Major-General Don Carlos Buell to Major-General Henry W. Halleck, March 15, 1862

NASHVILLE, TENN., March 15, 1862.

Major-General HALLECK:

Your dispatch of yesterday received this morning. Undoubtedly we should use the river to get supplies, but I am decidedly of opinion that my force should strike it by marching. It can move in less time, in better condition, and with more security to our operations than by the river. It will have also the advantage of driving out the scattered force of the enemy this side of the river, and operate powerfully on the minds of the people. I had designed to commence moving to-morrow. We will have to repair our road somewhat as we go. It is important to choose the point of crossing so that it shall be safe, and yet not too far from the enemy; if, then, we could by a possibility effect it by surprise or at all at Florence, getting in between Decatur and Corinth, it would have many advantages. As for the point of attack, wherever that may be we will be pretty sure to meet the principal force of the enemy, and if we threaten him low down I am confident the island and New Madrid will be abandoned. I hope I can certainly see you in regard to those points.

Parson Brownlow has just arrived from Knoxville. Kirby Smith is there, with eighteen regiments from Manassas, and has seven more at Cumberland Gap.

 D. C. BUELL.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 10, Part 2 (Serial No. 11), p. 39

Brigadier-General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, April 14, 1862

Camp Shiloh, Apl. 14, 1862

Dearest Ellen,

The day before yesterday I heard Halleck had arrived at the River and upon making a short turn through the Camps I found him on board the Continental and Grant on the Tigress.  I was there ordered again to try to destroy the Memphis and Charleston Road, a thing I had twice tried and failed.  I at once ordered 100 4 Illinois Cavalry under Bowman to be embarked on board [illegible phrase] and a Brigade of Infantry Fry’s¹ on board the [illegible boat name] and White Cloud, and with two Gunboats went up the Tennessee 32 miles to Chickasaw, just at the Corner of Alabama, then I disembarked there and sent them on their errand—Bowman reached the Railroad and destroyed the Bridge and some 500 feet of trestles succeeding perfectly in the undertaking which is very important as it prevents all communication of the enemy with the East.  I tried to go up to Florence but the water would not let us pass two shoals above so I returned & Halleck was delighted.  This has been with him a chief object.  When I got down this morning he handed me the enclosed copy of one sent last night to Washington²—so at last I Stand redeemed from the vile slanders of that Cincinati paper—I am sometimes amused at these newspaper Reporters.  They keep shy of me as I have said the first one I catch will hang as a Spy.  I now have the lawful right to have a Court martial, and if I catch one of those Cincinati Newspapers in my camp I will have a Court and they will do just as I tell them.  It would afford me a real pleasure to hang one or two—I have seen a paragraph in the Cincinati Commercial about Dr. Hewit.³  He never drinks, is as moral a man and as intelligent as ever, and all his time is working for the Sick, but because he will not drop his work & listen & babble with a parcel of false humorists who came here from the various [illegible phrase] of our Country he must be stigmatized as a corrupt drunkard.  Rebellion is a sin, & of course should be punished but I feel that in these Southerners there are such qualities of Courage, bold daring and manly that though I know they are striving to subvert our Government and bring them into contempt, Still I feel personal respect for them as individuals, but for these mean contemptible slanderous and false villains who seek reputation by abuse of others—Here called off by a visit of my Kentucky friends who express to me unbounded confidence.

I have just got yours of the 9th my hand is not off⁴—it was a buckshot by a Cavalry man who got a shot at me but was almost instantly killed in return.—My shoulder is well and I am as good as ever.

