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used as hospitals and gaol. Many hundred sick and wounded— Federals and Confederates-were killed in these buildings; and, whether from chance or intention I know not, but certain it is that the yellow flag, ordinarily held so sacred in modern war, has in this one been but the mark for the hottest and most deadly fire. Occasional flags of truce were asked and granted to bury the dead, and on these occasions the matter of the hospitals was represented to the proper authorities, but all to no effect. About the thirty-fifth day provisions began to get very scarce, and the advent of Johnstone's relieving force was anxiously and momentarily looked for. Mule-meat was the common fare for all alike, and even dogs became in request for the table. Bean-meal was made into bread, and corn-meal into coffee, and in these straits the garrison patiently dragged on the weary length of one day after another, under a scorching sun, the stench from the unburied. corpses all around alone causing the strongest minded, firmest nerved to grow impatient for the day of deliverance."

The garrison consisted of less than 15,000 men, and the total number of persons in the place at the time of its surrender, who were afterwards paroled, amounted to 31,277'.

Two unsuccessful attempts were made, on the 27th of May and 14th of June, to carry the works of Port Hudson by assault, and some negro regiments, who were placed in the front, suffered terribly. But no supplies could reach the garrison, and they were compelled by the approach of starvation to surrender on the 9th of July. The two Confederate strongholds on the Mississippi, Vicksburg and Port Hudson, were now in the hands of the Federals, and they exulted in the idea that the navigation of the great river was at last clear for their military operations and the transport of commerce. But they were disagreeably undeceived when they found that its banks were still lined by guerilla bands of their enemies, who fired upon the steamers as they attempted to pass, and rendered the passage of the river almost as impracticable as before.

In July, President Davis issued a proclamation for a conscription, to embrace all white men resident in the Confederate States between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, not legally exempted from military service; and at the end of the month he appointed a Fast Day, on account of the "recent reverses sustained by the Confederate arms.

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The raising of negro regiments by the North had exasperated the South to the greatest possible degree, and they refused to consider them as soldiers entitled, if captured, to be treated as prisoners of war, but sold them as slaves. In consequence of this, President Lincoln proclaimed on the 30th of July, that "if the enemy shall sell or enslave any one because of his colour, the offence shall be punished by retaliation upon the enemy's prisoners in our posses

1 One account gives 23,000 as the total number of prisoners captured.

sion. It is, therefore, ordered that, for every soldier of the United States killed in violation of the laws of war, a rebel soldier shall be executed, and for every one enslaved by the enemy or sold into slavery, a rebel soldier shall be placed at hard labour on the public works, and continued at such labour until the other shall be released, and receive the treatment due to a prisoner of war."

We now turn to Charleston, against which a third attack, under General Gilmore, was organized in the course of the summer. The natural defences of Charleston harbour are Sullivan and Morris islands. The main ship channel runs almost equidistant between these two islands, and every vessel passing into Charleston harbour is exposed to a cross-fire from the batteries erected. At the apex of an obtuse-angled triangle, of which a line drawn from the nearest points of the two islands would be the base, is a shoal or mud bank, on which stands Fort Sumter. This fortress was raised on an artificial foundation of refuse stone from quarries in the neighbourhood, and was intended to carry three tiers of guns, two tiers casemated, and the upper one en barbette. It commands the northern and southern channels, so as to block the passage into the harbour.

Against this fort a tremendous cannonade was kept up by the Federals both by sea and land, and its guns were dismounted by the heavy fire from Parrott and Whitworth guns, which rained shot and shell upon the devoted garrison without intermission. On the 21st of August, General Gilmore demanded from General Beauregard the surrender of Fort Sumter and evacuation of Morris Island, on the ground that the rapid destruction of the fort under the fire of his batteries rendered its complete demolition within a few hours a matter of certainty, and he threatened in case of refusal to open fire on the city of Charleston. General Beauregard sternly refused, and protested against the inhumanity of the meditated attack upon non-combatants in a city which was six miles distant from the Federal batteries. At night, however, a battery of Parrott guns began to throw eight-inch shells into the town, and caused the utmost consternation amongst the inhabitants, who were roused from their beds by the explosions of the projectiles. The fire was continued for two or three hours, but, strange to say, caused no casualty to life.

We need not give minute details of the siege, which was carried on by the Federals with an enormous power of artillery, both on land and in their iron-clad ships. It entirely failed up to the end of the present year, and not even Fort Sumter was taken, although it seemed to be little more than a heap of ruins externally. As fast as the Confederate flag that waved there was shot away, another rose in its place, and it replied so vigorously to the fire of its assailants, and was so well protected by other batteries, that the Federals did not venture to try and carry it by storm. They got possession, however, of Morris Island, with the Gregg and Cum

mings Point batteries, from which they were able more effectually to bombard Charleston itself.

