible, the picked thousands of +the Southern army coming on to the assault. They advanced in +three lines, each over a mile long, and in perfect order. +Pickett's Virginians held the center, with on their left the +North Carolinians of Pender and Pettigrew, and on their right the +Alabama regiments of Wilcox; and there were also Georgian and +Tennessee regiments in the attacking force. Pickett's division, +however, was the only one able to press its charge home. After +leaving the woods where they started, the Confederates had nearly +a mile and a half to go in their charge. As the Virginians moved, +they bent slightly to the left, so as to leave a gap between them +and the Alabamians on the right. + +The Confederate lines came on magnificently. As they crossed the +Emmetsburg Pike the eighty guns on the Union crest, now cool and +in good shape, opened upon them, first with shot and then with +shell. Great gaps were made every second in the ranks, but the +gray-clad soldiers closed up to the center, and the color-bearers +leaped to the front, shaking and waving the flags. The Union +infantry reserved their fire until the Confederates were within +easy range, when the musketry crashed out with a roar, and the +big guns began to fire grape and canister. On came the +Confederates, the men falling by hundreds, the colors fluttering +in front like a little forest; for as fast as a color-bearer was +shot some one else seized the flag from his hand before it fell. +The North Carolinians were more exposed to the fire than any +other portion of the attacking force, and they were broken before +they reached the line. There was a gap between the Virginians and +the Alabama troops, and this was taken advantage of by Stannard's +Vermont brigade and a demi-brigade under Gates, of the 20th New +York, who were thrust forward into it. Stannard changed front +with his regiments and fell on Pickett's forces in flank, and +Gates continued the attack. When thus struck in the flank, the +Virginians could not defend themselves, and they crowded off +toward the center to avoid the pressure. Many of them were killed +or captured; many were driven back; but two of the brigades, +headed by General Armistead, forced their way forward to the +stone wall on the crest, where the Pennsylvania regiments were +posted under Gibbon and Webb. + +The Union guns fired to the last moment, until of the two +batteries immediately in front of the charging Virginians every +officer but one had been struck. One of the mortally wounded +officers was young Cushing, a brother of the hero of the +Albemarle fight. He was almost cut in two, but holding his body +together with one hand, with the other he fired his last gun, and +fell dead, just as Armistead, pressing forward at the head of his +men, leaped the wall, waving his hat on his sword. Immediately +afterward the battle-flags of the foremost Confederate regiments +crowned the crest; but their strength was spent. The Union troops +moved forward with the bayonet, and the remnant of Pickett's +division, attacked on all sides, either surrendered or retreated +down the hill again. Armistead fell, dying, by the body of the +dead Cushing. Both Gibbon and Webb were wounded. Of Pickett's +command two thirds were killed, wounded or captured, and every +brigade commander and every field officer, save one, fell. The +Virginians tried to rally, but were broken and driven again by +Gates, while Stannard repeated, at the expense of the Alabamians, +the movement he had made against the Virginians, and, reversing +his front, attacked them in flank. Their lines were torn by the +batteries in front, and they fell back before the Vermonter's +attack, and Stannard reaped a rich harvest of prisoners and of +battle-flags. + +The charge was over. It was the greatest charge in any battle of +modern times, and it had failed. It would be impossible to +surpass the gallantry of those that made it, or the gallantry of +those that withstood it. Had there been in command of the Union +army a general like Grant, it would have been followed by a +counter-charge, and in all probability the war would have been +shortened by nearly two years; but no countercharge was made. + +As the afternoon waned, a fierce cavalry fight took place on the +Union right. Stuart, the famous Confederate cavalry commander, +had moved forward to turn the Union right, but he was met by +Gregg's cavalry, and there followed a contest, at close quarters, +with "the white arm." It closed with a desperate melee, in which +the Confederates, charged under Generals Wade Hampton and Fitz +Lee, were met in mid career by the Union generals Custer and +McIntosh. All four fought, saber in hand, at the head of their +troopers, and every man on each side was put into the struggle. +Custer, his yellow hair flowing, his face aflame with the eager +joy of battle, was in the thick of the fight, rising in his +stirrups as he called to his famous Michigan swordsmen: "Come on, +you Wolverines, come on!" All that the Union infantry, watching +eagerly from their lines, could see, was a vast dust-cloud where +flakes of light shimmered as the sun shone upon the swinging +sabers. At last the Confederate horsemen were beaten back, and +they did not come forward again or seek to renew the combat; for +Pickett's charge had failed, and there was no longer hope of +Confederate victory. + +When night fell, the Union flags waved in triumph on the field of +Gettysburg; but over thirty thousand men lay dead or wounded, +strewn through wood and meadow, on field and hill, where the +three days' fight had surged. + + + +GENERAL GRANT AND THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN + +What flag is this you carry + Along the sea and shore? +The same our grandsires lifted up-- + The same our fathers bore. +In many a battle's tempest + It shed the crimson rain-- +What God has woven in his loom + Let no man rend in twain. +To Canaan, to Canaan, + The Lord has led us forth, +To plant upon the rebel towers + The banners of the North. + --Holmes. + + +GENERAL GRANT AND THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN + +On January 29, 1863, General Grant took command of the army +intended to operate against Vicksburg, the last place held by the +rebels on the Mississippi, and the only point at which they could +cross the river and keep up communication with their armies and +territory in the southwest. It was the first high ground below +Memphis, was very strongly fortified, and was held by a large +army under General Pemberton. The complete possession of the +Mississippi was absolutely essential to the National Government, +because the control of that great river would cut the Confederacy +in two, and do more, probably, than anything else, to make the +overthrow of the Rebellion both speedy and certain. + +The natural way to invest and capture so strong a place, defended +and fortified as Vicksburg was, would have been, if the axioms of +the art of war had been adhered to, by a system of gradual +approaches. A strong base should have been established at +Memphis, and then the army and the fleet moved gradually forward, +building storehouses and taking strong positions as they went. To +do this, however, it first would have been necessary to withdraw +the army from the positions it then held not far above Vicksburg, +on the western bank of the river. But such a movement, at that +time, would not have been understood by the country, and would +have had a discouraging effect on the public mind, which it was +most essential to avoid. The elections of 1862 had gone against +the government, and there was great discouragement throughout the +North. Voluntary enlistments had fallen off, a draft had been +ordered, and the peace party was apparently gaining rapidly in +strength. General Grant, looking at this grave political +situation with the eye of a statesman, decided, as a soldier, +that under no circumstances would he withdraw the army, but that, +whatever happened, he would "press forward to a decisive +victory." In this determination he never faltered, but drove +straight at his object until, five months later, the great +Mississippi stronghold fell before him. + +Efforts were made through the winter to reach Vicksburg from the +north by cutting canals, and by attempts to get in through the +bayous and tributary streams of the great river. All these +expedients failed, however, one after another, as Grant, from the +beginning, had feared that they would. He, therefore, took +another and widely different line, and determined to cross the +river from the western to the eastern bank below Vicksburg, to +the south. With the aid of the fleet, which ran the batteries +successfully, he moved his army down the west bank until he +reached a point beyond the possibility of attack, while a +diversion by Sherman at Haines' Bluff, above Vicksburg, kept +Pemberton in his fortifications. On April 26, Grant began to move +his men over the river and landed them at Bruinsburg. "When this +was effected," he writes, "I felt a degree of relief scarcely +ever equaled since. Vicksburg was not yet taken, it is true, nor +were its defenders demoralized by any of our previous movements. +I was now in the enemy's country, with a vast river and the +stronghold of Vicksburg between me and my base of supplies, but I +was on dry ground, on the same side of the river with the enemy." + +The situation was this: The enemy had about sixty thousand men at +Vicksburg, Haines' Bluff, and at Jackson, Mississippi, about +fifty miles east of Vicksburg. Grant, when he started, had about +thirty-three thousand men. It was absolutely necessary for +success that Grant, with inferior numbers, should succeed in. +destroying the smaller forces to the eastward, and thus prevent +their union with Pemberton and the main army at Vicksburg. His +plan, in brief; was to fight and defeat a superior enemy +separately and in detail. He lost no time in putting his plan +into action, and pressing forward quickly, met a detachment of +the enemy at Port Gibson and defeated them. Thence he marched to +Grand Gulf, on the Mississippi, which he took, and which he had +planned to make a base of supply. When he reached Grand Gulf, +however, he found that he would be obliged to wait a month, in +order to obtain the reinforcements which he expected from General +Banks at Port Hudson. He, therefore, gave up the idea of making +Grand Gulf a base, and Sherman having now joined him with his +corps, Grant struck at once into the interior. He took nothing +with him except ammunition, and his army was in the lightest +marching order. This enabled him to move with great rapidity, but +deprived him of his wagon trains, and of all munitions of war +except cartridges. Everything, however, in this campaign, +depended on quickness, and Grant's decision, as well as all his +movements, marked the genius of the great soldier, which consists +very largely in knowing just when to abandon the accepted +military axioms. + +Pressing forward, Grant met the enemy, numbering between seven +and eight thousand, at Raymond, and readily defeated them. He +then marched on toward Jackson, fighting another action at +Clinton, and at Jackson he struck General Joseph Johnston, who +had arrived at that point to take command of all the rebel +forces. Johnston had with him, at the moment, about eleven +thousand men, and stood his ground. There was a sharp fight, but +Grant easily defeated the enemy, and took possession of the town. +This was an important point, for Jackson was the capital of the +State of Mississippi, and was a base of military supplies. Grant +destroyed the factories and the munitions of war which. were +gathered there, and also came into possession of the line of +railroad which ran from Jackson to Vicksburg. While he was thus +engaged, an intercepted message revealed to him the fact that +Pemberton, in accordance with Johnston's orders, had come out of +Vicksburg with twenty-five thousand men, and was moving eastward +against him. Pemberton, however, instead of holding a straight +line against Grant, turned at first to the south, with the view +of breaking the latter's line of communication. This was not a +success, for, as Grant says, with grim humor, "I had no line of +communication to break"; and, moreover, it delayed Pemberton when +delay was of value to Grant in finishing Johnston. After this +useless turn to the southward Pemberton resumed his march to the +east, as he should have done in the beginning, in accordance with +Johnston's orders; but Grant was now more than ready. He did not +wait the coming of Pemberton. Leaving Jackson as soon as he heard +of the enemy's advance from Vicksburg, he marched rapidly +westward and struck Pemberton at Champion Hills. The forces were +at this time very nearly matched, and the severest battle of the +campaign ensued, lasting four hours. Grant, however, defeated +Pemberton completely, and came very near capturing his entire +force. With a broken army, Pemberton fell back on Vicksburg. +Grant pursued without a moment's delay, and came up with the rear +guard at Big Black River. A sharp engagement followed, and the +Confederates were again defeated. Grant then crossed the Big +Black and the next day was before Vicksburg, with his enemy +inside the works. + +When Grant crossed the Mississippi at Bruinsburg and struck into +the interior, he, of course, passed out of communication with +Washington, and he did not hear from there again until May 11, +when, just as his troops were engaging in the battle of Black +River Bridge, an officer appeared from Port Hudson with an order +from General Halleck to return to Grand Gulf and thence cooperate +with Banks against Port Hudson. Grant replied that the order came +too late. "The bearer of the despatch insisted that I ought to +obey the order, and was giving arguments to support the position, +when I heard a great cheering to the right of our line, and +looking in that direction, saw Lawler, in his shirt-sleeves, +leading a charge on the enemy. I immediately mounted my horse and +rode in the direction of the charge, and saw no more of the +officer who had delivered the message; I think not even to this +day." When Grant reached Vicksburg, there was no further talk of +recalling him to Grand Gulf or Port Hudson. The authorities at +Washington then saw plainly enough what had been done in the +interior of Mississippi, far from the reach of telegraphs or +mail. + +As soon as the National troops reached Vicksburg an assault was +attempted, but the place was too strong, and the attack was +repulsed, with heavy loss. Grant then settled down to a siege, +and Lincoln and Halleck now sent him ample reinforcements. He no +longer needed to ask for them. His campaign had explained itself, +and in a short time he had seventy thousand men under his +command. His lines were soon made so strong that it was +impossible for the defenders of Vicksburg to break through them, +and although Johnston had gathered troops again to the eastward, +an assault from that quarter on the National army, now so largely +reinforced, was practically out of the question. Tighter and +tighter Grant drew his lines about the city, where, every day, +the suffering became more intense. It is not necessary to give +the details of the siege. On July 4, 1863, Vicksburg surrendered, +the Mississippi was in control of the National forces from its +source to its mouth, and the Confederacy was rent in twain. On +the same day Lee was beaten at Gettysburg, and these two great +victories really crushed the Rebellion, although much hard +fighting remained to be done before the end was reached. + +Grant's campaign against Vicksburg deserves to be compared with +that of Napoleon which resulted in the fall of Ulm. It was the +most brilliant single campaign of the war. With an inferior +force, and abandoning his lines of communication, moving with a +marvelous rapidity through a difficult country, Grant struck the +superior forces of the enemy on the line from Jackson to +Vicksburg. He crushed Johnston before Pemberton could get to him, +and he flung Pemberton back into Vicksburg before Johnston could +rally from the defeat which had been inflicted. With an inferior +force, Grant was superior at every point of contest, and he won +every fight. Measured by the skill displayed and the result +achieved, there is no campaign in our history which better +deserves study and admiration. + + + +ROBERT GOULD SHAW + +Brave, good, and true, +I see him stand before me now, +And read again on that young brow, +Where every hope was new, +HOW SWEET WERE LIFE! Yet, by the mouth firm-set, +And look made up for Duty's utmost debt, +I could divine he knew +That death within the sulphurous hostile lines, +In the mere wreck of nobly-pitched designs, +Plucks hearts-ease, and not rue. + +Right in the van, +On the red ramparts slippery swell, +With heart that beat a charge, he fell, +Foeward, as fits a man; +But the high soul burns on to light men's feet +Where death for noble ends makes dying sweet; +His life her crescent's span +Orbs full with share in their undarkening days +Who ever climbed the battailous steeps of praise +Since valor's praise began. + +We bide our chance, +Unhappy, and make terms with Fate +A little more to let us wait; +He leads for aye the advance, +Hope's forlorn-hopes that plant the desperate good +For nobler Earths and days of manlier mood; +Our wall of circumstance +Cleared at a bound, he flashes o'er the fight, +A saintly shape of fame, to cheer the right +And steel each wavering glance. + +I write of one, +While with dim eyes I think of three; +Who weeps not others fair and brave as he? +Ah, when the fight is won, +Dear Land, whom triflers now make bold to scorn +(Thee from whose forehead Earth awaits her morn), +How nobler shall the sun +Flame in thy sky, how braver breathe thy air, +That thou bred'st children who for thee could dare +And die as thine have done. + --Lowell. + + +ROBERT GOULD SHAW + +Robert Gould Shaw was born in Boston on October 10, 1837, the son +of Francis and Sarah Sturgis Shaw. When he was about nine years +old, his parents moved to Staten Island, and he was educated +there, and at school in the neighborhood of New York, until he +went to Europein 1853, where he remained traveling and studying +for the next three years. He entered Harvard College in 1856, and +left at the end of his third year, in order to accept an +advantageous business offer in New York. + +Even as a boy he took much interest in politics, and especially +in the question of slavery. He voted for Lincoln in 1860, and at +that time enlisted as a private in the New York 7th Regiment, +feeling that there was likelihood of trouble, and that there +would be a demand for soldiers to defend the country. His +foresight was justified only too soon, and on April 19, 1861, he +marched with his regiment to Washington. The call for the 7th +Regiment was only for thirty days, and at the expiration of that +service he applied for and obtained a commission as second +lieutenant in the 2d Massachusetts, and left with that regiment +for Virginia in July, 1861. He threw himself eagerly into his new +duties, and soon gained a good position in the regiment. At Cedar +Mountain he was an aid on General Gordon's staff, and was greatly +exposed in the performance of his duties during the action. He +was also with his regiment at Antietam, and was in the midst of +the heavy fighting of that great battle. + +Early in 1863, the Government determined to form negro regiments, +and Governor Andrew offered Shaw, who had now risen to the rank +of captain, the colonelcy of one to be raised in Massachusetts, +the first black regiment recruited under State authority. It was +a great compliment to receive this offer, but Shaw hesitated as +to his capacity for such a responsible post. He first wrote a +letter declining, on the ground that he did not feel that he had +ability enough for the undertaking, and then changed his mind, +and telegraphed Governor Andrew that he would accept. It is not +easy to realize it now, but his action then in accepting this +command required high moral courage, of a kind quite different +from that which he had displayed already on the field of battle. +The prejudice against the blacks was still strong even in the +North. There was a great deal of feeling among certain classes +against enlisting black regiments at all, and the officers who +undertook to recruit and lead negroes were. exposed to much +attack and criticism. Shaw felt,however, that this very +opposition made it all the more incumbent on him to undertake the +duty. He wrote on February 8: + +After I have undertaken this work, I shall feel that what I have +to do is to prove that the negro can be made a good soldier. . . +. I am inclined to think that the undertaking will not meet with +so much opposition as was at first supposed. All sensible men in +the army, of all parties, after a little thought, say that it is +the best thing that can be done, and surely those at home who are +not brave or patriotic enough to enlist should not ridicule or +throw obstacles in the way of men who are going to fight for +them. There is a great prejudice against it, but now that it has +become a government matter, that will probably wear away. At any +rate I sha'n't be frightened out of it by its unpopularity. I +feel convinced I shall never regret having taken this step, as +far as I myself am concerned; for while I was undecided, I felt +ashamed of myself as if I were cowardly. + + +Colonel Shaw went at once to Boston, after accepting his new +duty, and began the work of raising and drilling the 54th +Regiment. He met with great success, for he and his officers +labored heart and soul, and the regiment repaid their efforts. On +March 30, he wrote: "The mustering officer who was here to-day is +a Virginian, and has always thought it was a great joke to try to +make soldiers of 'niggers,' but he tells me now that he has never +mustered in so fine a set of men, though about twenty thousand +had passed through his hands since September." On May 28, Colonel +Shaw left Boston, and his march through the city was a triumph. +The appearance of his regiment made a profound impression, and +was one of the events of the war which those who saw it never +forgot. + +The regiment was ordered to South Carolina, and when they were +off Cape Hatteras, Colonel Shaw wrote: + +The more I think of the passage of the 54th through Boston, the +more wonderful it seems to me. just remember our own doubts and +fears, and other people's sneering and pitying remarks when we +began last winter, and then look at the perfect triumph of last +Thursday. We have gone quietly along, forming the first regiment, +and at last left Boston amidst greater enthusiasm than has been +seen since the first three months' troops left for the war. +Truly, I ought to be thankful for all my happiness and my success +in life so far; and if the raising of colored troops prove such a +benefit to the country and to the blacks as many people think it +will, I shall thank God a thousand times that I was led to take +my share in it. + + +He had, indeed, taken his share in striking one of the most fatal +blows to the barbarism of slavery which had yet been struck. The +formation of the black regiments did more for the emancipation of +the negro and the recognition of his rights, than almost anything +else. It was impossible, after that, to say that men who fought +and gave their lives for the Union and for their own freedom were +not entitled to be free. The acceptance of the command of a black +regiment by such men as Shaw and his fellow-officers was the +great act which made all this possible. + +After reaching South Carolina, Colonel Shaw was with his regiment +at Port Royal and on the islands of that coast for rather more +than a month, and on July 18 he was offered the post of honor in +an assault upon Fort Wagner, which was ordered for that night. He +had proved that the negroes could be made into a good regiment, +and now the second great opportunity had come, to prove their +fighting quality. He wanted to demonstrate that his men could +fight side by side with white soldiers, and show to somebody +beside their officers what stuff they were made of. He, +therefore, accepted the dangerous duty with gladness. Late in the +day the troops were marched across Folly and Morris islands and +formed in line of battle within six hundred yards of Fort Wagner. +At half-past seven the order for the charge was given, and the +regiment advanced. When they were within a hundred yards of the +fort, the rebel fire opened with such effect that the first +battalion hesitated and wavered. Colonel Shaw sprang to the +front, and waving his sword, shouted: "Forward, 54th!" With +another cheer, the men rushed through the ditch, and gained a +parapet on the right. Colonel Shaw was one of the first to scale +the walls. As he stood erect, a noble figure, ordering his men +forward and shouting to them to press on, he was shot dead and +fell into the fort. After his fall, the assault was repulsed. + +General Haywood, commanding the rebel forces, said to a Union +prisoner: "I knew Colonel Shaw before the war, and then esteemed +him. Had he been in command of white troops, I should have given +him an honorable burial. As it is, I shall bury him in the common +trench, with the negroes that fell with him." He little knew that +he was giving the dead soldier the most honorable burial that man +could have devised, for the savage words told unmistakably that +Robert Shaw's work had not been in vain. The order to bury him +with his "niggers," which ran through the North and remained +fixed in our history, showed, in a flash of light, the hideous +barbarism of a system which made