For mercy’s sake never speak of McClellan as you write.  He ought to have Sent me men & officers in Kentucky but did not, but that he had any malice or intention of wrong I dont believe.  I committed a fearful mistake in Kentucky and if I recover it will be a wonderful instance.  I have made good progress here, and in time can illustrate the motives that influenced me—I know McClellan to be a man of talents & having now a well organized & disciplined army, he may by some rapid strokes achieve a name that would enable him to Crush me—Keep your own counsel, and let me work for myself on this Line.  Halleck has told me that he had ordered the 4 Cos. Of the 13 Inf. to me as soon as a certain Battalion could be spared at New Madrid.  Charley need not be impatient[.] The southern army was repulsed but not defeated.  Their Cavalry hangs about our front now—we must have one more terrible battle—we must attack—My Division is raw—some regts. behaved bad but I did the best I could with what remained, and all admit I was of good service—I noticed that when we were enveloped and death stared us all in the face my seniors in rank leaned on me—Well I am not in search of honor or fame and only count it for yours & childrens sake.

I think you will have some satisfaction and I know your father will be please that I am once more restored to favor.  Give him Hallecks letter & tell himI broke the Charleston Road[.]  Yrs.

W. T. Sherman

_______________

¹ James B. Fry (1827-94) was Buell’s chief of staff.

² Henry W. Halleck to Edwin M. Stanton, April 13, 1862, OR I, 10: pt. 1, p. 98.

³ Dr. Henry S. Hewit (1825-73).

⁴ Sherman wash shot in the hand on April 6, 1862 during the battle of Shiloh.

SOURCE: Brooks D. Simpson, Jean V. Berlin, Editors, Sherman's Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman, 1860-1865, p. 203-5

Captain Charles Wright Wills: November 1, 1863

Florence, Ala., November 1, 1863.

We struck tents on the 27th ult. at Iuka, Miss., and marched to Eastport, eight miles, that night. We had in our division some 200 wagons, all of which with 1,200 horses and mules were to be crossed in a barge over the Tennessee river. I received a complimentary detail to superintend the crossing of the wagons belonging to one brigade. I think I never worked harder than I did from 7 o'clock that night until 6:30 o'clock the next day, a. m. It occupied two days and nights crossing the whole train, but we marched at 3 p. m., the 28th, and camped that night at Gravelly springs, 15 miles from Eastport. The road ran for some ten miles along the foot of the river bluff, and the numerous springs sparkling their beautifully clear and fresh jets of limestone water on the road, from which they rippled in almost countless little streamlets to the river, although adding much to the wild beauty of the country, made such a disagreable splashy walking for we footmen that (I speak more particularly for myself) we failed to appreciate it. We bivouacked for the night at about 9 p. m. The morn of the 29th we started at 8 o'clock, and after ascending the bluff, marched through a magnificent country to this place, 15 miles. Some three miles from here at the crossing of Cypress creek, something like 50 or 60 girls, some of them rather good looking, had congregated and they seemed much pleased to see us. All avowed themselves Unionists.

There had been a large cotton mill at this crossing, Comyn burned it last summer, which had furnished employment for these women and some 200 more. This is a very pretty little town. Has at present some very pretty women. Two of the sirens came very near charming me this a. m. Bought two dozen biscuits of them. Have been out of bread for two days before, but had plenty of sweet potatoes and apples. During the march on the 29th we heard Blair pounding away with his artillery nearly all day across the river, I should think about a dozen miles west of Tuscumbia. I was down to the bank the morning of the 30th ult. and the Rebels across shot at our boys, watering mules, but without effecting any damage. I saw a white flag come down to the bank and heard that Ewing sent over to see what was wanted, nothing more. There was some musketry fighting yesterday near Tuscumbia, but don't know who it was. We are four and one-half miles from there. Two companies of the 4th Regular Cavalry reached here on the 30th from Chattanooga, bearing dispatches to Sherman. He is at Iuka. All of these movements beat me completely. Can't see the point and doubt if there is one. We have commenced fortifying here. Have seen much better places to fight. We are "fixed up" most too nicely to hope to live here long. I have a stove, a good floor covered with Brussels carpet, plenty of chairs and a china table set under my tent. Eatables are plenty and would offer no objection if ordered to stay here a couple of weeks. Understand that not a farthing's worth of the above was “jayhawked.” Got it all on the square. I wish I could send you the mate to a biscuit I just ate. Twould disgust the oldest man in the world with the Sunny South. By hemp, but it is cold these nights. Last night there was an inch of white frost. I was nearly frozen. Dorrance swears that Mattison and I were within an ace of killing him in our endeavors to “close up” and keep warm.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 199-200

Seth Conklin to William Still, February 3, 1851

EASTPORT, MISS., Feb. 3, 1851.

