XVIII. ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN (CONCLUDED), 1861-1865…

XVIII. ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN (CONCLUDED), 1861-1865

WAR FOR THE UNION (CONCLUDED), 1864-1865.

The Work Remaining to be Done--General Grant Placed in Command of all the Union Armies--The Grand Campaign--Banks' Disastrous Red River Expedition--How the Union Fleet was Saved--Capture of Mobile by Admiral Farragut--The Confederate Cruisers--Destruction of the Alabama by the Kearsarge--Fate of the Other Confederate Cruisers--Destruction of the Albemarle by Lieutenant William B. Cushing--Re-election of President Lincoln--Distress in the South and Prosperity in the North--The Union Prisoners in the South--Admission of Nevada--The Confederate Raids from Canada--Sherman's Advance to Atlanta--Fall of Atlanta--Hood's Vain Attempt to Relieve Georgia--Superb Success of General Thomas--"Marching Through Georgia"--Sherman's Christmas Gift to President Lincoln--Opening of Grant's Final Campaign--Battles in the Wilderness--Wounding of General Longstreet and Deaths of General Stuart and Sedgwick--Grant's Flanking Movements Against Lee--A Disastrous Repulse at Cold Harbor--Defeat of Sigel and Hunter in the Shenandoah Valley --"Bottling-up" of Butler--Explosions of the Petersburg Mine--Early's Raids--His Final Defeat by Sheridan--Grant's Campaign--Surrender of Lee--Assassination of President Lincoln--Death of Booth and Punishment of the Conspirators--Surrender of Jo Johnston and Collapse of the Southern Confederacy--Capture of Jefferson Davis--His Release and Death--Statistics of the Civil War--A Characteristic Anecdote.

THE WORK TO BE DONE.

Two grand campaigns remained to be prosecuted to a successful conclusion before the great Civil War could be ended and the Union restored. The first and most important was that of General Grant against Richmond, or, more properly, against Lee, who was still at the head of the unconquered Army of Northern Virginia, and who must be overcome before the Confederate capital could fall. The second was the campaign of General Sherman, through the heart of the Southern Confederacy. Other interesting and decisive operations were to be pressed, but all were contributory to the two great ones mentioned.

Several momentous truths had forced themselves upon the national government. It had learned to comprehend the magnitude of the struggle before it. Had the North and South possessed equal resources and the same number of troops, the latter could not have been conquered any more than the North could have been defeated had the situation been reversed. But the North possessed men, wealth, and resources immensely beyond those of the South. The war had made the South an armed camp, with privation and suffering everywhere, while in the North a person might have traveled for days and weeks without suspecting that a domestic war was in progress. It was necessary to overwhelm the South, and the North had not only the ability to do so, but was resolved that it should be done. Its estimates were made on the basis of an army of a million men. Large bounties were offered for soldiers, and, when these did not provide all that was needed, drafting was resorted to. There had been rioting and disorder in New York City and other places during the summer of 1863, when there was a vicious revolt against drafting, but the government persisted and obtained the men it needed.

THE RIGHT LEADER.

Another proven fact was that the war could not be successfully prosecuted by a bureau in Washington. This attempt at the beginning had brought disaster; but the excuse for this interference was that the right leaders had not yet appeared. General after general was tried at the head of the armies, and had either failed or come short of the expected success. The events of 1863, however, indicated unerringly the right men to whom the destinies of the nation could be safely intrusted. Foremost among these was General Ulysses S. Grant. With that genius of common sense, which always actuated President Lincoln, he nominated him to the rank of lieutenant-general, the grade of which was revived by Congress in February, 1864, and the Senate confirmed the appointment on the 2d of March. In obedience to a summons from Washington, Grant left Nashville on the 4th of the month, arrived on the 9th, and President Lincoln handed him his commission on the following day.

"I don't know what your plans are, general," said the President, "nor do I ask to know them. You have demonstrated your ability to end this war, and the country expects you to do it. Go ahead, and you may count upon my unfaltering support."

Grant modestly accepted the tremendous responsibility, which placed him in command of all the armies of the United States, and he established his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac at Culpeper, Va., March 26, 1864.

THE GRAND CAMPAIGN.

The plan of campaign determined upon by Grant was to concentrate all the national forces into a few distinct armies, which should advance on the same day against the opposing Confederate armies, and, by fighting incessantly, prevent any one of them from reinforcing the other. The armies of the enemy were themselves to be the objective points, and they were to be given no time for rest. Sherman was to advance from Atlanta against Johnston, who had an army larger in numbers than that of Lee; Banks' army, as soon as it could be withdrawn from the disastrous Red River expedition, was to act against Mobile; Sigel was to pass down the valley of Virginia and prevent the enemy from making annoying raids from that quarter; Butler was to ascend the James and threaten Richmond; and, finally, the Army of the Potomac, under the immediate command of Meade, was to protect Washington, and essay the most herculean task of all--the conquest of Lee and his army.

Orders were issued by Grant for a general movement of all the national forces on the 4th of May. Since they were so numerous, and began nearly at the same time, it is necessary to give the particulars of each in turn, reserving that of the most important--Grant's own--for the last.

BANKS' RED RIVER EXPEDITION.

One of the most discreditable affairs of the war was what is known as Banks' Red River Expedition. That officer was in command at New Orleans, when it was decided to send a strong force up the Red River, in quest of the immense quantities of cotton stored in that region, though the ostensible object was the capture of Shreveport, Louisiana, 350 miles above New Orleans, and the capital of the State.

The plan was for the army to advance in three columns, supported by Admiral Porter with a fleet, which was to force a passage up the Red River. General A.J. Smith was to march from Vicksburg, with the first division of the army, which numbered 10,000 men; Banks was to lead the second from New Orleans, and Steele the third from Little Rock.

General Edmund Kirby Smith was the Confederate commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department. Although he had fewer men than the invaders, he prepared for a vigorous resistance. He sent Generals Price and Marmaduke to harass Steele, directed General Dick Taylor to obstruct the Red River as much as he could, while he made ready to make the best fight possible.

Fifty miles above the mouth of the Red River stood Fort de Russy, which, although considerably strengthened, was carried by assault, March 13th. On the 15th, Porter's twelve gunboats and thirty transports joined Franklin at Alexandria. The Federal cavalry occupied Natchitoches, on the last day of the month, and in the van of the army; they arrived at Mansfield on the 8th of April, several days after Admiral Porter had reached Grand Echore on the Red River.

Meanwhile, the Confederate General Dick Taylor kept fighting and falling back before the Union advance, but he was continually reinforced, until he felt strong enough to offer the Federals battle. This took place on the 8th, a short distance from Mansfield. The assault was made with vehemence, and the Union troops, who were straggling along for miles, were taken by surprise and driven into headlong panic, leaving their artillery behind, and not stopping their flight until under the protection of the guns of the Nineteenth Corps. Then a stand was made, and Banks fell back to his old camping ground at Pleasant Hill. His intention was to remain there, but his command was so disorganized that he continued his flight. The Confederates had already chased them so long that they were worn out, while Banks continued retreating until he reached Grand Echore, where he breathed freely for the first time, since he had the protection of the gunboats.

Disgraceful as was the overthrow of the land forces, a still greater disaster threatened the fleet. Porter had gone further up the river, but returned to Grand Echore upon learning of the defeat of Banks. He had to sweep the shores continually with grapeshot, to clear it of the Confederate sharpshooters, who succeeded in capturing two of the transports and blowing up another with a torpedo. The Red River was low, with the water falling hourly. The retreating army reached Alexandria on the 27th of April, but the fleet was stopped by the shallowness of the water above the falls, and the officers despaired of saving it. The only possible recourse seemed to destroy all the vessels to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy.

HOW THE UNION FLEET WAS SAVED.

In this crisis, Colonel Joseph Bailey, of Wisconsin, submitted a plan for a series of wing dams above the falls, believing they would raise the water high enough to float all the vessels. The other engineers scoffed at the project, but Porter placed 3,000 men and all that Bailey needed at his command.

The task was a prodigious one, for the falls, as they were termed, were a mile in length and it was necessary to swell the current sufficiently to carry the vessels past the rocks for the whole distance. The large force of men worked incessantly for nearly two weeks, by which time the task was accomplished and the fleet plunged through unharmed to the deeper water below the falls. The genius of a single man had saved the Union fleet.

Banks, having retreated to Alexandria, paused only long enough to burn the town, when he kept on to New Orleans, where some time later he was relieved of his command. The Red River expedition was the crowning disgrace of the year.

THE CAPTURE OF MOBILE.

After the fall of New Orleans, in April, 1862, Mobile was the leading port of the Southern Confederacy. It was blockaded closely, but the Confederate cruisers succeeded now and then in slipping in and out, while a number of ironclads were in process of building, and threatened to break the blockade. Admiral Farragut, the greatest naval hero of modern times, after a careful reconnaissance of the defenses, told the government that if it would provide him with a single ironclad, he would capture Mobile. He was promised a strong land force under General Granger and several monitors, which were sent to him.

Farragut, fully appreciating the task before him, made his preparations with care and thoroughness. His fleet consisted of eighteen vessels, four of which--the Tecumseh, Winnebago, Manhattan, and Chickasaw--were ironclads, while the others were of wood. Admiral Buchanan (commander of the Merrimac in her first day's fight with the Monitor) had less vessels, three gunboats, and the formidable ram Tennessee. But he was assisted by three powerful forts, with large garrisons--Gaines, Morgan, and Powell--which commanded the entrance, while the Tennessee was regarded by the Confederates as able to sink the whole Union fleet.