such things and such feelings +possible. It also showed that slavery was wounded to the death, +and that the brutal phrase was the angry snarl of a dying tiger. +Such words rank with the action of Charles Stuart, when he had +the bones of Oliver Cromwell and Robert Blake torn from their +graves and flung on dunghills or fixed on Temple Bar. + +Robert Shaw fell in battle at the head of his men, giving his +life to his country, as did many another gallant man during those +four years of conflict. But he did something more than this. He +faced prejudice and hostility in the North, and confronted the +blind and savage rage of the South, in order to demonstrate to +the world that the human beings who were held in bondage could +vindicate their right to freedom by fighting and dying for it. He +helped mightily in the great task of destroying human slavery, +and in uplifting an oppressed and down-trodden race. He brought +to this work the qualities which were particularly essential for +his success. He had all that birth and wealth, breeding, +education, and tradition could give. He offered up, in full +measure, all those things which make life most worth living. He +was handsome and beloved. He had a serene and beautiful nature, +and was at once brave and simple. Above all things, he was fitted +for the task which he performed and for the sacrifice which he +made. The call of the country and of the time came to him, and he +was ready. He has been singled out for remembrance from among +many others of equal sacrifice, and a monument is rising to his +memory in Boston, because it was his peculiar fortune to live and +die for a great principle of humanity, and to stand forth as an +ideal and beautiful figure in a struggle where the onward march +of civilization was at stake. He lived in those few and crowded +years a heroic life, and he met a heroic death. When he fell, +sword in hand, on the parapet of Wagner, leading his black troops +in a desperate assault, we can only say of him as Bunyan said of +"Valiant for Truth": "And then he passed over, and all the +trumpets sounded for him on the other side." + + + +CHARLES RUSSELL LOWELL + +Wut's wurds to them whose faith an' truth + On war's red techstone rang true metal, +Who ventered life an' love an, youth + For the gret prize o' death in battle? + +To him who, deadly hurt, agen + Flashed on afore the charge's thunder, +Tippin' with fire the bolt of men + Thet rived the rebel line asunder? + --Lowell. + + +CHARLES RUSSELL LOWELL + +Charles Russell Lowell was born in Boston, January 2, 1835. He +was the eldest son of Charles Russell and Anna Cabot (Jackson) +Lowell, and the nephew of James Russell Lowell. He bore the name, +distinguished in many branches, of a family which was of the best +New England stock. Educated in the Boston public schools, he +entered Harvard College in 1850. Although one of the youngest +members of his class, he went rapidly to the front, and graduated +not only the first scholar of his year, but the foremost man of +his class. He was, however, much more than a fine scholar, for +even then he showed unusual intellectual qualities. He read +widely and loved letters. He was a student of philosophy and +religion, a thinker, and, best of all, a man of ideals--"the +glory of youth," as he called them in his valedictory oration. +But he was something still better and finer than a mere idealist; +he was a man of action, eager to put his ideals into practice and +bring them to the test of daily life. With his mind full of plans +for raising the condition of workingmen while he made his own +career, he entered the iron mills of the Ames Company, at +Chicopee. Here he remained as a workingman for six months, and +then received an important post in the Trenton Iron Works of New +Jersey. There his health broke down. Consumption threatened him, +and all his bright hopes and ambitions were overcast and checked. +He was obliged to leave his business and go to Europe, where he +traveled for two years, fighting the dread disease that was upon +him. In 1858 he returned, and took a position on a Western +railroad. Although the work was new to him, he manifested the +same capacity that he had always shown, and more especially his +power over other men and his ability in organization. In two +years his health was reestablished, and in 1860 he took charge of +the Mount Savage Iron Works, at Cumberland, Maryland. He was +there when news came of the attack made by the mob upon the 6th +Massachusetts Regiment, in Baltimore. Two days later he had made +his way to Washington, one of the first comers from the North, +and at once applied for a commission in the regular army. While +he was waiting, he employed himself in looking after the +Massachusetts troops, and also, it is understood, as a scout for +the Government, dangerous work which suited his bold and +adventurous nature. + +In May he received his commission as captain in the United States +cavalry. Employed at first in recruiting and then in drill, he +gave himself up to the study of tactics and the science of war. +The career above all others to which he was suited had come to +him. The field, at last, lay open before him, where all his great +qualities of mind and hearthis high courage, his power of +leadership and of organization, and his intellectual powers could +find full play. He moved rapidly forward, just as he had already +done in college and in business. His regiment, in 1862, was under +Stoneman in the Peninsula, and was engaged in many actions, where +Lowell's cool bravery made him constantly conspicuous. At the +close of the campaign he was brevetted major, for distinguished +services at Williamsburg and Slatersville. + +In July, Lowell was detailed for duty as an aid to General +McClellan. At Malvern Hill and South Mountain his gallantry and +efficiency were strongly shown, but it was at Antietam that he +distinguished himself most. Sent with orders to General +Sedgwick's division, he found it retreating in confusion, under a +hot fire. He did not stop to think of orders, but rode rapidly +from point to point of the line, rallying company after company +by the mere force and power of his word and look, checking the +rout, while the storm of bullets swept all round him. His horse +was shot under him, a ball passed through his coat, another broke +his sword-hilt, but he came off unscathed, and his service was +recognized by his being sent to Washington with the captured +flags of the enemy. + +The following winter he was ordered to Boston, to recruit a +regiment of cavalry, of which he was appointed colonel. While the +recruiting was going on, a serious mutiny broke out, but the man +who, like Cromwell's soldiers, "rejoiced greatly" in the day of +battle was entirely capable of meeting this different trial. He +shot the ringleader dead, and by the force of his own strong will +quelled the outbreak completely and at once. + +In May, he went to Virginia with his regiment, where he was +engaged in resisting and following Mosby, and the following +summer he was opposed to General Early in the neighborhood of +Washington. On July 14, when on a reconnoissance his advance +guard was surprised, and he met them retreating in wild +confusion, with the enemy at their heels. Riding into the midst +of the fugitives, Lowell shouted, "Dismount!" The sharp word of +command, the presence of the man himself, and the magic of +discipline prevailed. The men sprang down, drew up in line, +received the enemy, with a heavy fire, and as the assailants +wavered, Lowell advanced at once, and saved the day. + +In July, he was put in command of the "Provisional Brigade," and +joined the army of the Shenandoah, of which in August General +Sheridan took command. He was so struck with Lowell's work during +the next month that in September he put him in command of the +"Reserved Brigade," a very fine body of cavalry and artillery. In +the fierce and continuous fighting that ensued Lowell was +everywhere conspicuous, and in thirteen weeks he had as many +horses shot under him. But he now had scope to show more than the +dashing gallantry which distinguished him always and everywhere. +His genuine military ability, which surely would have led him to +the front rank of soldiers had his life been spared, his +knowledge, vigilance, and nerve all now became apparent. One +brilliant action succeeded another, but the end was drawing near. +It came at last on the famous day of Cedar Creek, when Sheridan +rode down from Winchester and saved the battle. Lowell had +advanced early in the morning on the right, and his attack +prevented the disaster on that wing which fell upon the surprised +army. He then moved to cover the retreat, and around to the +extreme left, where he held his position near Middletown against +repeated assaults. Early in the day his last horse was shot under +him, and a little later, in a charge at one o'clock, he was +struck in the right breast by a spent ball, which embedded itself +in the muscles of the chest. Voice and strength left him. "It is +only my poor lung," he announced, as they urged him to go to the +rear; "you would not have me leave the field without having shed +blood." As a matter of fact, the "poor" lung had collapsed, and +there was an internal hemorrhage. He lay thus, under a rude +shelter, for an hour and a half, and then came the order to +advance along the whole line, the victorious advance of Sheridan +and the rallied army. Lowell was helped to his saddle. "I feel +well now," he whispered, and, giving his orders through one of +his staff, had his brigade ready first. Leading the great charge, +he dashed forward, and, just when the fight was hottest, a sudden +cry went up: "The colonel is hit!" He fell from the saddle, +struck in the neck by a ball which severed the spine, and was +borne by his officers to a house in the village, where, clear in +mind and calm in spirit, he died a few hours afterward. + +"I do not think there was a quality," said General Sheridan, +"which I could have added to Lowell. He was the perfection of a +man and a soldier." On October 19, the very day on which he fell, +his commission was signed to be a brigadier-general. + +This was a noble life and a noble death, worthy of much thought +and admiration from all men. Yet this is not all. It is well for +us to see how such a man looked upon what he was doing, and what +it meant to him. Lowell was one of the silent heroes so much +commended by Carlyle. He never wrote of himself or his own +exploits. As some one well said, he had "the impersonality of +genius." But in a few remarkable passages in his private letters, +we can see how the meaning of life and of that great time +unrolled itself before his inner eyes. In June, 1861, he wrote: + +I cannot say I take any great pleasure in the contemplation of +the future. I fancy you feel much as I do about the +profitableness of a soldier's life, and would not think of trying +it, were it not for a muddled and twisted idea that somehow or +other this fight was going to be one in which decent men ought to +engage for the sake of humanity,--I use the word in its ordinary +sense. It seems to me that within a year the slavery question +will again take a prominent place, and that many cases will arise +in which we may get fearfully in the wrong if we put our cause +wholly in the hands of fighting men and foreign legions. + +In June, 1863, he wrote: + +I wonder whether my theories about self-culture, etc., would ever +have been modified so much, whether I should ever have seen what +a necessary failure they lead to, had it not been for this war. +Now I feel every day, more and more, that a man has no right to +himself at all; that, indeed, he can do nothing useful unless he +recognizes this clearly. Here again, on July 3, is a sentence +which it is well to take to heart, and for all men to remember +when their ears are deafened with the cry that war, no matter +what the cause, is the worst thing possible, because it +interferes with comfort, trade, and money-making: "Wars are bad," +Lowell writes, "but there are many things far worse. Anything +immediately comfortable in our affairs I don't see; but +comfortable times are not the ones t hat make a nation great." On +July 24, he says: + +Many nations fail, that one may become great; ours will fail, +unless we gird up our loins and do humble and honest days' work, +without trying to do the thing by the job, or to get a great +nation made by a patent process. It is not safe to say that we +shall not have victories till we are ready for them. We shall +have victories, and whether or no we are ready for them depends +upon ourselves; if we are not ready, we shall fail,--voila tout. +If you ask, what if we do fail? I have nothing to say; I +shouldn't cry over a nation or two, more or less, gone under. + +Finally, on September 10, a little more than a month before his +death, he wrote