To WM. STILL: — Our friends in Cincinnati have failed finding anybody to assist me on my return. Searching the country opposite Paducah, I find that the whole country fifty miles round is inhabited only by Christian wolves. It is customary, when a strange negro is seen, for any white man to seize the negro and convey such negro through and out of the State of Illinois to Paducah, Ky., and lodge such stranger in Paducah jail, and there claim such reward as may be offered by the master.

There is no regularity by the steamboats on the Tennessee River. I was four days getting to Florence from Paducah. Sometimes they are four days starting, from the time appointed, which alone puts to rest the plan for returning by steamboat. The distance from the mouth of the river to Florence, is from between three hundred and five to three hundred and forty-five miles by the river; by land, two hundred and fifty, or more.

I arrived at the shoe-shop on the plantation, one o'clock, Tuesday, 28th. William and two boys were making shoes. I immediately gave the first signal, anxiously waiting thirty minutes for an opportunity to give the second and main signal, during which time I was very sociable. It was rainy and muddy — my pants were rolled up to the knees. I was in the character of a man seeking employment in this country. End of thirty minutes gave the second signal.

William appeared unmoved; soon sent out the boys; instantly sociable; Peter and Levin at the Island; one of the young masters with them; not safe to undertake to see them till Saturday night, when they would be at home; appointed a place to see Vina, in an open field, that night; they to bring me something to eat; our interview only four minutes; I left; appeared by night; dark and cloudy; at ten o'clock appeared William; exchanged signals; led me a few rods to where stood Vina; gave her the signal sent by Peter; our interview ten minutes; she did not call me “master,” nor did she say “sir,” by which I knew she had confidence in me.

Our situation being dangerous, we decided that I meet Peter and Levin on the bank of the river early dawn of day, Sunday, to establish the laws. During our interview, William prostrated on his knees, and face to the ground; arms sprawling; head cocked back, watching for wolves, by which position a man can see better in the dark. No house to go to safely, traveled round till morning, eating hoe cake which William had given me for supper; next day going around to get employment. I thought of William, who is a Christian preacher, and of the Christian preachers in Pennsylvania. One watching for wolves by night, to rescue Vina and her three children from Christian licentiousness; the other standing erect in open day, seeking the praise of men.

During the four days waiting for the important Sunday morning, I thoroughly surveyed the rocks and shoals of the river from Florence seven miles up, where will be my place of departure. General notice was taken of me as being a stranger, lurking around. Fortunately there are several small gristmills within ten miles around. No taverns here, as in the North; any planter’s house entertains travelers occasionally.

One night I stayed at a medical gentleman’s, who is not a large planter; another night at an ex-magistrate’s house in South Florence — a Virginian by birth — one of the late census takers; told me that many more persons cannot read and write than is reported; one fact, amongst many others, that many persons who do not know the letters of the alphabet, have learned to write their own names; such are generally reported readers and writers.

It being customary for a stranger not to leave the house early in the morning where he has lodged, I was under the necessity of staying out all night Saturday, to be able to meet Peter and Levin, which was accomplished in due time. When we approached, I gave my signal first; immediately they gave theirs. I talked freely. Levin’s voice, at first, evidently trembled. No wonder, for my presence universally attracted attention by the lords of the land. Our interview was less than one hour; the laws were written. I to go to Cincinnati to get a rowing boat and provisions; a first class clipper boat to go with speed. To depart from the place where the laws were written, on Saturday night of the first of March. I to meet one of them at the same place Thursday night, previous to the fourth Saturday from the night previous to the Sunday when the laws were written. We to go down the Tennessee river to some place up the Ohio, not yet decided on, in our row boat. Peter and Levin are good oarsmen. So am I. Telegraph station at Tuscumbia, twelve miles from the plantation, also at Paducah.