The wooden vessels were lashed in couples, so as to give mutual help, and with the Brooklyn and Hartford (Farragut's flagship) in the lead, the procession entered Mobile Bay on the morning of August 5, 1864. As they came opposite the forts they opened fire upon them, and in a few minutes the latter began their thunderous reply. The battle was tremendous, and the smoke was so dense that Farragut, who was closely watching and directing the action of the fleet, gradually climbed the rigging, so as to place himself above the obstructing vapor. His height was such that the captain of the vessel became anxious for his safety, since if he was struck, as looked probable, he was sure to fall to the deck or overboard. He, therefore, sent a man after him, with a rope in hand. Amid the gentle remonstrances of the admiral, this man lashed him fast to the rigging. When the increasing smoke made it necessary to climb higher, Farragut untied the fastenings, and, after he had taken several upward steps, tied himself again.

The harbor bristled with torpedoes, to which, however, Farragut and his officers paid little heed. The Tecumseh, Commander T.A.M. Craven, was hurrying to attack the ram Tennessee, when a gigantic torpedo exploded beneath her, smashing in the bottom and causing her to sink so suddenly that nearly a hundred men went down with her. The pilot and Craven were in the pilot house, and, feeling the boat dropping beneath them, both sprang to the narrow ladder leading out. They reached the foot together, when the commander bowed and, pausing, said to the pilot: "You first, sir." He had barely time to scramble out, when Captain Craven and the rest went down.

The Union vessels pressed forward with such vigor that, with the exception of the loss of the Tecumseh, the forts were passed without the ships receiving serious injury. When, however, the battle seemed won, the Tennessee came out from under the guns of Fort Powell and headed for the Union vessels. She believed herself invulnerable in her massive iron hide, and selected the flagship as her special target. The Hartford partly dodged her blow and rammed her in return. The ram was accompanied by three gunboats, which were soon driven out of action, but the Tennessee plunged here and there like some enraged monster driven at bay, but which the guns and attacks of her assailants could not conquer.

Tons of metal were hurled with inconceivable force against her mailed sides, only to drop harmlessly into the water. She was butted and rammed, and in each case it was like the rat gnawing a file: the injury fell upon the assailant. She was so surrounded by her enemies that they got in one another's way and caused mutual hurt.

But as continual dropping wears away stones, this incessant hammering finally showed effect. Admiral Buchanan received a painful wound, and a number of his men were killed; the steering-chains were broken, the smoke-stack was carried away, the port shutters jammed, and finally the wallowing "sea-hog" became unmanageable. Then the white flag was displayed and the battle was over. Farragut had won his most memorable battle, and the last important seaport of the Confederacy was gone.

Two days later Fort Gaines was captured, and Fort Morgan surrendered on the 23d of the same month. The land force rendered valuable assistance, and the blockade became more rigid. The coast line, however, was so extensive that it was impossible to seal every port, and the Confederacy obtained a good deal of sorely needed medical supplies through the daring blockade-runners, which often managed to elude the watchful fleets.

The Confederate cruisers were still roaming the ocean and creating immense havoc among the Union shipping. Despite our protests to England, she helped to man these vessels, and laid up a fine bill for damages which she was compelled to pay after the close of the war.

THE CONFEDERATE CRUISERS.

During the year 1864, several new cruisers appeared on the ocean, one of which, the Tallahassee, boldly steamed up and down off our northern coast, and, in the space of ten days, destroyed thirty-three vessels. The most famous of all these cruisers was the Alabama, which was built at Birkenhead, England, and launched May 15, 1862. She was a bark-rigged propeller of 1,016 tons register, with a length over all of 220 feet. Her two horizontal engines were of 300 horse-power each. When completed, she was sent on a pretended trial trip. At the Azores she received her war material from a waiting transport, while her commander, Captain Raphael Semmes, and his officers, who had gone thither on a British steamer, went aboard. The Alabama carried 8 guns and a crew of 149 men, most of whom were Englishmen. Thus fairly launched, she started on her career of destruction, which continued uninterruptedly for twenty-two months.

DESTRUCTION OF THE ALABAMA.

One of the many United States vessels that was engaged in a hunt for the Alabama was the Kearsarge, Captain John Ancrum Winslow. She was of 1,030 tons, carried 7 guns, and had a crew of 163 men, nearly all of whom were Americans. On Sunday, July 12, 1864, while lying off the town of Flushing, Holland, Captain Winslow received a dispatch from Minister W.L. Dayton, at Paris, notifying him that the Alabama had arrived at Cherbourg, France. Winslow lost no time in steaming thither, and reached Cherbourg on Tuesday, where he saw the cruiser across the breakwater with the Confederate flag defiantly flying.

Winslow did not dare enter the harbor, for, had he done so, he would have been obliged, according to international law, to remain twenty-four hours after the departure of the Alabama, which would thereby gain all the opportunity she needed for escape. He, therefore, took station off the port, intending to wait until the cruiser came out.

This precaution, however, was unnecessary, for Semmes, grown bold by his long career of destroying unarmed merchantmen, had resolved to offer the Kearsarge battle. He sent a challenge to Captain Winslow, couched in insulting language, and the Union officer promptly accepted it.

The news of the impending battle was telegraphed far and wide, and excursion trains were run from Paris and other points to Cherbourg. On Sunday, June 19th, fully 15,000 people lined the shores and wharves, and among them all it may be doubted whether there were more than a hundred whose sympathies were not keenly on the side of the Alabama. France was intensely in favor of the Southern Confederacy, and nothing would have pleased Louis Napoleon, the emperor, better than to see our country torn apart. He did his utmost to persuade England to join him in intervening against us.

With a faint haze resting on the town and sea, the Alabama steamed slowly out of the harbor on Sunday morning, June 19th, and headed toward the waiting Kearsarge. The latter began moving seaward, as if afraid to meet her antagonist. The object of Captain Winslow, however, was to draw the Alabama so far that no question about neutral waters could arise, and in case the Alabama should be disabled, he did not intend to give her the chance to take refuge in Cherbourg.

Three miles was the neutral limit, but Captain Winslow continued to steam out to sea until he had gone nearly seven miles from shore. Then he swung around and made for the Alabama. As he did so, Captain Semmes delivered three broadsides, with little effect. Then fearing a raking fire, Captain Winslow sheered and fired a broadside at a distance of little more than half a mile, and strove to pass under the Alabama's stern, but Semmes also veered and prevented it.

Since each vessel kept its starboard broadside toward the other, they began moving in a circular direction, the current gradually carrying both westward, while the circle narrowed until its diameter was about a fourth of a mile.

From the beginning the fire of the Kearsarge was much more accurate and destructive than her antagonist's. Hardly had the battle opened when the gaff and colors of the Alabama were shot away, but another ensign was quickly hoisted at the mizzen. Captain Winslow instructed his gunners to make every shot count. This was wise, for its effects became speedily apparent. The Kearsarge fired 173 shots, nearly all of which landed, while of the 370 of the Alabama, only 28 hit the Kearsarge. One of these, a 68-pounder shell, exploded on the quarter-deck, wounding three men, one mortally. Another shell, bursting in the hammock nettings, started a fire, which was speedily extinguished. A third buried itself in the sternpost, but fortunately did not explode. The damage done by the remaining shots was trifling.

One of the Kearsarge's 11-inch shells entered the port of the Alabama's 8-inch gun, tore off a part of the piece, and killed several of the crew. A second shell entered the same port, killed one man and wounded several, and soon a third similar shot penetrated the same opening. Before the action closed, it was necessary to re-form the crew of the after pivot gun four times. These terrific missiles were aimed slightly below the water-line of the Alabama, with a view of sinking her.

About an hour had passed and seven complete revolutions had been described by the ships, and the eighth had just begun, when it became apparent that the Alabama was sinking. She headed for neutral waters, now only two miles distant, but a few well-planted shots stopped her, and she displayed the white flag. Her race was run, and Captain Winslow immediately ceased firing and lowered his only two serviceable boats, which were hurried to the aid of the drowning men. A few minutes later the bow of the Alabama rose high in air, and then the noted cruiser plunged downward, stern foremost, and disappeared forever in the bottom of the ocean.

Cruising in the neighborhood of the fight was the English yacht Deerhound, which now joined in rescuing the crew of the Alabama at the request of Captain Winslow. She was in duty bound to deliver the men she saved to Winslow as prisoners of war, but, instead of doing so, she watched her chance, and, under full steam, made for Southampton, carrying forty-two, among whom were Captain Semmes and fourteen officers. Semmes had flung his sword into the sea and leaped overboard as the Alabama was going down. His vessel had nine killed, ten drowned, and twenty-one wounded, while on the Kearsarge of the three wounded only one died. A demand was made upon the English government for the surrender of the men carried away by the Deerhound, but it was refused.

FATE OF THE OTHER CRUISERS.