to a disabled officer: + +I hope that you are going to live like a plain republican, +mindful of the beauty and of the duty of simplicity. Nothing +fancy now, sir, if you please; it's disreputable to spend money +when the government is so hard up, and when there are so many +poor officers. I hope that you have outgrown all foolish +ambitions, and are now content to become a "useful citizen." +Don't grow rich; if you once begin, you will find it much more +difficult to be a useful citizen. Don't seek office, but don't +"disremember" that the "useful citizen" always holds his time, +his trouble, his money, and his life ready at the hint of his +country. The useful citizen is a mighty, unpretending hero; but +we are not going to have any country very long, unless such +heroism is developed. There, what a stale sermon I'm preaching. +But, being a soldier, it does seem to me that I should like +nothing so well as being a useful citizen. Well, trying to be +one, I mean. I shall stay in the service, of course, till the war +is over, or till I'm disabled; but then I look forward to a +pleasanter career. + +I believe I have lost all my ambitions. I don't think I would +turn my hand to be a distinguished chemist or a famous +mathematician. All I now care about is to be a useful citizen, +with money enough to buy bread and firewood, and to teach my +children to ride on horseback, and look strangers in the face, +especially Southern strangers. + +There are profound and lofty lessons of patriotism and conduct in +these passages, and a very noble philosophy of life and duty both +as a man and as a citizen of a great republic. They throw a flood +of light on the great underlying forces which enabled the +American people to save themselves in that time of storm and +stress. They are the utterances of a very young man, not thirty +years old when he died in battle, but much beyond thirty in head +and heart, tried and taught as he had been in a great war. What +precisely such young men thought they were fighting for is put +strikingly by Lowell's younger brother James, who was killed at +Glendale, July 4, 1862. In 1861, James Lowell wrote to his +classmates, who had given him a sword: + +Those who died for the cause, not of the Constitution and the +laws,--a superficial cause, the rebels have now the same,--but of +civilization and law, and the self-restrained freedom which is +their result. As the Greeks at Marathon and Salamis, Charles +Martel and the Franks at Tours, and the Germans at the Danube, +saved Europe from Asiatic barbarism, so we, at places to be +famous in future times, shall have saved America from a similar +tide of barbarism; and we may hope to be purified and +strengthened ourselves by the struggle. + +This is a remarkable passage and a deep thought. Coming from a +young fellow of twenty-four, it is amazing. But the fiery trial +of the times taught fiercely and fast, and James Lowell, just out +of college, could see in the red light around him that not merely +the freedom of a race and the saving of a nation were at stake, +but that behind all this was the forward movement of +civilization, brought once again to the arbitrament of the sword. +Slavery was barbarous and barbarizing. It had dragged down the +civilization of the South to a level from which it would take +generations to rise up again. Was this barbarous force now to +prevail in the United States in the nineteenth century? Was it to +destroy a great nation, and fetter human progress in the New +World? That was the great question back of, beyond and above all. +Should this force of barbarism sweep conquering over the land, +wrecking an empire in its onward march, or should it be flung +back as Miltiades flung back Asia at Marathon, and Charles Martel +stayed the coming of Islam at Tours? The brilliant career, the +shining courage, best seen always where the dead were lying +thickest, the heroic death of Charles Lowell, are good for us all +to know and to remember. Yet this imperfect story of his life has +not been placed here for these things alone. Many thousand +others, officers and soldiers alike, in the great Civil War gave +their lives as freely as he, and brought to the service of their +country the best that was in them. He was a fine example of many +who, like him, offered up all they had for their country. But +Lowell was also something more than this. He was a high type of a +class, and a proof of certain very important things, and this is +a point worthy of much consideration. + +The name of John Hampden stands out in the history of the +English-speaking people, admired and unquestioned. He was neither +a great statesman, nor a great soldier; he was not a brilliant +orator, nor a famous writer. He fell bravely in an unimportant +skirmish at Chalgrove Field, fighting for freedom and what he +believed to be right. Yet he fills a great place in the past, +both for what he did and what he was, and the reason for this is +of high importance. John Hampden was a gentleman, with all the +advantages that the accidents of birth could give. He was rich, +educated, well born, of high traditions. English civilization of +that day could produce nothing better. The memorable fact is +that, when the time came for the test, he did not fail. He was a +type of what was best among the English people, and when the call +sounded, he was ready. He was brave, honest, high-minded, and he +gave all, even his life, to his country. In the hour of need, the +representative of what was best and most fortunate in England was +put to the touch, and proved to be current gold. All men knew +what that meant, and Hampden's memory is one of the glories of +the English-speaking people. + +Charles Lowell has the same meaning for us when rightly +understood. He had all that birth, breeding, education, and +tradition could give. The resources of our American life and +civilization could produce nothing better. How would he and such +men as he stand the great ordeal when it came? If wealth, +education, and breeding were to result in a class who could only +carp and criticize, accumulate money, give way to +self-indulgence, and cherish low foreign ideals, then would it +have appeared that there was a radical unsoundness in our +society, refinement would have been proved to be weakness, and +the highest education would have been shown to be a curse, rather +than a blessing. But Charles Lowell, and hundreds of others like +him, in greater or less degree, all over the land, met the great +test and emerged triumphant. The Harvard men may be taken as +fairly representing the colleges and universities of America. +Harvard had, in 1860, 4157 living graduates, and 823 students, +presumably over eighteen years old. Probably 3000 of her students +and graduates were of military age, and not physically +disqualified for military service. Of this number, 1230 entered +the Union army or navy. One hundred and fifty-six died in +service, and 67 were killed in action. Many did not go who might +have gone, unquestionably, but the record is a noble one. Nearly +one man of every two Harvard men came forward to serve his +country when war was at our gates, and this proportion holds +true, no doubt, of the other universities of the North. It is +well for the country, well for learning, well for our +civilization, that such a record was made at such a time. Charles +Lowell, and those like him, showed, once for all, that the men to +whom fortune had been kindest were capable of the noblest +patriotism, and shrank from no sacrifices. They taught the lesson +which can never be heard too often--that the man to whom the +accidents of birth and fortune have given most is the man who +owes most to his country. If patriotism should exist anywhere, it +should be strongest with such men as these, and their service +should be ever ready. How nobly Charles Lowell in this spirit +answered the great question, his life and death, alike +victorious, show to all men. + + + +SHERIDAN AT CEDAR CREEK + +Inspired repulsed battalions to engage, +And taught the doubtful battle where to rage. + --Addison. + + + SHERIDAN AT CEDAR CREEK + +General Sheridan took command of the Army of the Shenandoah in +August, 1864. His coming was the signal for aggressive fighting, +and for a series of brilliant victories over the rebel army. He +defeated Early at Winchester and again at Fisher's Hill, while +General Torbert whipped Rosser in a subsequent action, where the +rout of the rebels was so complete that the fight was known as +the "Woodstock races." Sheridan's plan after this was to +terminate his campaign north of Staunton, and, returning thence, +to desolate the Valley, so as to make it untenable for the +Confederates, as well as useless as a granary or storehouse, and +then move the bulk of his armythrough Washington, and unite them +with General Grant in front of Petersburg. Grant, however, and +the authorities at Washington, were in favor of Sheridan's +driving Early into Eastern Virginia, and following up that line, +which Sheri dan himself believed to be a false move. This +important matter was in debate until October 16, when Sheridan, +having left the main body of his army at Cedar Creek under +General Wright, determined to go to Washington, and discuss the +question personally with General Halleck and the Secretary of +War. He reached Washington on the morning of the 17th about eight +o'clock, left there at twelve; and got back to Martinsburg the +same night about dark. At Martinsburg he spent the night, and the +next day, with his escort, rode to Winchester, reaching that +point between three and four o'clock in the afternoon of the +18th. He there heard that all was quiet at Cedar Creek and along +the front, and went to bed, expecting to reach his headquarters +and join the army the next day. + +About six o'clock, on the morning of the 19th, it was reported to +him that artillery firing could be heard in the direction of +Cedar Creek, but as the sound was stated to be irregular and +fitful, he thought it only a skirmish. He, nevertheless, arose at +once, and had just finished dressing when another officer came +in, and reported that the firing was still going on in the same +direction, but that it did not sound like a general battle. Still +Sheridan was uneasy, and, after breakfasting, mounted his horse +between eight and nine o'clock, and rode slowly through +Winchester. When he reached the edge of the town he halted a +moment, and then heard the firing of artillery in an unceasing +roar. He now felt confident that a general battle was in +progress, and, as he rode forward, he was convinced, from the +rapid increase of the sound, that his army was failing back. +After he had crossed Mill Creek, just outside Winchester, and +made the crest of the rise beyond the stream, there burst upon +his view the spectacle of a panic-stricken army. Hundreds of +slightly wounded men, with hundreds more unhurt, but demoralized, +together with baggage wagons and trains, were all pressing to the +rear, in hopeless confusion. + +There was no doubt now that a disaster had occurred at the front. +A fugitive told Sheridan that the army was broken and in full +retreat, and that all was lost. Sheridan at once sent word to +Colonel Edwards, commanding a brigade at Winchester, to stretch +his troops across the valley, and stop all fugitives. His first +idea was to make a stand there, but, as he rode along, a +different plan flashed into his mind. He believed that his troops +had great confidence in him, and he determined to try to restore +their broken ranks, and, instead of merely holding the ground at +Winchester, to rally his army, and lead them forward again to +Cedar Creek. He had hardly made up his mind to this course, when +news was brought to him that his headquarters at Cedar Creek were +captured, and the troops dispersed. He started at once, with +about twenty men as an escort, and rode rapidly to the front. As +he passed along, the unhurt men, who thickly lined the road, +recognized him, and, as they did so, threw up their hats, +shouldered their muskets, and followed him as fast as they could +on foot. His officers rode out on either side to tell the +stragglers that the general had returned, and, as the news spread +the retreating men in every direction rallied, and turned their +faces toward the battle-field they had left. + +In his memoirs, Sheridan says, in speaking of his ride through +the retreating troops: "I said nothing, except to remark, as I +rode among them 'If I had been with you this morning, this +disaster would not have happened. We must face the other way. We +will go back and recover our camp.'" Thus he galloped on over the +twenty miles, with the men rallying behind him, and following him +in ever increasing numbers. As he went by, the panic of retreat +was replaced by the ardor of battle. Sheridan had not +overestimate the power of enthusiasm or his