Came from Florence to here Sunday night by steamboat. Eastport is in Mississippi. Waiting here for a steamboat to go down; paying one dollar a day for board. Like other taverns here, the wretchedness is indescribable; no pen, ink, paper or newspaper to be had; only one room for everybody, except the gambling rooms. It is difficult for me to write. Vina intends to get a pass for Catharine and herself for the first Sunday in March.

The bank of the river where I met Peter and Levin is two miles from the plantation. I have avoided saying I am from Philadelphia. Also avoided talking about negroes. I never talked so much about milling before. I consider most of the trouble over, till I arrive in a free State with my crew, the first week in March; then will I have to be wiser than Christian serpents, and more cautious than doves. I do not consider it safe to keep this letter in my possession, yet I dare not put it in the post-office here; there is so little business in these post-offices that notice might be taken.

I am evidently watched; everybody knows me to be a miller. I may write again when I get to Cincinnati, if I should have time. The ex-magistrate, with Whom I stayed in South Florence, held three hours' talk with me, exclusive of our morning talk. Is a man of good general information; he was exceedingly inquisitive. “I am from Cincinnati, formerly from the State of New York.” I had no opportunity to get anything to eat from seven o'clock Tuesday morning till six o’clock Wednesday evening, except the hoe cake, and no sleep.

Florence is the head of navigation for small steamboats. Seven miles, all the way up to my place of departure, is swift water, and rocky. Eight hundred miles to Cincinnati. I found all things here as Peter told me, except the distance of the river. South Florence contains twenty white families, three warehouses of considerable business, a post-ofiice, but no school. McKiernon is here waiting for a steamboat to go to New Orleans, so we are in company.

SOURCE: William Still, The Underground Railroad: A Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters &c., p. 27-8

Captain Francis H. Wigfall: December 5, 1864

At Mrs. Overton's,

Six Miles from Nashville,

On Columbia Turnpike,

Dec. 5th, 1864.

I wrote you a short note from the other side of Franklin the morning after the battle. I have not written oftener because I have been unwilling to trust letters to the mail, as I suppose communication has been interrupted between Macon and Augusta. We left Florence, Alabama, on the 21st of November; we reached Columbia and after remaining in front of the place two or three days it was evacuated by the enemy who then took position on the north bank of Duck River, immediately opposite the town. There was some artillery firing and sharp shooting across the river and it was in this on the 28th that Col. Beckham was wounded. I have not heard from him since the morning of the 1st, when he was doing well, but the wound is so severe (the skull fractured) that I fear he will not recover. In fact the surgeon said there was a bare possibility of his surviving. His loss will be very severely felt. It is hard enough to be killed at all, but to be killed in such an insignificant affair makes it doubly bad.

The fight at Franklin was very severe — while it lasted, and though our loss was heavy, everybody is in the finest humor — and ready for the fight again whenever Gen. “John B.” gives the word. Col. Cofer, Provost Marshall Gen. of the Army, told me the other day that he had taken particular pains to find out by enquiring the feelings of the men and that the morale of the army was very much improved by the fight, and that the men would go into the next with double vim and impetuosity.

Our men fought with the utmost determinal and if we had had three hours more of daylight I feel as confident as possible that we should have been to-day in Nashville. The Yankees are now in their works around the city and our main line is at one point only twelve hundred yards from theirs. We have captured three engines and about twenty cars and I hope before long to hear the shriek of the locomotive once more. The country we have marched through for the past fifty miles is one of the gardens of the world. The lands are very fertile, the plantations well improved and the people before the war were in the possession of every comfort and luxury. The destruction, too, caused by the Yankees, is not to be compared to that in other sections occupied by them. There has been no part of the Confederacy that I have seen which has been in their possession and has suffered so little.