The Confederate cruiser Georgia took on the guise of a merchant vessel, but was seized off the coast of Portugal by the Niagara, and sent to this country as a lawful prize. The Florida, while lying in the neutral port of Bahia, Brazil, was attacked, October 7th, by the Wachuset, captured, and taken to Hampton Roads. This action was illegal, being similar to the attack made upon the Essex in the harbor of Valparaiso in the War of 1812. While awaiting decision as to the legality of her capture, she was run into by a steam transport and sunk. It may be doubted whether this method of settling the dispute was wholly accidental.

The Shenandoah did most of her destructive work in the far Pacific. As a consequence she did not hear of the conclusion of the war until several months afterward, and she was, therefore, virtually a pirate fighting under a flag that had no legal existence. Her captain, when the news reached him, steamed for England, and turned over his vessel to the British government.

DESTRUCTION OF THE "ALBEMARLE" BY LIEUTENANT CUSHING.

Probably no more formidable ironclad was ever built by the Southern Confederacy than the Albemarle. She had been constructed under great difficulties, work being begun early in 1863, when, it was said, her keel was laid in a cornfield. When finished she was 122 feet over all, and was propelled by twin screws with engines of 200 horse-power each. Her armament consisted of an Armstrong gun of 100 pounds at the bow and a similar one at the stern.

The Albemarle demonstrated on the first opportunity the appalling power she possessed. The Federals had captured Plymouth, North Carolina, which was attacked by the Confederates, April 17th and 18th. They were repulsed mainly through the assistance of two wooden gunboats, the Miami and Southfield, but the Albemarle came down the river on the 19th and engaged them. The shots of the gunboats did no more harm than those of the Cumberland and Congress when fired against the Merrimac. The Southfield was crushed as so much pasteboard, and sent to the bottom of the river, while the mangled Miami limped off, accompanied by two tugboats. The next day Plymouth surrendered to the Confederates. In a fight some weeks later with the Union vessels, the Albemarle inflicted great injury, and withstood all the ramming and broadsides that could be brought against her. She was a most dangerous vessel indeed, and caused the government a great deal of uneasiness.

Several attempts were made to destroy her, but the Confederates were watchful and vigilant. She was moored to the wharf, about eight miles up the river, upon the shores of which a thousand men were encamped. They patrolled the banks and kept bright fires burning all night. The crew of the ram were alert, and a boom of cypress logs encircled the craft some thirty feet from the hull, to ward off the approach of torpedoes. It would seem that no possible precaution was neglected.

Among the most daring men ever connected with the American navy was William Barker Cushing. He was born in 1842, and educated at the Naval Academy. He was of so wild a disposition that many of his friends saw little hope of his success in life. But, entering the service at the beginning of the war, he quickly gave proof of a personal courage that no danger could affect. He seemed to love peril for the sake of itself, and where death threatened he eagerly went. He expressed confidence that he could destroy the Albemarle and asked permission to make the attempt. His superior officers knew that if its destruction was within the range of human possibility, he would accomplish it, and the ram was so great a menace to the Union fleet that he was told to try his hand at the seeming impossible task.

Although Cushing was a young man of unsurpassable bravery, ready at all times to take desperate chances, there was what might be termed method in his madness. He needed no one to tell him that in his attempt to destroy the Albemarle, the slightest neglect in his preparations were likely to prove fatal. He, therefore, took every precaution that ingenuity could devise. Two picket boats were constructed with spar torpedoes attached, and with engines so formed that by spreading tarpaulin over them all light and sound was obscured. When traveling at a low rate of speed, they could pass within a few yards of a person in the darkness without his being able to hear or see anything. A howitzer was mounted at the bow, and the spar, with the torpedo attached, was fitted at the starboard bow.

The boats, having been completed in New York, were sent to Norfolk by way of the canals. One of them was lost in Chesapeake Bay, but the other reached its destination. Several days were spent in preparation, and the night of October 27th was selected for the venture. It could not have been more favorable, for it was of impenetrable darkness and a fine, misty rain was falling. Cushing's companions in the picket boat were: Acting Ensign W.L. Howarth, Acting Master's Mates T.S. Gay and John Woodman, Acting Assistant Paymaster F.H. Swan, Acting Third Assistant Engineers C.L. Steever and W. Stotesbury, and eight men whose names were as follows: S. Higgens, first-class fireman; R. Hamilton, coal heaver; W. Smith, B. Harley, E.J. Houghton, ordinary seamen; L. Deming, H. Wilkes, and R.H. King, landsmen. He took in tow a small cutter, with which to capture the guard that was in a schooner anchored near the Southfield that had been raised, and whose duty it was to send up an alarm rocket on the approach of any expedition against the Albemarle. It was intended to run ashore a little below the ram, board and capture her by surprise, and take her down the river.

It was about midnight that the start was made. Several of the men were familiar with the river, and the boat kept close to shore, where the gloom was still more profound. No one spoke except when necessary and then in the lowest tones, while all listened and peered into the drizzly night. The straining ears could hear only the soft rippling of the water from the prow and the faint muffled clanking of the engine. The speed was slackened as they approached the schooner, whose outlines soon assumed form. No one whispered, but all held themselves ready for the rush the moment the guard discovered them.

Sentinels, however, are not always alert, and on this dismal night the guard detected nothing of the phantom craft which glided past like a shadow with the cutter in tow. This was the first stroke of good fortune, and each man felt a thrill of encouragement, for only a mile remained to be passed to reach the Albemarle.

A little way further and the boats swept around a bend in the river, where, had it been daylight, they could have seen the ram. Here was where the fires had been kept blazing the night through, but the guards were as drowsy as those below, for they had allowed them to sputter and die down to a few embers, while the sentinels were doubtless trying to keep comfortable in the wet, dismal night.

Still stealing noiselessly forward, the men in the boat soon saw the gloom slowly take shape in front. The outlines revealed the massive ironclad lying still and motionless against the wharf, with not a light or sign of life visible. The nerves of each of the brave crew were strung to the highest tension, when the stillness was broken by the barking of a dog. The canine, more vigilant than his masters, gave the alarm, and instantly it seemed as if a hundred dogs were making night hideous with their signals. Springing to their feet, the sentinels on shore discerned the strange boat and challenged it. No reply was given; a second challenge was made, and then a gun was fired. The guards seemed to spring to life everywhere, more dogs barked, alarm rattles were sprung, wood was thrown on the fires which flamed up, soldiers seized their weapons and rushed to their places under the sharp commands of their officers.

Cushing now called to the engineer to go ahead under full speed. At the same moment, he cut the towline and ordered the men on the cutter to return and capture the guard near the Southfield. The launch was tearing through the water straight for the ram, when, for the first time, Cushing became aware of the boom of logs which inclosed it. His hope now was that these logs had become so slimy from lying long in the water that it was possible for the launch to slip over them. With wonderful coolness, he veered off for a hundred yards, so as to gain sufficient headway, and then circled around and headed for the ram.

Standing erect at the bow, Cushing held himself ready to use the torpedo the moment he could do so. A volley was fired, which riddled his coat and tore off the heel of one of his shoes, but he did not falter. Then followed the crisp snapping of the primers of the cannon, which showed the immense guns had missed fire. Had they been discharged, the boat and every man on it would have been blown to fragments.

"Jump from the ram!" shouted Cushing, as he rushed forward, with the speed of a racehorse; "we're going to blow you up!"

The howitzer at the front of the launch was fired at that moment, and then the boat slid over the logs, like a sleigh over the snow, carrying the men directly in front of the gaping mouth of the 100-pounder Armstrong.

The critical moment had come, and, crouching forward, Cushing shoved the torpedo spar under the overhang, and waited till he felt it rise and bump against the ship's bottom, when he jerked the trigger line. A muffled, cavernous explosion was heard, the ram tilted partly over, and an immense geyser spouted upward, filling the launch and swamping it. The enormous cannon was discharged, but, aimed directly at the boat, the aim was deflected by the careening of the ram, and the frightful charge passed harmlessly over the heads of the men.

Cushing called to each one to lookout for himself, and leaped as far as he could into the water. There he kicked off his shoes, and dropped his sword and revolver. The incensed Confederates shouted to the Unionists to surrender, and a number did so; but others, including Cushing, continued swimming until in the darkness they passed out of range.

It surpasses comprehension how Cushing escaped. Nearly half his crew had been struck before the launch was submerged, and Paymaster Swan and another man were shot at his side. Cushing, Woodman, and Houghton leaped into the water at the same time and swam in different directions, no one knowing where he would come out. Houghton was a powerful swimmer, and, keeping cool and husbanding his strength, he made shore a short distance below, passed through the enemy's line to the mouth of the river, and escaped unharmed.

Cushing continued swimming for nearly a mile, when hearing a splashing near him he approached and found Woodman in the last stage of exhaustion. Cushing gave him all the help he could, but he himself was worn out, and, despite his efforts, Woodman slipped from his grasp and was drowned. When about to give up Cushing's feet touched bottom and he struggled to shore, where he sank in a collapse, unable to stir until morning. By that time his strength had sufficiently returned to enable him to stagger to a swamp where he threw himself down near a path. A few minutes later, two officers walked by talking earnestly about the sinking of the Albemarle, but the listener could not overhear enough of their conversation to learn whether or not the ram had been destroyed.

Growing stronger, he pushed into the swamp, until he reached a negro's hut. There he made himself known, and was received kindly. Cushing asked the negro to go to Plymouth and find out whether the Albemarle had been harmed. The African departed, and, when he returned at the end of several hours, his arms were filled with food and his eyes protruding.