own ability to rouse +it to fighting pitch. He pressed steadily on to the front, until +at last he came up to Getty's division of the 6th Corps, which, +with the cavalry, were the only troops who held their line and +were resisting the enemy. Getty's division was about a mile north +of Middletown on some slightly rising ground, and were +skirmishing with the enemy's pickets. Jumping a rail fence, +Sheridan rode to the crest of the hill, and, as he took off his +hat, the men rose up from behind the barricades with cheers of +recognition. + +It is impossible to follow in detail Sheridan's actions from that +moment, but he first brought up the 19th Corps and the two +divisions of Wright to the front. He then communicated with +Colonel Lowell, who was fighting near Middletown with his men +dismounted, and asked him if he could hold on where he was, to +which Lowell replied in the affirmative. All this and many +similar quickly-given orders consumed a great deal of time, but +still the men were getting into line, and at last, seeing that +the enemy were about to renew the attack, Sheridan rode along the +line so that the men could all see him. He was received with the +wildest enthusiasm as he rode by, and the spirit of the army was +restored. The rebel attack was made shortly after noon, and was +repulsed by General Emory. + +This done, Sheridan again set to work to getting his line +completely restored, while General Merritt charged and drove off +an exposed battery of the Confederates. By halfpast three +Sheridan was ready to attack. The fugitives of the morning, whom +he had rallied as he rode from Winchester, were again in their +places, and the different divisions were all disposed in their +proper positions. With the order to advance, the whole line +pressed forward. The Confederates at first resisted stubbornly, +and then began to retreat. On they went past Cedar Creek, and +there, where the pike made a sharp turn to the west toward +Fisher's Hill, Merritt and Custer fell on the flank of the +retreating columns, and the rebel army fell back, routed and +broken, up the Valley. The day had begun in route and defeat; it +ended in a great victory for the Union army. + +How near we had been to a terrible disaster can be realized by +recalling what had happened before the general galloped down from +Winchester. + +In Sheridan's absence, Early, soon after dawn, had made an +unexpected attack on our army at Cedar Creek. Surprised by the +assault, the national troops had given way in all directions, and +a panic had set in. Getty's division with Lowell's cavalry held +on at Middletown, but, with this exception, the rout was +complete. When Sheridan rode out of Winchester, he met an already +beaten army. His first thought was the natural one to make a +stand at Winchester and rally his troops about him there. His +second thought was the inspiration of the great commander. He +believed his men would rally as soon as they saw him. He believed +that enthusiasm was one of the great weapons of war, and that +this was the moment of all others when it might be used with +decisive advantage. With this thought in his mind he abandoned +the idea of forming his men at Winchester, and rode bareheaded +through the fugitives, swinging his hat, straight for the front, +and calling on his men as he passed to follow him. As the +soldiers saw him, they turned and rushed after him. He had not +calculated in vain upon the power of personal enthusiasm, but, at +the same time, he did not rely upon any wild rush to save the +day. The moment he reached the field of battle, he set to work +with the coolness of a great soldier to make all the +dispositions, first, to repel the enemy, and then to deliver an +attack which could not be resisted. One division after another +was rapidly brought into line and placed in position, the thin +ranks filling fast with the soldiers who had recovered from their +panic, and followed Sheridan and the black horse all the way down +from Winchester. He had been already two hours on the field when, +at noon, he rode along the line, again formed for battle. Most of +the officers and men then thought he had just come, while in +reality it was his own rapid work which had put them in the line +along which he was riding. + +Once on the field of battle, the rush and hurry of the desperate +ride from Winchester came to an end. First the line was reformed, +then the enemy's assault was repulsed, and it was made impossible +for them to again take the offensive. But Sheridan, undazzled by +his brilliant success up to this point, did not mar his work by +overhaste. Two hours more passed before he was ready, and then, +when all was prepared, with his ranks established and his army +ranged in position, he moved his whole line forward, and won one +of the most brilliant battles of the war, having, by his personal +power over his troops, and his genius in action, snatched a +victory from a day which began in surprise, disaster, and defeat. + + + +LIEUTENANT CUSHING AND THE RAM "ALBEMARLE" + +God give us peace! Not such as lulls to sleep, +But sword on thigh, and brow with purpose knit! +And let our Ship of State to harbor sweep, +Her ports all up, her battle-lanterns lit, +And her leashed thunders gathering for their leap! + --Lowell. + + +LIEUTENANT CUSHING AND THE RAM "ALBEMARLE" + +The great Civil War was remarkable in many ways, but in no way +more remarkable than for the extraordinary mixture of inventive +mechanical genius and of resolute daring shown by the combatants. +After the first year, when the contestants had settled down to +real fighting, and the preliminary mob work was over, the battles +were marked by their extraordinary obstinacy and heavy loss. In +no European conflict since the close of the Napoleonic wars has +the fighting been anything like as obstinate and as bloody as was +the fighting in our own Civil War. In addition to this fierce and +dogged courage, this splendid fighting capacity, the contest also +brought out the skilled inventive power of engineer and +mechanician in a way that few other contests have ever done. + +This was especially true of the navy. The fighting under and +against Farragut and his fellow-admirals revolutionized naval +warfare. The Civil War marks the break between the old style and +the new. Terrible encounters took place when the terrible new +engines of war were brought into action for the first time; and +one of these encounters has given an example which, for heroic +daring combined with cool intelligence, is unsurpassed in all +time. + +The Confederates showed the same skill and energy in building +their great ironclad rams as the men of the Union did in building +the monitors which were so often pitted against them. Both sides, +but especially the Confederates, also used stationary torpedoes, +and, on a number of occasions, torpedo-boats likewise. These +torpedoboats were sometimes built to go under the water. One +such, after repeated failures, was employed by the Confederates, +with equal gallantry and success, in sinking a Union sloop of war +off Charleston harbor, the torpedoboat itself going down to the +bottom with its victim, all on board being drowned. The other +type of torpedo-boat was simply a swift, ordinary steam-launch, +operated above water. + +It was this last type of boat which Lieutenant W. B. Cushing +brought down to Albemarle Sound to use against the great +Confederate ram Albemarle. The ram had been built for the purpose +of destroying the Union blockading forces. Steaming down river, +she had twice attacked the Federal gunboats, and in each case had +sunk or disabled one or more of them, with little injury to +herself. She had retired up the river again to lie at her wharf +and refit. The gunboats had suffered so severely as to make it a +certainty that when she came out again, thoroughly fitted to +renew the attack, the wooden vessels would be destroyed; and +while she was in existence, the Union vessels could not reduce +the forts and coast towns. Just at this time Cushing came down +from the North with his swift little torpedo-boat, an open +launch, with a spar-rigged out in front, the torpedo being placed +at the end. The crew of the launch consisted of fifteen men, +Cushing being in command. He not only guided his craft, but +himself handled the torpedo by means of two small ropes, one of +which put it in place, while the other exploded it. The action of +the torpedo was complicated, and it could not have been operated +in a time of tremendous excitement save by a man of the utmost +nerve and self-command; but Cushing had both. He possessed +precisely that combination of reckless courage, presence of mind, +and high mental capacity necessary to the man who leads a forlorn +hope under peculiarly difficult circumstances. + +On the night of October 27, 1864, Cushing slipped away from the +blockading fleet, and steamed up river toward the wharf, a dozen +miles distant, where the great ram lay. The Confederates were +watchful to guard against surprise, for they feared lest their +foes should try to destroy the ram before she got a chance to +come down and attack them again in the Sound. She lay under the +guns of a fort, with a regiment of troops ready at a moment's +notice to turn out and defend her. Her own guns were kept always +clear for action, and she was protected by a great boom of logs +thrown out roundabout; of which last defense the Northerners knew +nothing. + +Cushing went up-stream with the utmost caution, and by good luck +passed, unnoticed, a Confederate lookout below the ram. + +About midnight he made his assault. Steaming quietly on through +the black water, and feeling his way cautiously toward where he +knew the town to be, he finally made out the loom of the +Albemarle through the night, and at once drove at her. He was +almost upon her before he was discovered; then the crew and the +soldiers on the wharf opened fire, and, at the same moment, he +was brought-to by the boom, the existence of which he had not +known. The rifle balls were singing round him as he stood erect, +guiding his launch, and he heard the bustle of the men aboard the +ram, and the noise of the great guns as they were got ready. +Backing off, he again went all steam ahead, and actually surged +over the slippery logs of the boom. Meanwhile, on the Albemarle +the sailors were running to quarters, and the soldiers were +swarming down to aid in her defense; and the droning bullets came +always thicker through the dark night. Cushing still stood +upright in his little craft, guiding and controlling her by voice +and signal, while in his hands he kept the ropes which led to the +torpedo. As the boat slid forward over the boom, he brought the +torpedo full against the somber side of the huge ram, and +instantly exploded it, almost at the same time that the pivot-gun +of the ram, loaded with grape, was fired point-blank at him not +ten yards off. + +At once the ram settled, the launch sinking at the same moment, +while Cushing and his men swam for their lives. Most of them sank +or were captured, but Cushing reached mid-stream. Hearing +something splashing in the darkness, he swam toward it, and found +that it was one of his crew. He went to his rescue, and they kept +together for some time, but the sailor's strength gave out, and +he finally sank. In the pitch darkness Cushing could form no idea +where he was; and when, chilled through, and too exhausted to +rise to his feet, he finally reached shore, shortly before dawn, +he found that he had swum back and landed but a few hundred feet +below the sunken ram. All that day he remained within easy +musket-shot of where his foes were swarming about the fort and +the great drowned ironclad. He hardly dared move, and until the +afternoon he lay without food, and without protection from the +heat or venomous insects. Then he managed to slip unobserved into +the dense swamp, and began to make his way to the fleet. Toward +evening he came out on a small stream, near a camp of Confederate +soldiers. They had moored to the bank a skiff, and, with equal +stealth and daring, he managed to steal this and to paddle +down-stream. Hour after hour he paddled on through the fading +light, and then through the darkness. At last, utterly worn out, +he found the squadron, and was picked up. At once the ships +weighed; and they speedily captured every coast town and fort, +for their dreaded enemy was no longer in the way. The fame of +Cushing's deed went all over the North, and his name will stand +forever among the brightest on the honor-roll of the American +navy. + + + +FARRAGUT AT MOBILE BAY + +Ha, old ship, do they thrill, +The brave two hundred scars +You got in the river wars? +That were leeched with clamorous skill +(Surgery savage and hard), +At the Brooklyn Navy Yard. + + * * * * + +How the guns, as with cheer and shout, +Our tackle-men hurled them out, +Brought