Our Army, in leaving Tennessee, on both occasions previously, passed to the East of this portion of the state, so that an Army has never before marched over it. The Yankees too have held it a long time and I imagine considered it permanently in their possession. We reached this place on the night of the 2nd. There are several young ladies from Nashville here who are very pretty and agreeable and the most intense Southerners. The enemy was forced from his position north of Duck River by a flank movement which placed the whole army except, two Divisions, near his communications. He fell back to Franklin that night and the next day, the 30th November, was the battle of Franklin.

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 211-3

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: February 8-20, 1862

Such astounding events have occurred since the 8th instant, such an excitement has prevailed, and so incessant have been my duties, that I have not kept a regular journal. I give a running account of them.

Roanoke has fallen before superior numbers, although we had 15,000 idle troops at Norfolk within hearing of the battle. The government would not interfere, and Gen. Huger refused to allow the use of a few thousand of his troops.

But Gen. Wise is safe; Providence willed that he should escape the “man-trap.” When the enemy were about to open fire on his headquarters at Nag's Head, knowing him to be prostrated with illness (for the island had then been surrendered after a heroic. defense), Lieutenants Bagly and Wise bore the general away in a blanket to a distance of ten or fifteen miles. The Yankees would have gladly exchanged all their prisoners for Gen. Wise, who is ever a terror to the North.

Capt. O. Jennings Wise fell, while gallantly cheering his men, in the heat of the battle. A thousand of the enemy fell before a few hundred of our brave soldiers. We lost some 2500 men, for there was no alternative but to surrender.

Capt. Wise told the Yankee officers, who persisted in forcing themselves in his presence during his dying moments, that the South could never be subjugated. They might exterminate us, but every man, woman, and child would prefer death to abject subjugation. And he died with a sweet smile on his lip, eliciting the profound respect of his most embittered enemies.

The enemy paroled our men taken on the island; and we recovered the remains of the heroic Capt. Wise. His funeral here was most impressive, and saddened the countenances of thousands who witnessed the pageant. None of the members of the government were present; but the ladies threw flowers and evergreens upon his bier. He is dead — but history will do him justice; and his example will inspire others with the spirit of true heroism.

And President Tyler is no more on earth. He died after a very brief illness. There was a grand funeral, Mr. Hunter and others delivering orations. They came to me, supposing I had written one of the several biographies of the deceased which have appeared during the last twenty years. But I had written none — and none published were worthy of the subject. I could only refer them to the bound volumes of the Madisonian in the State library for his messages and other State papers. The originals are among my papers in the hands of the enemy. His history is yet to be written — and it will be read centuries hence.

Fort Henry has fallen. Would that were all! The catalogue of disasters I feared and foretold, under the policy adopted by the War Department, may be a long and a terrible one.

The mission of the spies to East Tennessee is now apparent. Three of the enemy's gun-boats have ascended the Tennessee rivet to the very head of navigation, while the women and children on its banks could do nothing more than gaze in mute despair. No batteries, no men were there. The absence of these is what the traitors, running from here to Washington, have been reporting to the enemy. Their boats would no more have ventured up that river without the previous exploration of spies, than Mr. Lincoln would dare to penetrate a cavern without torch-bearers, in which the rattle of venomous snakes could be heard. They have ascended to Florence, and may get footing in Alabama and Mississippi!

And Fort Donelson has been attacked by an immensely superior force. We have 15,000 men there to resist, perhaps, 75,000! Was ever such management known before? Who is responsible for it? If Donelson falls, what becomes of the ten or twelve thousand men at Bowling Green?

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 109-10

1st Lieutenant Charles Fessenden Morse, February 13, 1862

Cantonment Hicks, February 13, 1862.