"Suah as yo's born, marse!" he gasped, "de Albemarle am at de bottom ob de riber!"

Such was the fact, for the exploding torpedo had gouged more than twenty square feet out of the ram abreast of the port quarter, through which the torrent rushed and carried it down in a few minutes. Cushing remained with his dusky friend until night, when he tramped a long way through swamp and wood to where an old skiff rested against the bank of a small stream. Paddling down this to the river, he kept on until he reached the Union vessels, where he was taken on board and welcomed as deserved the hero who had accomplished that which was beyond the ability of the whole fleet.

Before proceeding with our account of the closing military operations of the war, it is proper to record several minor, but important, events.

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1864.

The year 1864 was a presidential one. Although Hannibal Hamlin had served acceptably as Vice-President throughout Lincoln's first term, political wisdom suggested replacing him with a man more closely identified with the struggle for the Union. Hamlin belonged to the State of Maine, where the voice of disloyalty was never heard. Andrew Johnson, as we shall learn in the next chapter, was what was termed a war Democrat, who had risked his life in the defense of his principles. He was nominated for Vice-President, while Lincoln, as was inevitable, was renominated for the presidency. The nominees of the Democrats were General George B. McClellan, the unsuccessful Union commander, and George H. Pendleton, of Ohio. McClellan acted very creditably when, finding that many believed him opposed to the war, he stated in unequivocal language that he favored its prosecution until the Union was fully restored. His platform may be described as a criticism of the methods of the administration. His position drove away many who would have supported a candidate in favor of peace at any price, but he preserved his self-respect, although it helped to bring his decisive defeat.

In the November election the result was: Lincoln and Johnson each 212 electoral votes; McClellan and Pendleton each 21. On the popular vote, the Republican ticket received 2,216,067 and the Democratic 407,342 votes. Of course, no vote was cast in the eleven seceding States. The result was emphatic proof that the North was unalterably opposed to peace upon any terms except the full restoration of the Union. The great successes, such as Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Mobile, and the destruction of the Confederate cruisers, as well as the rapid exhaustion of the South, contributed very much to the success of the Republican party.

DISTRESS IN THE SOUTH.

The distress in the South was intense and grew daily more so. The Confederate money had so depreciated in value that a paper dollar was not worth more than a penny, and by-and-by it had absolutely no value at all. The farce of such a currency caused many grim jests among the Confederates themselves. Thus an officer gave his colored servant five thousand dollars to curry his horse, and another officer exchanged six months of his own pay for a paper dollar. In truth, the Southerners were fighting without pay, while their clothing and food were of the poorest character. All the men being in some branch of the service, the women had to look after the homes that were running to waste. The conscription act was made so rigid that the drag-net gathered in the large boys and men past middle life.

PROSPERITY OF THE NORTH.

It was far different in the North. The enormous demands of the government for war supplies gave the country an unnatural prosperity. Although prices were high, there was an abundance of money, which, while depreciating to some extent, never did so to a degree to cause distress. The resources were almost limitless, and the conviction was so general that the war was near its conclusion, that the greenback currency and the national bonds began to rise in value. The real dissatisfaction was in the continual demand for more soldiers. In the course of the year fully 1,200,000 men had been summoned to the ranks. Several drafts took place, and bounties were paid, which in many instances were at the rate of a thousand dollars to a man. A good many people began to declare this demand exorbitant, and that, if the real necessity existed, the Union was not worth such an appalling cost of human life.

WAR'S DESOLATION.

Behind all this seeming prosperity were thousands of mourning households and desolate hearthstones in the North as well as the South. Fathers, brothers, and sons had fallen, and would nevermore return to their loved ones. The shadow was everywhere. Sorrow, broken-hearts, and lamentation were in the land, for war, the greatest curse of mankind, spares neither parent, child, nor babe. The exchange of prisoners, carried on almost from the very opening of the war, ceased, because the Confederate authorities refused to exchange negro soldiers. As a consequence, multitudes of Union prisoners suffered indescribable misery in many of the Southern prisons. This was especially the case in Andersonville, Georgia, where a brute named Wirz, a Swiss, showed a fiendish delight in adding to the tortures of those committed to his care. This miscreant was afterward tried for his atrocities, found guilty, and hanged. He was the only man executed for the part he took in the war. There was less suffering in other places. The straits to which the Confederates themselves were driven made it impossible in some instances to give the care they would have given to their prisoners. In the early part of 1864, more than a hundred Unionists confined in Libby Prison, Richmond, escaped by tunneling, but most of them were recaptured and returned to confinement.

Nevada was admitted to the Union in 1864. It formed part of the Mexican cession of 1848, prior to which time no settlement had been made in the State. In that year the Mormons settled in Carson and Washoe Valleys. In 1859, silver was found to exist in vast quantities, and, in 1866, the area of the State was increased by additions from Arizona and Utah.

CONFEDERATE RAIDERS FROM CANADA.

One of the most irritating annoyances resulted from the presence of Confederates in Canada, who continually plotted mischief against the North. In October, 1864, a band of them rode into St. Albans, Vermont, which is only fifteen miles from the border, robbed the bank of a large amount of money, burned a hotel, fired into a crowd of citizens, committed other outrages, and galloped back to Canada, where thirteen were arrested and thrown into prison. The legal proceedings which followed resulted in the discharge of the prisoners on technical grounds. General Dix, in command of the Eastern Department, issued orders that in the future all such marauders were to be pursued and shot down or arrested, no matter where they took refuge. Had these measures been carried out, there would have been war with England, which would never permit such invasion of her territory. General Dix's action was disavowed by our government, while the Canadian authorities took care to prevent any more similar outrages.

It has been stated that General Grant planned a forward movement of the Union forces early in May of this year, with the purpose of keeping the Confederate armies so incessantly engaged that they would have no opportunity of reinforcing one another.

GENERAL SHERMAN'S ADVANCE TO ATLANTA.

General Sherman, the faithful lieutenant of Grant, was in command of the three armies, respectively, of the Cumberland, of Tennessee, and of Ohio, led by Generals Thomas, McPherson, and Schofield. General Jo Johnston was Sherman's opponent, his commanders being Hardee, Hood, and Polk. The troops were less numerous than the Federals, but they were the finest of soldiers and were led by skillful officers.

Sherman made his preparations with care and thoroughness. Chattanooga was his starting-point on his march through the South, and by the 1st of May he had 254 guns, 100,000 men, and an immense amount of supplies at that town. He began his famous march on the 7th of May. Johnston, who saw his purpose, confronted him at Dalton, where an attack by Unionists was repulsed; but Sherman resorted to flanking tactics, and Johnston fell back, crossing the river, May 15th, and taking a new position at Etowah, forty miles to the south of Resaca.

The great risk assumed by Sherman will be understood. It was necessary to preserve his communications, for he had but a single railroad line behind him. To do this, he had to leave strong detachments at different points, thereby weakening his army as he advanced into Confederate territory. Johnston, being among friends, was not obliged to do anything of that nature. He could preserve his forces intact and add slightly to them. By-and-by, the armies would be nearly equal in numbers, when Johnston proposed to give battle to the invaders.

The Union army marched in three columns, their flanks guarded by cavalry, and the columns always within supporting distance of one another. The steady advance and retreat went on with occasional brisk fighting. On the 14th of June, during an exchange of shots, the head of General Leonidas Polk was carried away by a cannon ball. Now and then Johnston attacked Sherman, but invariably without gaining any important advantage.

At last Sherman grew tired of continually flanking his enemy, and made the mistake of assaulting him. This was at Kenesaw Mountain on the 27th of June. The attack was made with great gallantry, but the Unionists were repulsed with the loss of 3,000 men.

Sherman returned to his flanking tactics, which were conducted with so much skill that finally Johnston was forced into the defenses of Atlanta. It was there he meant to make a stand and deliver battle on something approaching equal terms. His generals were dissatisfied with his continual falling back and protested. That Johnston was sagacious in what he did cannot be questioned; but his old enemy, President Davis, took advantage of the opportunity to remove him and place General Hood in chief command.

Hood had not half the ability of Johnston, but he believed in fighting. He assumed Johnston's place on the 17th of July. The news was pleasant to Sherman, for he rated Hood at his true value as compared with Johnston.

It had been a long and difficult march from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and yet it may be said that Sherman had only reached his true starting-point. He gave his soldiers a needed rest, and waited for reinforcements. Those expected from Corinth, Mississippi, were routed by General Forrest, but the needed men were obtained from other quarters, and the three columns converged upon Atlanta, July 20th. The defenses extended for three miles about the city, but were not quite completed. McPherson secured possession of a hill that gave him a view of the city, observing which Hood made a furious assault upon him on the night of the 22d. He came perilously near success, but, by hastening reinforcements to the threatened point, Sherman was able to repel the attack. In the fighting General McPherson, one of the best of the Union generals, was killed.

The plan of Sherman was to shut off Atlanta from the rest of the world. By thus excluding its supplies, it would be starved into submission, as was the case at Vicksburg. Accordingly, he began a series of works, intended to be extended gradually around the city. This was difficult and dangerous, as was proven when two columns of Union cavalry, failing to effect a junction, through some misunderstanding, were separately attacked and routed. Among the many prisoners taken was General Stoneman, and the cavalry arm of the service was greatly weakened.