up in the waterways . . . +As we fired, at the flash +'T was lightning and black eclipse +With a bellowing sound and crash. + +* * * * + +The Dahlgrens are dumb, +Dumb are the mortars; +Never more shall the drum +Beat to colors and quarters-- +The great guns are silent. + --Henry Howard Brownell + + +FARRAGUT AT MOBILE BAY + +During the Civil War our navy produced, as it has always produced +in every war, scores of capable officers, of brilliant +single-ship commanders, of men whose daring courage made them fit +leaders in any hazardous enterprise. In this respect the Union +seamen in the Civil War merely lived up to the traditions of +their service. In a service with such glorious memories it was a +difficult thing to establish a new record in feats of personal +courage or warlike address. Biddle, in the Revolutionary War, +fighting his little frigate against a ship of the line until she +blew up with all on board, after inflicting severe loss on her +huge adversary; Decatur, heading the rush of the boarders in the +night attack when they swept the wild Moorish pirates from the +decks of their anchored prize; Lawrence, dying with the words on +his lips, "Don't give up the ship"; and Perry, triumphantly +steering his bloody sloop-of-war to victory with the same words +blazoned on his banner--men like these, and like their fellows, +who won glory in desperate conflicts with the regular warships +and heavy privateers of England and France, or with the corsairs +of the Barbary States, left behind a reputation which was hardly +to be dimmed, though it might be emulated, by later feats of mere +daring. + +But vital though daring is, indispensable though desperate +personal prowess and readiness to take chances are to the make-up +of a fighting navy, other qualities are needed in addition to fit +a man for a place among the great seacaptains of all time. It was +the good fortune of the navy in the Civil War to produce one +admiral of renown, one peer of all the mighty men who have ever +waged war on the ocean. Farragut was not only the greatest +admiral since Nelson, but, with the sole exception of Nelson, he +was as great an admiral as ever sailed the broad or the narrow +seas. + +David Glasgow Farragut was born in Tennessee. He was appointed to +the navy while living in Louisiana, but when the war came he +remained loyal to the Union flag. This puts him in the category +of those men who deserved best of their country in the Civil War; +the men who were Southern by birth, but who stood loyally by the +Union; the men like General Thomas of Virginia, and like +Farragut's own flag-captain at the battle of Mobile Bay, Drayton +of South Carolina. It was an easy thing in the North to support +the Union, and it was a double disgrace to be, like Vallandigham +and the Copperheads, against it; and in the South there were a +great multitude of men, as honorable as they were brave, who, +from the best of motives, went with their States when they +seceded, or even advocated secession. But the highest and +loftiest patriots, those who deserved best of the whole country, +we re the men from the South who possessed such heroic courage, +and such lofty fealty to the high ideal of the Union, that they +stood by the flag when their fellows deserted it, and +unswervingly followed a career devoted to the cause of the whole +nation and of the whole people. Among all those who fought in +this, the greatest struggle for righteousness which the present +century has seen, these men stand preeminent; and among them +Farragut stands first. It was his good fortune that by his life +he offered an example, not only of patriotism, but of supreme +skill and daring in his profession. He belongs to that class of +commanders who possess in the highest degree the qualities of +courage and daring, of readiness to assume responsibility, and of +willingness to run great risks; the qualities without which no +commander, however cautious and able, can ever become really +great. He possessed also the unwearied capacity for taking +thought in advance, which enabled him to prepare for victory +before the day of battle came; and he added to this. an +inexhaustible fertility of resource and presence of mind under no +matter what strain. + +His whole career should be taught every American schoolboy, for +when that schoolboy becomes a voter he should have learned the +lesson that the United States, while it ought not to become an +overgrown military power, should always have a first-class navy, +formidable from the number of its ships, and formidable still +more from the excellence of the individual ships and the high +character of the officers and men. Farragut saw the war of 1812, +in which, though our few frigates and sloops fought some glorious +actions, our coasts were blockaded and insulted, and the Capitol +at Washington burned, because our statesmen and our people had +been too short-sighted to build a big fighting navy; and Farragut +was able to perform his great feats on the Gulf coast because, +when the Civil War broke out, we had a navy which, though too +small in point of numbers, was composed of ships as good as any +afloat. + +Another lesson to be learned by a study of his career is that no +man in a profession so highly technical as that of the navy can +win a great success unless he has been brought up in and +specially trained for that profession, and has devoted his life +to the work. This fact was made plainly evident in the desperate +hurly-burly of the night battle with the Confederate flotilla +below New Orleans--the incidents of this hurly-burly being, +perhaps, best described by the officer who, in his report of his +own share in it, remarked that "all sorts of things happened." Of +the Confederate rams there were two, commanded by trained +officers formerly in the United States navy, Lieutenants Kennon +and Warley. Both of these men handled their little vessels with +remarkable courage, skill, and success, fighting them to the +last, and inflicting serious and heavy damage upon the Union +fleet. The other vessels of the flotilla were commanded by men +who had not been in the regular navy, who were merely Mississippi +River captains, and the like. These men were, doubtless, +naturally as brave as any of the regular officers; but, with one +or two exceptions, they failed ignobly. in the time of trial, and +showed a fairly startling contrast with the regular naval +officers beside or against whom they fought. This is a fact which +may well be pondered by the ignorant or unpatriotic people who +believe that the United States does not need a navy, or that it +can improvise one, and improvise officers to handle it, whenever +the moment of need arises. + +When a boy, Farragut had sailed as a midshipman on the Essex in +her famous cruise to the South Pacific, and lived through the +murderous fight in which, after losing three fifths of her crew, +she was captured by two British vessels. Step by step he rose in +his profession, but never had an opportunity of distinguishing +himself until, when he was sixty years old, the Civil War broke +out. He was then made flag officer of the Gulf squadron; and the +first success which the Union forces met with in the southwest +was scored by him, when one night he burst the iron chains which +the Confederates had stretched across the Mississippi, and, +stemming the swollen flood with his splendidly-handled +steam-frigates, swept past the forts, sank the rams and gunboats +that sought to bar his path, and captured the city of New +Orleans. After further exciting service on the Mississippi, +service in which he turned a new chapter in the history of naval +warfare by showing the possibilities of heavy seagoing vessels +when used on great rivers, he again went back to the Gulf, and, +in the last year of the war, was allotted the task of attempting +the capture of Mobile, the only important port still left open to +the Confederates. + +In August, 1864, Farragut was lying with his fleet off Mobile +Bay. For months he had been eating out his heart while undergoing +the wearing strain of the blockade; sympathizing, too, with every +detail of the doubtful struggle on land. "I get right sick, every +now and then, at the bad news," he once wrote home; and then +again, "The victory of the Kearsarge over the Alabama raised me +up; I would sooner have fought that fight than any ever fought on +the ocean." As for himself, all he wished was a chance to fight, +for he had the fighting temperament, and he knew that, in the +long run, an enemy can only be beaten by being out-fought, as +well as out-manoeuvered. He possessed a splendid self-confidence, +and scornfully threw aside any idea that he would be defeated, +while he utterly refused to be daunted by the rumors of the +formidable nature of the defenses against which he was to act. "I +mean to be whipped or to whip my enemy, and not to be scared to +death," he remarked in speaking of these rumors. + +The Confederates who held Mobile used all their skill in +preparing for defense, and all their courage in making that +defense good. The mouth of the bay was protected by two fine +forts, heavily armed, Morgan and Gaines. The winding channels +were filled with torpedoes, and, in addition, there was a +flotilla consisting of three gunboats, and, above all, a big +ironclad ram, the Tennessee, one of the most formidable vessels +then afloat. She was not fast, but she carried six high-power +rifled guns, and her armor was very powerful, while, being of +light draft, she could take a position where Farragut's deep-sea +ships could not get at her. Farragut made his attack with four +monitors,--two of them, the Tecumseh and Manhattan, of large +size, carrying 15inch guns, and the other two, the Winnebago and +Chickasaw, smaller and lighter, with 11-inch guns,--and the +wooden vessels, fourteen in number. Seven of these were big +sloops-of-war, of the general type of Farragut's own flagship, +the Hartford. She was a screw steamer, but was a full-rigged ship +likewise, with twenty-two 9-inch shell guns, arranged in +broadside, and carrying a crew of three hundred men. The other +seven were light gunboats. When Farragut prepared for the +assault, he arranged to make the attack with his wooden ships in +double column. The seven most powerful were formed on the right, +in line ahead, to engage Fort Morgan, the heaviest of the two +forts, which had to be passed close inshore to the right. The +light vessels were lashed each to the left of one of the heavier +ones. By this arrangement each pair of ships was given a double +chance to escape, if rendered helpless by a shot in the boiler or +other vital part of the machinery. The heaviest ships led in the +fighting column, the first place being taken by the Brooklyn and +her gunboat consort, while the second position was held by +Farragut himself in the Hartford, with the little Metacomet +lashed alongside. He waited to deliver the attack until the tide +and the wind should be favorable, and made all his preparations +with the utmost care and thoughtfulness. Preeminently a man who +could inspire affection in others, both the officers and men of +the fleet regarded him with fervent loyalty and absolute trust. + +The attack was made early on the morning of August 5. Soon after +midnight the weather became hot and calm, and at three the +Admiral learned that a light breeze had sprung up from the +quarter he wished, and he at once announced, "Then we will go in +this morning." At daybreak he was at breakfast when the word was +brought that the ships were all lashed in couples. Turning +quietly to his captain, he said, "Well, Drayton, we might as well +get under way;" and at half-past six the monitors stood down to +their stations, while the column of wooden ships was formed, all +with the United States flag hoisted, not only at the peak, but +also at every masthead. The four monitors, trusting in their iron +sides, steamed in between the wooden ships and the fort. Every +man in every craft was thrilling with the fierce excitement of +battle; but in the minds of most there lurked a vague feeling of +unrest over one danger. For their foes who fought in sight, for +the forts, the gunboats, and, the great ironclad ram, they cared +nothing; but all, save the very boldest, were at times awed, and +rendered uneasy by the fear of the hidden and the unknown. Danger +which is great and real, but which is shrouded in mystery, is +always very awful; and the ocean veterans dreaded the +torpedoes--the mines of death--which lay, they knew not where, +thickly scattered through the channels along which they were to +thread their way. + +The tall ships were in fighting trim, with spars housed, and +canvas furled. The decks were strewn with sawdust; every man was +in his place; the guns were ready, and except for the song of the +sounding-lead there was silence in the ships as they moved +forward