On the 26th of August, President Lincoln addressed a letter to an Union Committee in Illinois which had invited him to attend a meeting of "unconditional Union" men. It is certainly one of the strangest documents that ever issued from the pen of any man calling himself a statesman, with reference to such a frightful calamity as civil war. He said, ". . . . There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I would say, you desire peace, and you blame me that we do not have it. But how can we attain it? There are but three conceivable ways. First, to suppress the rebellion by force of arms. This I am trying to do. Are you for it? If you are, so far we are agreed. If you are not for it, a second way is to give up the Union. I am against this. Are you for it? If you are, you should say so plainly. If you are not for force, nor yet for dissolution, there only remains some imaginable compromise. I do not believe that any compromise embracing the maintenance of the Union is now possible. All that I learn leads to a directly opposite belief. The strength of the rebellion is its military, its army. That army dominates all the country, and all the people within its range. Any offer of terms made by any man or men within that range, in opposition to that army, is simply nothing for the present; because such man or men have no power whatever to enforce their side of a compromise, if one were made with them. . . . A compromise, to be effective, must be made either with those who control the rebel army, or with the people, first liberated from the domination of that army by the success of our own army. Now, allow me to assure you that no word or intimation from that rebel army, or from any of the men controlling it in relation to any peace compromise, has ever come to my knowledge or belief. All charges and insinuations to the contrary are deceptive and groundless; and I promise you that if any such proposition shall hereafter come, it shall not be rejected and kept a secret from you. . . . . . But to be plain. You are dissatisfied with me about the negro. Quite likely there is a difference of opinion between you and myself upon that subject. I certainly wish that all men could be free, while you, I suppose, do not. Yet, I have neither adopted nor proposed any measure which is not consistent with even your view, provided that you are for the Union. I suggested compensated emancipation, to which you replied you wished not to be taxed to buy negroes. But I had not asked you to be taxed to buy negroes, except in such way as to save you from greater taxation, to save the Union exclusively by other means. You dislike the Emancipation proclamation, and perhaps would have it retracted. You say it is unconstitutional. I think differently. . . The signs look better. The Father of Waters Thanks to the great North-West Three hundred miles up they

again goes unvexed to the sea.
for it. Nor yet wholly to them.

met New England, Empire, Keystone, and Jersey, hewing their way right and left. The sunny South, too, in more colours than one, also lent a helping hand. On the spot their part of the history was jotted down in black and white. The job was a great national one, and let none be slighted who bore an honourable part in it. And while those who have cleared the great river may well be proud, even that is not all. It is hard to say that any thing has been more bravely and well done than at Antietam, Murfreesborough, Gettysburg, and on many fields of less note. Nor must Uncle Sam's web-feet be forgotten. At all the watery margins they have been present, not only on the deep sea, the broad bay, and the rapid river, but also up the narrow muddy bayou, and wherever the ground was a little damp, they have been and made their tracks.

"Thanks to all for the Great Republic, for the principle by which it lives and keeps alive for man's vast future. Thanks to all.

"Peace does not appear so distant as it did. .

On the 15th of September, President Lincoln issued a proclamation suspending the writ of Habeas Corpus. This he was authorized to do by an Act which passed through Congress, as we have already mentioned. The suspension was to be in force "throughout the United States in cases where, by the authority of the President of the United States, military, naval, and civil officers of the United States, or any of them, hold persons under their command, or in their custody, either as prisoners of war, spies, or aiders or abettors of the enemy, or officers, or soldiers, or seamen enrolled, draughted, or mustered or enlisted in or belonging to the land or naval forces of the United States, or as deserters therefrom."

In the course of the year, Mr. Mason, the Confederate Commissioner, who was one of the persons seized on board the "Trent" in November, 1861, and who had since his restoration by the Federal Government resided in this country, and acted on behalf of the Confederate Government, although in no way recognized in that capacity by our own, was recalled by President Davis. The reasons which induced the President to take this step will appear from the following letter, addressed by Mr. Mason to Earl Russell, on the 21st of September:

"My Lord,-In a despatch from the Secretary of State of the Confederate States of America, dated 4th day of August last, and now just received, I am instructed to consider the commission which brought me to England as at an end, and I am directed to withdraw at once from this country.

"The reasons for terminating this mission are set forth in an extract from the despatch, which I have the honour to communicate herewith.

"The President believes that the Government of Her Majesty has determined to decline the overtures made through you for establishing, by treaty, friendly relations between the two Govern

ments, and entertains no intention of receiving you as the accredited Minister of this Government near the British Court.

"Under these circumstances, your continued residence in London is neither conducive to the interests nor consistent with the dignity of this Government; and the President therefore requests that you consider your mission at an end, and that you withdraw with your Secretary from London.'

"Having made known to your Lordship on my arrival here the character and purposes of the mission entrusted to me by my Government, I have deemed it due to courtesy thus to make known to the Government of Her Majesty its termination, and that I shall, as directed, at once withdraw from England."

The key to the entrance into East Tennessee was the pass of Cumberland Gap, and here the Confederate commander seems to have been either faithless or unequal to his post. He surrendered to General Burnside, and his whole force were taken prisoners of war, thus leaving the road into Tennessee open to the Federals. But an important victory was gained by the Confederates at Chickamauga in Tennessee in September. General Bragg commanded the Confederates, and General Rosencrans the Federals. The Confederates were reinforced by General Longstreet, who was detached by General Lee from the army of Virginia, and came up with his division by forced marches so as to join Bragg on the night of the 19th of September. He was immediately put in command of the left wing. General Burnside was on his way to reinforce Rosencrans, who had occupied Chattanooga after the Confederates had abandoned it, and whom Bragg determined to attack before the junction with Burnside could take place. Rosencrans concentrated his troops in a strong position on the slope of a chain of hills at Chickamauga Creek, about seventeen miles south-east of Chattanooga. The battle began at noon on the 19th, and lasted for two days. On the first the Federals were driven back by the impetuous onset of the Confederates, and were only saved from destruction by the stubborn resistance offered to the enemy by General Thomas at the head of his division. Next day the success of the Confederates was chiefly due to General Longstreet, whose men swept every thing before them. The Federals broke and fled through the village of Rossville in the direction of Chattanooga, nor did they stop until they reached that place in their disorderly retreat. In describing this victory General Bragg said:

"The enemy retreated on Chattanooga last night, leaving his dead and wounded in our hands. His loss is very large in men, artillery, small arms, and colours. Ours is heavy, but not yet ascertained. The victory is complete, and our cavalry is pursuing. With the blessing of God, our troops have accomplished great results against greatly superior numbers."

In this great battle the Federals are supposed to have lost 10,000, and the Confederates 5000 men.

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