The splendid news of the fight and victory of Roanoke Island reached us this morning, and has caused great excitement and enthusiasm. We are most anxious to hear the particulars, especially as the Twenty-fourth is mentioned as being terribly cut up by the fire from the batteries. It will be dreadful to hear of any of our friends being among the killed or wounded. What a record there will be for the New England Guards after the war is over! I believe all its old members have done well so far; after the Second has been heard from, the list will be complete. Our news from the west is scarcely less interesting; what a plucky and successful thing that was for those gun-boats to go right through the heart of Tennessee and into Alabama! It's a great pity they couldn't have stayed to the ball at Florence.

Last night, General Banks received a telegram from General McClellan saying that he, the latter, wanted five hundred men from Banks' division to go out to join the gun-boat expedition down the Mississippi; they were all to be volunteers. We were called upon to furnish thirty from our regiment, three from a company. As soon as it became known to the men, there was a perfect rush from the company streets to the captains' tents; everybody wanted to go. We chose three good fellows from “B,” who when they found out they were the lucky ones, were perfectly wild; one, a fine, big Irishman, that I enlisted at Chicopee, jumped right up in the air and gave a regular wild Irish whoop.

SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 34-5

From Gen. Mitchell’s Division

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., May 4th.

Hon. E. M. Stanton;– Your dispatch is received.  A soldier’s highest reward for service is to merit and received the approbation of his superior officers

An expedition from Bridgeport crossed the river, May 1st, advanced towards Chattanooga, 12 miles, and captured stores and a southern mail from some railroad hands.

A panic prevailed at Chattanooga.  The enemy is moving all his property in the direction of Atlanta.  Gen. Leadbeater had been chastised for cowardice at Bridgeport.  There were not more than 20,000 troops at Chattanooga.  They destroyed a slatpetre manufactory in a cave, and returned safely with the captured property.

Another expedition penetrated to Jasper and found a strong Union feeling.  On the same day they had a skirmish with the enemy’s cavalry at Athens.  Our outposts were driven back, but on being reinforced the enemy retreated in the direction of Florence.  There are straggling bands of mounted citizens along my entire line, threatening the bridges, one of which they succeeded in destroying.

Signed,

O. M. MITCHELL,

Maj. Gen.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, May 6, 1862, p. 1

From Cairo

Special to the Chicago Tribune.

CAIRO, March 6.

At 12 o’clock Wednesday last our pickets were driven in at Columbus, by rebel cavalry, numbering 80.  Captain Paulding, of the gun-boat St. Louis, lying at the landing, sent a messenger to Colonel Buford asking if he should shell the woods in the rear of the town, and having returned with an affirmative answer the St. Louis steamed across the river, and the mortar boat took position and shelled the woods vigorously for an hour.

The 2d Illinois cavalry was, at last accounts, in hot pursuit of the rebels.

At 12 o’clock last night, and again at 4 o’clock this morning, heavy cannonading was distinctly heard at Columbus, apparently in the direction of New Madrid.  Many of the inhabitants of Columbus are returning, who report that they left the town weeks ago, in fear of the depredations of the rebel army.

The Rev. Gen. Polk’s headquarters upon the bluff, present an entertaining spectacle being filled with champaign bottles, cigar boxes, perfumery cases, toilet articles, and other unmilitary utensils.  Col. Buford still remains in command of the town.

Adjt. [Habn], of the 23d Illinois passed through here last evening, en route for Chicago.

The mortars of the fleet are all mounted.

The Cumberland and Tennessee rivers are now in pursuance of Gen. Halleck’s orders, open for commercial navigation. – The Express in the first boat to avail itself of the new order, and left last night for Fort Henry, with passengers and freight.

A gentleman just arrived from Florence, Alabama, says the rebels of that section stand in mortal terror of the gun-boats. – He asserts that there were but two regiments at Pittsburg when the late skirmish took place.  The majority of the people thereabouts are strongly Union.