through the glorious morning. It was seven o'clock when +the battle began, as the Tecumseh, the leading monitor, fired two +shots at the fort. In a few minutes Fort Morgan was ablaze with +the flash of her guns, and the leading wooden vessels were +sending back broadside after broadside. Farragut stood in the +port main-rigging, and as the smoke increased he gradually +climbed higher, until he was close by the maintop, where the +pilot was stationed for the sake of clearer vision. The captain, +fearing lest by one of the accidents of battle the great admiral +should lose his footing, sent aloft a man with a lasher, and had +a turn or two taken around his body in the shrouds, so that he. +might not fall if wounded; for the shots were flying thick. + +At first the ships used only their bow guns, and the Confederate +ram, with her great steel rifles, and her three consorts, taking +station where they could rake the advancing fleet, caused much +loss. In twenty minutes after the opening of the fight the ships +of the van were fairly abreast of the fort, their guns leaping +and thundering; and under the weight of their terrific fire that +of the fort visibly slackened. All was now uproar and slaughter, +the smoke drifting off in clouds. The decks were reddened and +ghastly with blood, and the wreck of flying splinters drove +across them at each discharge. The monitor Tecumseh alone was +silent. After firing the first two shots, her commander, Captain +Craven, had loaded his two big guns with steel shot, and, thus +prepared, reserved himself for the Confederate ironclad, which he +had set his heart upon taking or destroying single-handed. The +two columns of monitors and the wooden ships lashed in pairs were +now approaching the narrowest part of the channel, where the +torpedoes lay thickest; and the guns of the vessels fairly +overbore and quelled the fire from the fort. All was well, +provided only the two columns could push straight on without +hesitation; but just at this moment a terrible calamity befell +the leader of the monitors. The Tecumseh, standing straight for +the Tennessee, was within two hundred yards of her foe, when a +torpedo suddenly exploded beneath her. The monitor was about five +hundred yards from the Hartford, and from the maintop Farragut, +looking at her, saw her reel violently from side to side, lurch +heavily over, and go down headforemost, her screw revolving +wildly in the air as she disappeared. Captain Craven, one of the +gentlest and bravest of men, was in the pilot-house with the +pilot at the time. As she sank, both rushed to the narrow door, +but there was time for only one to get out. Craven was ahead, but +drew to one side, saying, "After you, pilot." As the pilot leaped +through, the water rushed in, and Craven and all his crew, save +two men, settled to the bottom in their iron coffin. + +None of the monitors were awed or daunted by the fate of their +consort, but drew steadily onward. In the bigger monitors the +captains, like the crews, had remained within the iron walls; but +on the two light crafts the commanders had found themselves so +harassed by their cramped quarters, that they both stayed outside +on the deck. As these two steamed steadily ahead, the men on the +flagship saw Captain Stevens, of the Winnebago, pacing calmly, +from turret to turret, on his unwieldy iron craft, under the full +fire of the fort. The captain of the Chickasaw, Perkins, was the +youngest commander in the fleet, and as he passed the Hartford, +he stood on top of the turret, waving his hat and dancing about +in wildest excitement and delight. + +But, for a moment, the nerve of the commander of the Brooklyn +failed him. The awful fate of the Tecumseh and the sight of a +number of objects in the channel ahead, which seemed to be +torpedoes, caused him to hesitate. He stopped his ship, and then +backed water, making sternway to the Hartford, so as to stop her +also. It was the crisis of the fight and the crisis of Farragut's +career. The column was halted in a narrow channel, right under +the fire of the forts. A few moments' delay and confusion, and +the golden chance would have been past, and the only question +remaining would have been as to the magnitude of the disaster. +Ahead lay terrible danger, but ahead lay also triumph. It might +be that the first ship to go through would be sacrificed to the +torpedoes; it might be that others would be sacrificed; but go +through the fleet must. Farragut signaled to the Brooklyn to go +ahead, but she still hesitated. Immediately, the admiral himself +resolved to take the lead. Backing hard he got clear of the +Brooklyn, twisted his ship's prow short round, and then, going +ahead fast, he dashed close under the Brooklyn's stern, straight +at the line of buoys in the channel. As he thus went by the +Brooklyn, a warning cry came from her that there were torpedoes +ahead. "Damn the torpedoes!" shouted the admiral; "go ahead, full +speed; and the Hartford and her consort steamed forward. As they +passed between the buoys, the cases of the torpedoes were heard +knocking against the bottom of the ship; but for some reason they +failed to explode, and the Hartford went safely through the gates +of Mobile Bay, passing the forts. Farragut's last and hardest +battle was virtually won. After a delay which allowed the +flagship to lead nearly a mile, the Brooklyn got her head round, +and came in, closely followed by all the other ships. The +Tennessee strove to interfere with the wooden craft as they went +in, but they passed, exchanging shots, and one of them striving +to ram her, but inflicting only a glancing blow. The ship on the +fighting side of the rear couple had been completely disabled by +a shot through her boiler. + +As Farragut got into the bay he gave orders to slip the gunboats, +which were lashed to each of the Union ships of war, against the +Confederate gunboats, one of which he had already disabled by his +fire, so that she was run ashore and burnt. Jouett, the captain +of the Metacomet, had been eagerly waiting this order, and had +his men already standing at the hawsers, hatchet in hand. When +the signal for the gunboats to chase was hoisted, the order to +Jouett was given by word of mouth, and as his hearty "Aye, aye, +sir," came in answer, the hatchets fell, the hawsers parted, and +the Metacomet leaped forward in pursuit. A thick rainsquall came +up, and rendered it impossible for the rear gunboats to know +whither the Confederate flotilla had fled. When it cleared away, +the watchers on the fleet saw that one of the two which were +uninjured had slipped off to Fort Morgan, while the other, the +Selma, was under the guns of the Metacomet, and was promptly +carried by the latter. + +Meanwhile the ships anchored in the bay, about four miles from +Fort Morgan, and the crews were piped to breakfast; but almost as +soon as it was begun, the lookouts reported that the great +Confederate ironclad was steaming down, to do battle, +single-handed, with the Union fleet. She was commanded by +Buchanan, a very gallant and able officer, who had been on the +Merrimac, and who trusted implicitly in his invulnerable sides, +his heavy rifle guns, and his formidable iron beak. As the ram +came on, with splendid courage, the ships got under way, while +Farragut sent word to the monitors to attack the Tennessee at +once. The fleet surgeon, Palmer, delivered these orders. In his +diary he writes: + +"I came to the Chickasaw; happy as my friend Perkins habitually +is, I thought he would turn a somerset with joy, when I told him, +'The admiral wants you to go at once and fight the Tennessee.'" + +At the same time, the admiral directed the wooden vessels to +charge the ram, bow on, at full speed, as well as to attack her +with their guns. The monitors were very slow, and the wooden +vessels began the attack. The first to reach the hostile ironclad +was the Monongahela, which struck her square amidships; and five +minutes later the Lackawanna, going at full speed, delivered +another heavy blow. Both the Union vessels fired such guns as +would bear as they swung round, but the shots glanced harmlessly +from the armor, and the blows of the ship produced no serious +injury to the ram, although their own stems were crushed in +several feet above and below the water line. The Hartford then +struck the Tennessee, which met her bows on. The two antagonists +scraped by, their port sides touching. As they rasped past, the +Hartford's guns were discharged against the ram, their muzzles +only half a dozen feet distant from her iron-clad sides; but the +shot made no impression. While the three ships were circling to +repeat the charge, the Lackawanna ran square into the flagship, +cutting the vessel down to within two feet of the water. For a +moment the ship's company thought the vessel sinking, and almost +as one man they cried: "Save the admiral! get the admiral on +board the Lackawanna." But Farragut, leaping actively into the +chains, saw that the ship was in no present danger, and ordered +her again to be headed for the Tennessee. Meanwhile, the monitors +had come up, and the battle raged between them and the great ram, +Like the rest of the Union fleet, they carried smooth-bores, and +their shot could not break through her iron plates; but by +sustained and continuous hammering, her frame could be jarred and +her timbers displaced. Two of the monitors had been more or less +disabled already, but the third, the Chickasaw, was in fine trim, +and Perkins got her into position under the stern of the +Tennessee, just after the latter was struck by the Hartford; and +there he stuck to the end, never over fifty yards distant, and +keeping up a steady rapping of 11-inch shot upon the iron walls, +which they could not penetrate, but which they racked and +shattered. The Chickasaw fired fifty-two times at her antagonist, +shooting away the exposed rudder-chains and the smokestack, while +the commander of the ram, Buchanan, was wounded by an iron +splinter which broke his leg. Under the hammering, the Tennessee +became helpless. She could not be steered, and was unable to +bring a gun to bear, while many of the shutters of the ports were +jammed. For twenty minutes she had not fired a shot. The wooden +vessels were again bearing down to ram her; and she hoisted the +white flag. + +Thus ended the battle of Mobile Bay, Farragut's crowning victory. +Less than three hours elapsed from the time that Fort Morgan +fired its first gun to the moment when the Tennessee hauled down +her flag. Three hundred and thirty-five men had been killed or +wounded in the fleet, and one vessel, the Tecumseh, had gone +down; but the Confederate flotilla was destroyed, the bay had +been entered, and the forts around it were helpless to do +anything further. One by one they surrendered, and the port of +Mobile was thus sealed against blockade runners, so that the last +source of communication between the Confederacy and the outside +world was destroyed. Farragut had added to the annals of the +Union the page which tells of the greatest sea-fight in our +history. + + + +LINCOLN + +O captain. My captain. Our fearful trip is done; +The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won; +The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, +While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring: +But O heart! Heart! Heart! +Leave you not the little spot, +Where on the deck my captain lies, +Fallen cold and dead. + +O captain. My captain. Rise up and hear the bells; +Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills; +For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths--for you the shores +a-crowding; +For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; +O captain. Dear father. +This arm I push beneath you; +It is some dream that on the deck, +You've fallen cold and dead. + +My captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still; +My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor win: +But the ship, the ship is anchor'd safe, its voyage closed and +done; +From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won: +Exult O shores, and ring, O bells. +But I with silent tread, +Walk the spot the captain lies, +Fallen cold and dead. + --Walt Whitman. + + + +LINCOLN + +As Washington stands to the Revolution and the establishment of +the government, so Lincoln stands as the hero of the mightier +struggle by which our Union was saved. He was born in 1809, ten +years after Washington, his work done had been laid to rest at +Mount Vernon. No great man ever came from beginnings which seemed +to promise so little. Lincoln's family, for more than one +generation, had been sinking, instead of rising, in the social +scale. His father was one of those men who were found on the +frontier in the early days of the western movement, always +changing from one place to another, and dropping a little lower +at