The impetuous Hood made a furious onslaught upon the Union army July 28th, renewing it several times, but was defeated with heavy loss in each instance. Sherman, through the failure of one of his generals to reach his assigned position in time, narrowly missed bagging Hood and his whole army.

FALL OF ATLANTA.

But Sherman displayed masterly generalship by so manoeuvring as to draw Hood away from the defenses and by thrusting his army between the corps of Hardee and Atlanta. The only escape now for the Confederates was to abandon the city, which was done on the 1st of September, many of the citizens going with the retiring army. At nine o'clock the next morning General Slocum, at the head of a strong reconnoitering column, rode into Atlanta, and the mayor made a formal surrender of the place.

The news of the fall of Atlanta caused great rejoicing in the North, and corresponding depression in the South. President Davis hurried to the neighborhood to investigate for himself. He found matters so bad that they could not be much worse. Hood, however, was as combative as ever, and proposed to attack Sherman's lines of communication. It was a dangerous proceeding, but Davis consented. On his way back to Richmond he stopped at Macon and made a speech, in which he announced the plans of Hood. This speech was published in the Southern papers, reached the North, where it was republished, and in due time these papers went to Sherman, It can well be understood that Davis' speech proved "mighty interesting" reading to the Union commander.

FAILURE OF HOOD'S PLAN FOR THE RELIEF OF GEORGIA.

Hood's plan was simple. He proposed to march into Tennessee, and, by threatening Sherman's communications, compel him to withdraw from Georgia. But Sherman was not to be caught thus easily. He followed Hood to the north of the Chattahoochee, and, then letting him go whither he chose, turned back to Atlanta. Hood kept right on through northern Alabama, and advanced against Nashville. General Thomas had been sent by Sherman from Atlanta, with the Army of the Cumberland, to look after Hood. General Schofield, in command in the southern part of the State, fell back to Franklin, eighteen miles south of Nashville, where he was attacked November 30th by Hood. It was a savage battle, but the Confederates were held in check until night, when Schofield retreated across the river, and took refuge in Nashville. There General Thomas gathered all his troops, and threw up a line of intrenchments to the south of the city. Hood appeared in front of them December 2d, and began building works and counter batteries. He was certain of capturing the place and its defenders by regular siege operations. Never did the genius of Thomas shine more brilliantly than at the siege of Nashville. He industriously gathered reinforcements, perfected his defenses, and refused to move until fully prepared. The whole country became impatient; even General Grant sent him urgent messages, and at one time issued an order for his removal. But Thomas could not be shaken from his purpose. Not until December 15th did he feel himself ready to strike, and then he did it with the might of a descending avalanche. He sallied forth, captured several redoubts, and drove back the Confederates for a number of miles. He renewed the battle on the 16th, and utterly routed Hood's army. The panic-stricken troops fled in confusion, drawing Forrest and his cavalry into the disorganized flight, while Thomas vigorously pursued until the fugitives scrambled over Duck River toward the Tennessee, which was crossed on the 27th of December.

Hood's army was virtually destroyed. He lost more than 13,000 prisoners, including several general officers, and many guns, while more than 2,000 deserters joined Thomas. The disgusted Hood asked to be relieved of his command, and Dick Taylor, who had defeated Banks some months before in Texas, assumed his place, but he really was left with no army to command. The proud host which had promised so much existed no longer. The Rock of Chickamauga had fallen upon it and ground it to powder.

SHERMAN'S MARCH FROM ATLANTA TO THE SEA.

Sherman proved his confidence in Thomas by not waiting for him to complete his wonderful task, before beginning his march from Atlanta to the sea, 300 miles distant. Since it was impossible to maintain the long and increasing slender line of communications behind him, Sherman made no effort to do so. He "cut loose" entirely, proposing to live off the granary of the South, through which his 60,000 veterans began their famous tramp. Weeks passed, during which the national government heard not a word from Sherman, except such as filtered through the Confederate lines, and which was always tinctured by the hopes of the enemy. There were continual rumors of the Union army meeting "a lion in its path," and of its being overwhelmed by disaster, but nothing of a positive nature was learned, and naturally there was considerable uneasiness, though Grant knew Sherman too well to feel any distrust of his success.

At the beginning of his march, Sherman aimed to deceive the enemy as to his real destination. The secret was shared only with his corps commanders and General Kilpatrick, leader of the cavalry. The advance was in two columns, the right under General Howard and the left under General Slocum. Atlanta was burned on the night of November 15th, and Sherman himself rode out from the city the next day with the left wing.

It was impossible for the Confederates to present any serious opposition to the invaders. Frantic appeals were issued to the South to rise and crush the enemy, but they accomplished nothing. The bands of militia were brushed aside like so many children, and the march "From Atlanta to the Sea" was simply a huge picnic for Sherman and his army. The opening of the Mississippi had sliced off the left limb of the Southern Confederacy, and Sherman was now boring his way through the heart.

Milledgeville, the capital of the State, was reached on the 21st, but before the Federals arrived the Legislature adjourned precipitately and took to its heels. Governor Brown and most of the members ran to Augusta, which was surrendered two days later, plundered, and partly burned. Kilpatrick made a demonstration against Macon, and could easily have captured it, but his movement was intended only as a feint. Rightly surmising by this time that the seacoast was Sherman's destination, General Hardee did all he could to obstruct the roads leading thither, but he was powerless to check the invaders. Thousands of negroes followed the army, singing the "Day of Jubilee has Come," but many of the poor people perished amid the dismal wastes and barrens of Eastern Georgia.

Finally Sherman passed down the peninsula formed by the Ogeechee and Savannah Rivers and approached Savannah. The enemy were easily driven from their field-works, and by December 10th all the Confederates were forced into their lines and the whole Union army was in front of Savannah. The 300 miles had been passed in twenty-five days and the listening ears could now hear the faint boom of the distant Atlantic breakers.

But Hardee was in Savannah with 15,000 men, capable of offering a strong defense. To meet his heavy cannon, Sherman had only field artillery, and, instead of making a direct attack, which would have involved considerable loss of life, he decided to starve the garrison to terms. Admiral Dahlgren was lying off the coast, but the mouth of the river was commanded by Fort McAllister, and it was dangerous work to attempt to communicate with the Union fleet. Sherman sent off three scouts, who paddled cautiously down the river at night, hiding in the rice-fields by day, until they finally succeeded in attracting the notice of a gunboat which ran in and picked them up. The glorious news was carried to Admiral Dahlgren, who immediately dispatched it North, where, as may be supposed, it caused unbounded rejoicing.

Fort McAllister, fifteen miles below the city, was such an obstacle to the co-operation of the fleet that Sherman determined to capture it. It was taken with a rush on the 13th of December, and the way opened for a supply of ammunition and heavy guns from Hilton Head. General Forster, the Union commander of that department, was ordered to occupy the railroad connecting Savannah and Charleston. When that should be done, Savannah would be completely invested.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S UNIQUE CHRISTMAS GIFT.

On the 17th, Sherman demanded the surrender of the city. Hardee refused and Sherman prepared to bombard it. But the Confederates, who still had control of Savannah River, retreated across that stream on the night of the 20th, and tramped into South Carolina. Sherman entered the city the next day and wrote at once to President Lincoln "I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition; also about 25,000 bales of cotton." It was a unique Christmas gift indeed, and President Lincoln sent back the thanks of the government and nation to the Union commander, his officers and soldiers.

One pleasing feature of Sherman's entrance into Savannah was the widespread Union sentiment which manifested itself among the citizens. They were tired of the war and glad to see this evidence that its close was near. They did not destroy their cotton or property, but were quite willing to turn it over to their conquerors. General Geary was appointed commandant and ruled with tact and kindness. Here we will leave Sherman for a time, and give our attention to the single remaining, but most important, campaign of all--that of General Grant against Lee.

GRANT'S ADVANCE AGAINST LEE.

When the Army of the Potomac was ready to move against Lee and Richmond, it consisted of three instead of five corps. Hancock commanded the Second, Warren the Fifth, and Sedgwick the Sixth. Beside this, the Ninth Corps, which included many colored troops, was under command of Burnside, and was left for a time to guard the communications with Washington. This force numbered 140,000 men, and, as has been stated, was the largest number ever assembled by the Unionists.

In addition to this stupendous host, 42,000 troops were in and about Washington, 31,000 in West Virginia, and 59,000 in the department of Virginia and North Carolina. In South Carolina, Georgia, and at other points were 38,000. General Lee had less than 58,000 under his immediate command, and the whole number of Confederates in the region threatened by Grant's 310,000 was about 125,000.

General Meade retained command of the Army of the Potomac, and the cavalry corps was under General Philip H. Sheridan. Best of all, the veterans were now inspired by a feeling of confidence to which they had long been strangers. They felt that they had a commander at last who was competent to lead them to victory.

Lee was acting on the defensive and held a powerful position. Longstreet was at Gordonsville, Ewell on the Rapidan, and A.P. Hill at Orange Court-House. The Rapidan itself was held by small bodies of troops, whose duty it was to keep watch of the movements of the Union army.

Grant's plan was to advance directly to Richmond. He intended to cross the Rapidan, attack Lee's right, cut his communications, and compel him to fight. At the same time Butler was to ascend the James from Fort Monroe, seize City Point, and, advancing along the south bank of the river, cut the Confederate communications south of the James, and, if possible, capture Petersburg.