The reports in regard to Gen. Pope and his force are very conflicting.  The first is a rumor of the evacuation of New Madrid.  Second, that his forces had been shelled out by the rebel gun-boats.  Third, that Gen. Pope had not been within 18 miles of the place.

The rebel army there numbers 40,000 men, having been swelled by large reinforcements from Columbus and Memphis.  They have also 8 wooden gun-boats lying at the landing.

Steamers are rapidly arriving and departing.

The weather is very cold here.  There was quite a heavy fall of snow last night.

From late rebel papers I glean the following facts:

Gen. Polk, previous to the evacuation of Columbus, ordered every bridge on Mayfield creek and other creeks to be destroyed.

The Memphis Appeal says, “Columbus, we can positively state, is not to be evacuated and will not be unless at the point of the bayonet.”

The steamer Cambridge was sunk on the 23d near Grand Glaize, Arkansas, and 42 lives lost.

Heavy rains have fallen in South Alabama.

The machinery from the various workshops in Nashville was removed prior to the evacuation to Chattanooga.

The wheat and all ground crops in the South promise well.

[General] Bragg is in command at Mobile.

The people of the South are warmly urging and demanding Jeff Davis to take the field.

A bitter contest is going on at Memphis as to whether the town shall be burned at the approach of our gun boats.

A letter written to Memphis from Va. States that Jeff. Davis complains of lack of weapons, and Southern manufacturers cannot even supply the want.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, March 8, 1862, p. 1

The Recent Federal Victories and their Result

At the time Gen. Scott had command of the American forces he was heard to remark, that of all the Generals the one he most feared was General Impatience.  The old chieftain knew that it would require weeks and months to get together a large army and discipline them sufficiently to carry out the plans he had matured in his mind; and he knew the impatient disposition of the American people, and that our Government was ignorant of the preparations it would require and the time it would necessarily consume, to collect and equip so large a force as the extend of the rebellion demanded for its suppression.  Gen. Scott seems to have foreseen all this, and with the weight of years and bodily infirmity pressing upon him, he was unwilling to undertake a labor that would necessarily expose him to the taunts and reproaches of his countrymen.  It came to pass as he had predicted, and one feeling of impatience at the long delay seems to have animated the people from the President down, with the exception of a few whose patriotism it were well to doubt.

Whether it were the expression given to this impatience, or that the plans so long projected were fully matured, certain it is that just at this time the Generals of the Federal forces began to move and their movement has been attended by several of the most decisive victories that the Government troops have yet obtained over the insurgents.  The capture of Fort Henry was a brilliant achievement, and had it not been for the unfortunate accident that befell the Essex, would have been an almost bloodless one.  Even the enemy confess to the strength and importance of this post, and so far as Tennessee is concerned, the traitor-leaders begin to despair of long maintaining a foothold there.  The advance of the gun boats up the Tennessee river was a triumphal procession, everywhere they were received with manifestations of joy, old men wept, young men shouted and women hailed them as their deliverers from a worse thralldom than negro slavery itself.  The fact was proclaimed, that Tennessee was virtually loyal, that the mass of her citizens but awaited the opportunity gladly to announce the allegiance, which in their hearts they had never disowned, to the Government that so long had protected them.  This fact established and it but remains to the Government to see that the horde of vile demagogues that have so long polluted her soil, either leave it or be laid beneath it, that the stars and stripes again wave in their original beauty and authority over it.

Again, from the eastern shore of North Carolina comes the welcome intelligence of another great victory.  The Burnside fleet, from which so much was originally expected, but for which so much latterly has been feared, has made an attack on one of the strongest and best manned points of the enemy, has defeated them with great loss and taken many of them prisoners. – But the best feature of this engagement, as well as that on the Tennessee river, and which as completely taken captive old General Impatience, is, that no sooner is one success achieved, than without stopping for the enemy to rally and reinforce, our Generals immediately follow in pursuit.  Elizabeth City was the next point that fell before Burnside’s forces and Edenton, it will be seen, has shared the same fate. -  In the West, no sooner is Fort Henry captured than gun boats advance on to Florence, Ala.; return from their bloodless conquest and forthwith start for the stronghold of Fort Donelson.  Even from Port Royal, where the most hopeful had ceased to look for anything encouraging, the news received is flattering, and an advance on Savannah may soon be expected.  The loyal heart would be better pleased were it Charleston, as every patriot in the land longs to see that city as are the ancient “cities of the plains.”