each remove. Abraham Lincoln was born into a family who were +not only poor, but shiftless, and his early days were days of +ignorance, and poverty, and hard work. Out of such inauspicious +surroundings, he slowly and painfully lifted himself. He gave +himself an education, he took part in an Indian war, he worked in +the fields, he kept a country store, he read and studied, and, at +last, he became a lawyer. Then he entered into the rough politics +of the newly-settled State. He grew to be a leader in his county, +and went to the legislature. The road was very rough, the +struggle was very hard and very bitter, but the movement was +always upward. + +At last he was elected to Congress, and served one term in +Washington as a Whig with credit, but without distinction. Then +he went back to his law and his politics in Illinois. He had, at +last, made his position. All that was now needed was an +opportunity, and that came to him in the great anti-slavery +struggle. + +Lincoln was not an early Abolitionist. His training had been that +of a regular party man, and as a member of a great political +organization, but he was a lover of freedom and justice. Slavery, +in its essence, was hateful to him, and when the conflict between +slavery and freedom was fairly joined, his path was clear before +him. He took up the antislavery cause in his own State and made +himself its champion against Douglas, the great leader of the +Northern Democrats. He stumped Illinois in opposition to Douglas, +as a candidate for the Senate, debating the question which +divided the country in every part of the State. He was beaten at +the election, but, by the power and brilliancy of his speeches, +his own reputation was made. Fighting the anti-slavery battle +within constitutional lines, concentrating his whole force +against the single point of the extension of slavery to the +Territories, he had made it clear that a new leader had arisen in +the cause of freedom. From Illinois his reputation spread to the +East, and soon after his great debate he delivered a speech in +New York which attracted wide attention. At the Republican +convention of 1856, his name was one of those proposed for +vice-president. + +When 1860 came, he was a candidate for the first place on the +national ticket. The leading candidate was William H. Seward, of +New York, the most conspicuous man of the country on the +Republican side, but the convention, after a sharp struggle, +selected Lincoln, and then the great political battle came at the +polls. The Republicans were victorious, and, as soon as the +result of the voting was known, the South set to work to dissolve +the Union. In February Lincoln made his way to Washington, at the +end coming secretly from Harrisburg to escape a threatened +attempt at assassination, and on March 4, 1861 assumed the +presidency. + +No public man, no great popular leader, ever faced a more +terrible situation. The Union was breaking, the Southern States +were seceding, treason was rampant in Washington, and the +Government was bankrupt. The country knew that Lincoln was a man +of great capacity in debate, devoted to the cause of antislavery +and to the maintenance of the Union. But what his ability was to +deal with the awful conditions by which he was surrounded, no one +knew. To follow him through the four years of civil war which +ensued is, of course, impossible here. Suffice it to say that no +greater, no more difficult, task has ever been faced by any man +in modern times, and no one ever met a fierce trial and conflict +more successfully. + +Lincoln put to the front the question of the Union, and let the +question of slavery drop, at first, into the background. He used +every exertion to hold the border States by moderate measures, +and, in this way, prevented the spread of the rebellion. For this +moderation, the antislavery extremists in the North assailed him, +but nothing shows more his far-sighted wisdom and strength of +purpose than his action at this time. By his policy at the +beginning of his administration, he held the border States, and +united the people of the North in defense of the Union. + +As the war went on, he went on, too. He had never faltered in his +feelings about slavery. He knew, better than any one, that the +successful dissolution of the Union by the slave power meant, not +only the destruction of an empire, but the victory of the forces +of barbarism. But he also saw, what very few others at the moment +could see, that, if he was to win, he must carry his people with +him, step by step. So when he had rallied them to the defense of +the Union, and checked the spread of secession in the border +States, in the autumn of 1862 he announced that he would issue a +proclamation freeing the slaves. The extremists had doubted him +in the beginning, the con servative and the timid doubted him +now, but when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, on +January 1, 1863, it was found that the people were with him in +that, as they had been with him when he staked everything upon +the maintenance of the Union. The war went on to victory, and in +1864 the people showed at the polls that they were with the +President, and reelected him by overwhelming majorities. +Victories in the field went hand in hand with success at the +ballot-box, and, in the spring of 1865, all was over. On April 9, +1865, Lee surrendered at Appomattox, and five days later, on +April 14, a miserable assassin crept into the box at the theater +where the President was listening to a play, and shot him. The +blow to the country was terrible beyond words, for then men saw, +in one bright flash, how great a man had fallen. + +Lincoln died a martyr to the cause to which he had given his +life, and both life and death were heroic. The qualities which +enabled him to do his great work are very clear now to all men. +His courage and his wisdom, his keen perception and his almost +prophetic foresight, enabled him to deal with all the problems of +that distracted time as they arose around him. But he had some +qualities, apart from those of the intellect, which were of equal +importance to his people and to the work he had to do. His +character, at once strong and gentle, gave confidence to every +one, and dignity to his cause. He had an infinite patience, and a +humor that enabled him to turn aside many difficulties which +could have been met in no other way. But most important of all +was the fact that he personified a great sentiment, which +ennobled and uplifted his people, and made them capable of the +patriotism which fought the war and saved the Union. He carried +his people with him, because he knew instinctively, how they felt +and what they wanted. He embodied, in his own person, all their +highest ideals, and he never erred in his judgment. + +He is not only a great and commanding figure among the great +statesmen and leaders of history, but he personifies, also, all +the sadness and the pathos of the war, as well as its triumphs +and its glories. No words that any one can use about Lincoln can, +however, do him such justice as his own, and I will close this +volume with two of Lincoln's speeches, which show what the war +and all the great deeds of that time meant to him, and through +which shines, the great soul of the man himself. On November 19, +1863, he spoke as follows at the dedication of the National +cemetery on the battle-field of Gettysburg: + +Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this +continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to +the proposition that all men are created equal. + +Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that +nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long +endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have +come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place +for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. +It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. + +But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate--we cannot +consecrate--we cannot hallow--this ground. The brave men, living +and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our +poor power to add or detract. The world will little note or long +remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did +here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to +the unfinished work which they who have fought here, have thus +far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated +to the great task remaining before us--that from the honored dead +we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the +last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that +these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under +God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of +the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from +the earth. + + +On March 4, 1865, when he was inaugurated the second time, he +made the following address: + +Fellow-Countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath of +presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended +address than there was at the first. Then a statement, somewhat +in detail, of a course to be pursued, seemed proper. Now, at the +expiration of four years, during which public declarations have +been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the +great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the +energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. +The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is +as well known to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, +reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope +for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured. + +On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all +thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All +dreaded it--all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address +was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving +the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking +to destroy it without war--seeking to dissolve the Union, and +divide effects, by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war; but +one of them would make war rather than let it perish. And the war +came. + +One eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not +distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the +southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and +powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the +cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this +interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the +Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do +more than to restrict the Territorial enlargement of it. Neither +party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it +has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the +conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself +should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result +less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and +pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other. +It may seem strange that any man should dare to ask a just God's +assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's +faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers +of both could not be answeredthat of neither has been answered +fully. + +The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of +offenses, for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to +that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that +American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the +providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued +through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he +gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due +to those by whom the offenses come, shall we discern therein any +departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a +living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope-fervently do +we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. +Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by +the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil +shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash +shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three +thousand years ago, so still it must be said, "The judgments of +the Lord are true and righteous altogether." + +With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in +the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to +finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to +care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, +and his orphan-to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, a +lasting, peace among ourselves and with all nations. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg of Etext Hero Tales From American History + |