If Grant succeeded in defeating Lee, he intended to follow him to Richmond. If he failed, he meant to transfer his whole army to the southern side of the James, using Butler's column to cover the movement, and attack from that quarter. At the same time, General Sigel was to organize his army into two expeditions, one under General Crook in the Kanawha Valley, and the other commanded by himself in the Shenandoah Valley. The object of this campaign was to cut the Central Railroad and the Virginia and Tennessee Road. Since the bulk of Lee's supplies were received over these lines, the success of the plan would inflict a mortal blow upon the Confederate army.

The Army of the Potomac began moving, May 3d, at midnight. The advance was in two columns. The right, including Warren's and Sedgwick's Corps, crossed the Rapidan at Germania Ford, and the left, Hancock's Corps, made the passage at Ely's Ford, six miles below. On the following night, the bivouac was between the Rapidan and Chancellorsville.

THE BATTLES IN THE WILDERNESS.

Reading Grant's purpose, Lee determined to attack him in the dense, wooded country known as the Wilderness, where it would be impossible for the Union commander to use his artillery. Acting promptly, a furious assault was made and the Confederates attained considerable success. The ground was unfavorable for the Unionists, but Grant did not shrink. His line was five miles long and mostly within the woods, where he could use neither cavalry nor artillery with effect; but he made his attack with such vehemence that after several hours of terrific fighting he drove the flying Confederates back almost to the headquarters of Lee, where Longstreet saved the army from overthrow and re-established the line.

WOUNDING OF GENERAL LONGSTREET.

Before noon the next day, Longstreet forced Hancock's left to the Brock Road and determined to seize the latter. Had he done so, another disastrous defeat would have been added to those suffered by the Army of the Potomac at the hands of Lee. Longstreet was in high spirits and determined to lead the movement in person. While riding forward, he met General Jenkins, who was also exultant over what seemed certain success. The two stopped to shake hands, and when doing so, they and their escorts were mistaken by a body of Confederate troops for Union cavalry and fired upon. Longstreet waved his hand and shouted to the men to stop firing. They did so, but Jenkins had already been killed and Longstreet himself was shot in the throat. He fell from his saddle and lay beside the body of Jenkins. He was believed to be dead, but, showing signs of life, was placed on a litter and carried to the rear, the soldiers cheering as he was borne past. The reader will recall the strange wounding of Stonewall Jackson, under almost similar circumstances, by his own men. Longstreet recovered in time to take a leading part in the closing incidents of the war.

This occurrence caused a feeling akin to dismay in the Confederate ranks, and defeated the movement that was about to be undertaken. General Lee was so disturbed that he placed himself at the head of a Texas brigade, with the resolve to lead it in a charge that should be decisive, but his men would not permit, and compelled him to resume his place at the rear.

Grant's position was too strong to be carried and Lee was equally secure. Meanwhile Grant carefully hunted for a weak spot in his enemy's line, and decided that Spottsylvania Court-House was the place, and thither he marched his army on the night of May 7th.

While this movement was in progress, Sheridan and his cavalry made a dash toward Richmond in the effort to cut Lee's communications. The vigilant Stuart intercepted them at Yellow Tavern, within seven miles of the city, and compelled Sheridan to return, but in the fighting Stuart received a wound from which he died the next day.

When Grant's advance reached Spottsylvania Court-House, the Confederates were in possession, and repulsed the attempt to drive them out. While the preparations for renewing the battle were going on, General Sedgwick was struck in the head by a Confederate sharpshooter and instantly killed.

GRANT'S REPULSE AT COLD HARBOR.

A series of flank movements followed, with fierce fighting, in which the Union loss was great. Reinforcements were sent to Grant, and nothing could deter his resolution to drive Lee to the wall. At Cold Harbor, on June 3d, however, the Union commander received one of the most bloody repulses of the war, suffering a loss of ten thousand in the space of less than half an hour, and his losses from the Rapidan to the Chickahominy--whither he moved his army--equaled the whole number of men in Lee's army. The latter was within the defenses of Richmond, of which the centre was Cold Harbor. Having much shorter lines, the Confederates were able to anticipate the movements of the Army of the Potomac and present a defiant front at all times.

Meanwhile matters had gone wrong in the Shenandoah Valley. On the 15th of May, Sigel was utterly routed by Breckinridge. The Union officer failed so badly that he was superseded by Hunter, who made just as wretched a failure. The 15,000 troops under Breckinridge were sent to reinforce Lee, when, had Sigel and Hunter done their duty, this force would have been compelled to stay in the Shenandoah Valley.

Another movement that was meant to help Grant materially was that of Butler, who was to threaten Richmond by water, while Grant and Meade were assailing the city in front. But Butler was outgeneraled by Beauregard, who succeeded in "bottling him up," as Grant expressed it, at Bermuda Hundred, a peninsula formed by the James, twenty miles below Richmond. There Butler was held helpless, while Beauregard sent a small part of his meagre force to reinforce Lee.

The terrible repulse which Grant received at Cold Harbor convinced him that it was only throwing away life to persist in the campaign against Richmond by the "overland" route. With characteristic decision, he decided to move his army to the front of Petersburg and thus shut off Lee's communication with the South. Holding his position in front of the Confederate leader until June 12th, Grant crossed the Chickahominy and advanced to City Point. Passing the James on pontoon-bridges, he marched toward Petersburg, where the army arrived on the 15th. The next day the Army of the Potomac was south of the James. Petersburg was immediately attacked, but the defenders repelled every assault. The next day, Lee's whole army entered the breastworks of the town. After repeated attacks by the Unionists, Grant saw the impossibility of capturing Petersburg by direct attack and he began its siege. Several times the Confederates made sallies against threatening movements and drove the Federals from the positions that had been gained at no little loss of life.

Early in July, Grant consented to allow Lieutenant-Colonel Pleasant, of a Pennsylvania regiment belonging to Burnside's corps, to run a mine under one of the approaches to the enemy's intrenchments before Petersburg. It was believed, apparently with reason, that the explosion would open a gap in the line through which the Federals might make a dash and capture the town before the defenders could rally from their confusion.

The mine was laid and four tons of powder were fired at daylight on the morning of July 30th. A cavity was opened by the stupendous explosion, 200 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 30 feet deep. Instantly, the Union batteries opened on those of the enemy, silenced them, and the assaulting column charged. The dreadful mistake was made by the men of halting in the cavity for shelter. The troops sent to their help also stopped and huddled together, seeing which the terrified gunners ran back to their abandoned pieces and opened upon the disorganized mass in the pit. The slaughter continued until the Confederate officers sickened at the sight and ordered it stopped. The horrible business resulted in the loss of nearly 1,000 prisoners and 3,000 killed and wounded.

GENERAL EARLY'S RAIDS.

Since the entire Army of the Potomac was in front of Petersburg, the Confederates took advantage of the opportunity to give Washington another scare, in the hope, also, of compelling Grant to withdraw a considerable body of troops from before Richmond. General Early was sent thither with 8,000 men by General Lee, with orders to attack the Federals in the valley. Sigel, whose great forte was that of retreating, fell back before the advance of Early, crossed the Potomac, and took position on Maryland Heights. Early moved up the Monocacy into Maryland, causing great alarm in Washington. The President called upon Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts for militia with which to repel the invasion. They were placed under the command of General Lew Wallace, who was defeated at Monocacy Junction, July 9th. Early attacked Rockville, fourteen miles west of Washington, and Colonel Harry Gilmor, himself a citizen of Baltimore, cut the communications between that city and Philadelphia. He captured a railway train, and among his prisoners was General Franklin, who was wounded and on his way north. The loose watch kept over the captives allowed them to escape.

Early was in high feather over his success, and his cavalry appeared in front of Washington, July 11th, and exchanged shots with Fort Stevens; but a spirited attack drove them off, and they crossed the Potomac at Edward's Ferry, and passed to the western side of the Shenandoah. Early made his headquarters at Winchester and repelled several assaults upon him.

The Confederate leader had been so successful that he soon made a second raid. He crossed the Potomac, July 29th, and, entering Pennsylvania, reached Chambersburg, from which a ransom of $200,000 in gold was demanded. It not being forthcoming, the city was fired, and the invaders, after some hard fighting, succeeded in getting back to the southern shore of the Potomac.

SHERIDAN IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY.

These raids were so exasperating that Grant, who could not give them his personal attention, determined to put an effectual stop to them. The government united the departments of western Virginia, Washington, and the Susquehanna, and placed them under the charge of General Sheridan, who had 40,000 men at his disposal. Sheridan, whose force was three times as numerous as Early's, was anxious to move against him, and Grant finally gave his consent on the condition that he would desolate the Shenandoah Valley to that extent that nothing would be left to invite invasion.

In the first encounter between Sheridan and Early near the Opequan, a small tributary of the Potomac, west of the Shenandoah, Early was routed and sent flying toward Winchester, with the loss of many prisoners and supplies. He was driven through the town, and his troops intrenched themselves on Fisher's Hill, near Strasburg. They were again attacked, on the 21st of September, and compelled to retreat further up the valley. Early received a reinforcement, and secured himself at Brown's Gap, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where for the first time he was really safe.