The next thirty days are big with the fate of the rebellion.  A succession of Federal victories on the eve of the expiration of the time of the rebel soldiery, will so dishearten them that not one in ten will have the stamina to re-enlist, but will seek their homes and leave the heartless demagogues to conduct the war they themselves brought on the country.  The vigorous measures adopted by the Government, the concerted attacks on so many points at the same time and unaware where the next blow may fall, will cause very many of the rebel soldiers when their time shall have expired, to leave the grand army and be in readiness to defend their own homes.  The love of home – of the little spot where first we drew the breath of life, where the innocence of childhood invested every scene with a romantic beauty that never loses its freshness – glows brightly in every heart, though rough be the mould in which it is cast, or rude the world with which it has mingled.  Not a rebel soldier but has a longing to return to his home, and of many an one of them it may be said:

“The touch of kindred too and love he fac’s,

The modest eye, whose beams on his alone

Ecstatic shine: the little strong embrace

Of prattling children, twined around his neck,

And emulous to please him, calling forth

The fond paternal soul.”

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, February 15, 1862, p. 2

The Richmond (Va.) Examiner . . .

. . . in a long editorial bewailing the condition of the rebel cause says, “We have a thousand proofs that the southern people are not sufficiently alive to the necessity of exertion in the struggle they are involved in. The most recent proof is that given by the people along the Tennessee river, where the gun boats ascended from Fort Henry to Florence. [That proof was decidedly] convincing that the hearts of the Southern people are not in the struggle!

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, February 14, 1862, p. 2

From Fort Henry

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 12.

A special to the Republican, dated Fort Henry, the 11th, says gun boats Conestoga, Tyler and Lexington returned form the upper Tennessee last night. The boats went as high up as Florence, Ala., and were received with the wildest joy by the people along the river; old men cried like children at the sight of the stars and stripes, and invited officers and men into their house and told them all they had was at their disposal. Large numbers were anxious to enlist under the old flag, and the Tyler brought down 250 to fill up the gun boat crews. Our officers were assured if they would wait a few days, whole regiments could be raised, and if the Government would give them arms to defend themselves, they could bring Tennessee back to the Union in a few months. They said when the secession ordinance was passed, armed men stood at the polls and everything went as certain politicians said. At Savannah, Clifton, Eastport, and Florence, officers and men of our boats went ashore without arms and mingled freely with the people. The Union men along the river comprise the wealthiest and best portion of the inhabitants, large numbers of whom have American flags. Not a gun was fired either going or coming. The rebel gun boats Eastport, Sallie Ward and Mussel, only partially finished, were captured and are here. The Eastport has 25,000 feet of lumber on board, and the Ward had a quantity of iron plating. The steamers Sam. Kirkman, Linn Boyd, Julia Smith, Sam Orr, Appleton and Bell were burned by the rebels to prevent them from falling into our hands.

The railroad bridge at Florence was not destroyed. A quantity of papers were captured on the Eastport, belonging to Lieut. Brown, late of the Federal navy: among them were letters from Lt. Maury, stating that submarine batteries could not be successfully used in the rapid streams of the West.

150 [hds] of tobacco and a quantity of other freight will be brought down from the mouth of the Sanday river to-morrow.

A daily line of packets has been established between Fort Henry and Cairo.

Nothing during the war has been so prostrating to the rebels as the late victory and the gun boat expedition above named.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Thursday Morning, February 13, 1862, p. 1