This left Sheridan free to carry out the orders of Grant to devastate the valley, and he made thorough work of it. Nothing was spared, and the burning and destruction were so complete that his homely remark seemed justified when he said that no crow would dare attempt to fly across the region without taking his rations with him.

Feeling that the situation was secure, Sheridan now went to Washington to consult with the government. On the 19th of October the Union camp at Cedar Creek was surprised and routed by Early, who captured eighteen guns, which were turned on the fugitives as they fled in the direction of Middletown. Their commander, General Wright, finally succeeded in rallying them, mainly because the Confederates were so overcome at sight of the food in the abandoned camps that they gave up the pursuit to feast and gorge themselves.

"SHERIDAN'S RIDE."

Sheridan had reached Winchester, "twenty miles away," on his return from Washington, when the faint sounds of firing told him of the battle in progress. Leaping into his saddle, he spurred at headlong speed down the highway, rallied the panic-stricken troops, placed himself at their head, and, charging headlong into the rebel mob at Cedar Creek, scattered them like so much chaff, retook the camps, and routed Early so utterly that no more raids were attempted by him or any other Confederates during the remainder of the war. Indeed, it may be said that this disgraceful overthrow ended the military career of Jubal Early. When some months later General Lee was placed at the head of all the military affairs of the Confederacy, he lost no time in doing two things: the first was to restore General Jo Johnston to his old command, and the second to remove Early from his.

The stirring incident described furnished the theme for the well-known poem of T. Buchanan Read, entitled "Sheridan's Ride."

Grant held fast to that which he won by terrific fighting. Petersburg lies about twenty miles to the south of Richmond, and the strongly fortified Union lines were nearly thirty miles in length, extending from a point close to the Weldon Railroad, on Grant's left, across the James to the neighborhood of Newmarket, on the right. Holding the inner part of this circle, Lee was able for a long time to repel every assault.

The Confederate commander fought furiously to prevent his enemy from obtaining possession of the Weldon Road, but late in August a lodgment was effected from which the Federals could not be driven. Other advantages were gained, but the close of the year saw Lee still unconquered and defiant.

GRANT'S SLOW BUT RESISTLESS PROGRESS.

Early in February, 1865, Grant attempted to turn the Confederate right, but was repulsed, though he gained several miles of additional territory. Sheridan soon after destroyed the Richmond and Lynchburg Railroad and the locks of the James River Canal, after which he joined the Army of the James.

But Lee was beginning to feel the tremendous and continued pressure. His army numbered barely 35,000 men. A.P. Hill commanded the right wing, stretching from Petersburg to Hatcher's Run; General J.B. Gordon, the centre, at Petersburg; and Longstreet, who had recovered from his wound, the left wing, north and south of the James; while the cavalry did what it could to cover the flanks. This attenuated line was forty miles long. Realizing the desperate straits, the Confederate authorities early in 1865 placed the entire military operations of the Confederacy in the hands of Lee.

The latter planned to fall back toward Danville and unite with Johnston. If successful this would have given him a formidable army; but Grant did not intend to permit such a junction. Fighting went on almost continually, the gain being with the Union army, because of its greatly superior numbers and the skill with which they were handled by the master, Grant. April 1st a cannonade opened along the whole Union line. Lee's right wing had been destroyed, but the others were unbroken. At daylight the next morning an advance was made against the Confederate works. Lee was forced back, and he strengthened his lines by making them much shorter.

The Confederates steadily lost ground, many were killed and taken prisoners, and in a charge upon the Union left General A.P. Hill lost his life. At last the enemy's outer lines were hopelessly broken, and Lee telegraphed the startling fact to President Davis, who received it while sitting in church, Sunday, April 2d. The Confederate President was told that Lee could hold Petersburg but a few hours longer, and Davis was warned to have the authorities ready to leave Richmond unless a message was sent to the contrary. No such longed-for message arrived.

EVACUATION OF RICHMOND.

The counsel of Lee was followed. Jefferson Davis, the members of his cabinet, and a number of leading citizens left the capital that night for Charlotte, North Carolina. The whole city was thrown into the wildest confusion; rioting and drunkenness filled the streets, buildings were fired, and pandemonium reigned. General Witzel, who occupied the Union works to the north of Richmond, learned the astounding news, and the next morning rode into the city without opposition. The tidings were telegraphed to Washington. The following day President Lincoln arrived, and was quartered in the house formerly occupied by Jefferson Davis. Martial law was proclaimed, and order restored in the stricken city.

But General Lee had not yet surrendered. No men ever fought more heroically than he and his soldiers. On the Sunday that he sent his message to President Davis, the commander found the only line of retreat left to him was that which led to the westward, and even that was threatened. Anticipating Lee's retreat, Grant used all possible energy to cut him off. On the night of April 6th Lee crossed the Appomattox near Farmville. That night his general officers held a consultation, and agreed that but one course was left to them and that was to surrender. Their views were communicated to Lee, but he would not yet consent to that decisive step.

Grant was in Farmville on the 7th, and he sent a letter to Lee, reminding him of the uselessness of further resistance and asking for his surrender. Lee still declined, and continued his retreat. Then Sheridan threw his powerful division of cavalry in front of the Confederates, and Lee decided to cut his way through the ring of bayonets and sabres by which he was environed. This desperate task was assigned to the indomitable Gordon. He made a resistless beginning, when he saw the impossibility of success. The news was sent to Lee, who realized at last that all hope was gone. He forwarded a note to Grant, asking for a suspension of hostilities with a view to surrender. The two generals met at the house of Major McLean, in the hamlet of Appomattox Court-House, on the 9th of April, where Lee surrendered all that remained of the Confederate army, which for nearly four years had beaten back every attempt to capture Richmond.

Grant's terms as usual were generous. He did not ask for Lee's sword, and demanded only that he and his men should agree not to bear arms again against the government of the United States. They were to surrender all public property, but Grant told them to keep their horses, "as you will need them for your spring ploughing." The soldiers who had fought each other so long and so fiercely fraternized like brothers, exchanged grim jests over the terrible past, and pledged future friendship. The reunion between the officers was equally striking. Most of them were old acquaintances, and all rejoiced that the war was at last ended. General Lee rode with his cavalry escort to his home in Richmond and rejoined his family. He was treated with respect by the Union troops, who could not restrain a feeling of sympathy for their fallen but magnanimous enemy.

ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

The bonfires in the North had hardly died out and the echoes of the glad bells were still lingering in the air, when the whole country was startled by one of the most horrifying events in all history. President Lincoln, on the night of April 14th, was sitting in a box at Ford's Theatre in Washington, accompanied by his wife and another lady and gentleman, when, at a little past ten o'clock, John Wilkes Booth, an actor, stealthily entered the box from the rear, and, without any one suspecting his awful purpose, fired a pistol-bullet into the President's brain. The latter's head sank, and he never recovered consciousness.

Booth, after firing the shot, leaped upon the stage from the box, brandished a dagger, shouted "Sic semper tyrannis!" and, before the dumbfounded spectators could comprehend what had been done, dashed out of a rear door, sprang upon a waiting horse, and galloped off in the darkness.

No pen can describe the horror and rage which seized the spectators when they understood what had taken place. The stricken President was carried across the street to a house where he died at twenty-two minutes past seven the next morning.

About the time of his assassination, an attempt was made upon the life of Secretary Seward, who was confined to his bed, suffering from a fall. A male attendant prevented the miscreant from killing the secretary, though he was badly cut. The best detective force of the country was set to work, and an energetic pursuit of Booth was made. He had injured his ankle when leaping from the box upon the stage of the theatre, but he rode into Maryland, accompanied by another conspirator, named David E. Harrold. At the end of eleven days they were run down by the pursuing cavalry, who brought them to bay on the 26th of April. They had crossed from Maryland into Virginia and taken refuge in a barn near Port Royal, on the Rappahannock.

DEATH OF BOOTH.

The barn was surrounded and the two men were summoned to surrender. Harrold went out and gave himself up. Booth refused and defied the troopers, offering to fight them single-handed. To drive him from his hiding-place, the barn was set on fire. Booth, carbine in hand and leaning on his crutch, approached the door with the intention of shooting, when Sergeant Boston Corbett fired through a crevice and hit Booth in the neck. The wound was a mortal one, and Booth was brought out of the barn and laid on the ground, where he died after several hours of intense suffering. The body was taken to Washington and secretly buried. There is good reason to believe that it was sunk at night in the Potomac.

PUNISHMENT OF THE CONSPIRATORS.

The country was in no mood to show leniency to any one concerned in the taking off of the beloved President. Of the five conspirators tried, four were hanged. They were: Payne, Harrold, G.A. Atzeroot, and Mrs. Mary A. Surratt, at whose house the conspirators held their meetings. Dr. S.A. Mudd, who dressed Booth's wounded ankle, and was believed to be in sympathy with the plotters, was sentenced to the Dry Tortugas for a number of years. He showed so much devotion during an outbreak of yellow fever there that he was pardoned some time later. John Surratt, the assailant of Secretary Seward, fled to Italy, where he was discovered by Archbishop Hughes, and the Italian government, as an act of courtesy, delivered him to our government. On his first trial the jury disagreed, and on the second he escaped through the plea of limitations.

The whole country mourned the death of President Lincoln. His greatness, his goodness, and his broad, tender charity were appreciated by every one. The South knew that they had lost in him their best friend. Had he lived, much of the strife of the succeeding few years would have been saved, and the bitter cup that was pressed to the lips of the conquered South would have been less bitter than it was made by others. The remains of the martyred President were laid in their final resting-place at Springfield, Illinois, and the fame of Lincoln grows and increases with the passing years.

SHERMAN'S NORTHWARD ADVANCES.

The army of General Jo Johnston did not surrender until after the death of President Lincoln. Sherman, as will be remembered, made the city of Savannah a Christmas present to the President. Leaving a strong detachment in the city, Sherman moved northward with an army of 70,000 men, including artillery, the start being made on the 1st of February. Charleston, where the first ordinance of secession was passed and which had successfully defied every movement against it, now found itself assailed in the rear. The garrison, after destroying the government stores, the railway stations, blowing up the ironclads in the harbor, bursting the guns on the ramparts of the forts, and setting the city on fire, withdrew. This took place February 17th. The next day General Gillmore entered Charleston and his troops extinguished the few buildings that were still burning.

It has not been forgotten that Wilmington, North Carolina, had become the great blockade-running port of the Southern Confederacy. The mouth of Cape Fear River was defended by Fort Fisher, a very powerful fortification. General Butler made an attempt to capture it in December, but failed. Another effort followed January 15th, under General Alfred Terry, and was successful. The defeated garrison joined Johnston to help him in disputing the northward advance of Sherman.

There was severe fighting, especially at Goldsborough, but the Union army was so much the superior that its progress could not be stayed. There Schofield reinforced Sherman, who, feeling all danger was past, turned over the command to his subordinate and went north to consult with Grant, reaching his headquarters on the 27th of March. Soon after the surrender of Lee, the whole Confederacy was in such a state of collapse that the Union cavalry galloped back and forth through every portion at will.

Returning to his command, Sherman moved against Johnston, April 10th. Four days later, Johnston admitted in a communication to the Union commander that the surrender of Lee meant the end of the war, and he asked for a temporary suspension of hostilities, with the view of making arrangements for the laying down of the Confederate arms. Sherman consented, and these two commanders met and discussed the situation.

SURRENDER OF JO JOHNSTON AND COLLAPSE OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.

In the exchange of views which followed, the great soldier, Sherman, was outwitted by Johnston and the Confederate president and cabinet, who were behind him. They secured his agreement to a restoration, so far as he could bring it about, of the respective State governments in the South as they were before the war, with immunity for the secession leaders from punishment, and other privileges, which, if granted, would have been throwing away most of the fruits of the stupendous struggle. Sherman thus took upon himself the disposition of civil matters with which he had nothing to do. The more sagacious Grant saw the mistake of his old friend, and, visiting his camp, April 24th, told him his memorandum was disapproved, and notice was to be sent Johnston of the resumption of hostilities. Two days later, Sherman and Johnston again met, and the Confederate commander promptly agreed to surrender his army on the same conditions that were given to Lee.

General J.H. Wilson and his cavalry captured Macon, Georgia, April 21st, and, on the 4th of May, General Dick Taylor surrendered the remainder of the Confederate forces east of the Mississippi, at which time also Admiral Farrand surrendered to Admiral Thatcher all the naval forces of the Confederacy that were blockaded in the Tombigbee River. At that time, Kirby Smith was on the other side of the Mississippi, loudly declaring that he would keep up the fight until independence or better terms were secured, but his followers did not share his views, and deserted so fast that he, Magruder, and others made their way to Mexico, where, after remaining awhile, they returned to the United States and became peaceful and law-abiding citizens. The troops left by them passed under the command of General Brent, who, on the 26th of May, surrendered to General Canby, when it may be said the War for the Union was ended.

After the surrender of Johnston, Jefferson Davis and the members of his cabinet became fugitives, under the escort of a few paroled soldiers. It was feared they might join Kirby Smith and encourage him to continue his resistance, while others believed he was striving to get beyond the jurisdiction of the United States.

The party hurried through the dismal wastes of Georgia, in continual fear that the Union cavalry would burst from cover upon them and make all prisoners. In the early morning light of May 10th, Mr. Davis, while asleep in his tent, near Irwinsville, Wilkinson County, Georgia, was aroused by the alarming news that the camp was surrounded by Union cavalry. He leaped to his feet and ran for his horse, but the animal was already in the possession of a Federal trooper. His wife threw a shawl over his shoulders, and he attempted to escape from the camp without being recognized, but he was identified and made prisoner. He had been captured by a squad of General J.H. Wilson's cavalry, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Pritchard of the Fourth Michigan. His fellow-prisoners were his wife and children, his private secretary, Burton Harrison, his aide-de-camp, and Postmaster-General Reagan, all of whom were taken to Macon, and thence to Fort Monroe, Virginia.

It was a serious problem, now that the president of the defunct Confederacy was captured, what should be done with him. He was kept in Fort Monroe until his health was impaired, when he was released on bail; Horace Greeley, the well-known editor of the New York Tribune, being one of his bondsmen. He had been indicted for treason in 1866, being released the following year, but his trial was dropped on the 6th of February, 1869. He passed the remainder of his life in Memphis, and later at Beauvoir, Mississippi, dying in New Orleans, December 6, 1889, in the eighty-second year of his age.

STATISTICS OF THE WAR.

The most carefully prepared statistics of the Civil War give the following facts: Number of men in the Union army furnished by each State and Territory, from April 15, 1861, to close of war, 2,778,304, which, reduced to a three years' standing, was 2,326,168. The number of casualties in the volunteer and regular armies of the United States, according to a statement prepared by the adjutant-general's office, was: Killed in battle, 67,058; died of wounds, 43,012; died of disease, 199,720; other causes, such as accidents, murder, Confederate prisons, etc., 40,154; total died, 349,944; total deserted, 199,105. Number of soldiers in the Confederate service, who died of wounds or disease (partial statement), 133,821. Deserted (partial statement), 104,428. Number of United States troops captured during the war, 212,508; Confederate troops captured, 476,169. Number of United States troops paroled on the field, 16,431; Confederate troops paroled on the field, 248,599. Number of United States troops who died while prisoners, 30,156; Confederate troops who died while prisoners, 30,152. It is safe to say that the number of men killed and disabled on both sides during the War for the Union was fully one million. The public debt of the United States, July 1, 1866, was $2,773,236,173.69, which on the 1st of November, 1897, had been reduced to $1,808,777,643.40.

Mention has been made of the frightful brutalities of Captain Wirz, the keeper of Andersonville prison. He richly merited the hanging which he suffered on the 10th of November, 1865. As has been stated, he was the only person executed for his part in the Civil War.

England, upon receiving news of the arrest of Jefferson Davis, declared all ports, harbors, and waters belonging to Great Britain closed against every vessel bearing the Confederate flag. The French government took the same action a few days later.

More than a generation has passed since the close of the great Civil War, which resulted in the cementing of the Union so firmly that the bonds can never again be broken. Whatever resentment may have been felt lasted but a brief while, and the late war with Spain removed the last vestige.

A little incident may serve as one of the thousand similar occurrences which prove how perfectly the North and South fraternized long ago. The officer who did the most effective work for the Union in the South during the closing months of the war was General James H. Wilson, a detachment of whose cavalry captured the fugitive Jefferson Davis. It was General Wilson, who, on the 21st of April, 1865, rode into Macon, Georgia, and took possession of the city. In the month of December, 1898, while on a visit to Macon, he made an address to the citizens, from which the following extract is given:

THIRTY-THREE YEARS LATER.

FELLOW-CITIZENS: It is with infinite pleasure that I address myself in words of peace to a Macon audience. [Cheers.] Thirty-odd years ago I came into this town with 15,000 cavalry thundering at my heels. [Laughter and shouts.] I was met with the roaring of cannon and the firing of musketry. [Cheers.] I was greeted by the burning of warehouses and the destruction of property, which I now profoundly regret. [Cheers.] The welcome that was extended to me then was of the silent quality. [Laughter.] An illustrious citizen, then your chief magistrate, the Hon. Joseph E. Brown, after a four-hours' interview, speaking of me then, said to another gathering of illustrious citizens, at the head of which was Howell Cobb: "He is a clever young man, but, gentlemen, he takes the military view of the situation." [Laughter.] That was a fact then, but now I come among you and I receive a different welcome. I was then a victor; to-day I am a captive. [Cheers.] I must say I am a willing captive of your city. The fair women and the brave and excellent gentlemen of your town have, by their open and generous hospitality, imprisoned me deep down in their hearts, and I would be recreant to every feeling of my own if I desired release from such pleasing bondage.

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XIX. ADMINISTRATIONS OF JOHNSON AND GRANT 1865-1877

Andrew Johnson--Reconstruction--Quarrel Between the President and Congress--The Fenians--Execution of Maximilian--Admission of Nebraska--Laying of the Atlantic Cable--Purchase of Alaska--Impeachment and Acquittal of the President--Carpet-bag Rule in the South--Presidential Election of 1868--U.S. Grant--Settlement of the Alabama Claims--Completion of the Overland Railway--The Chicago Fire--Settlement of the Northwestern Boundary--Presidential Election of 1872--The Modoc Troubles--Civil War in Louisiana--Admission of Colorado--Panic of 1873--Notable Deaths--Custer's Massacre--The Centennial--The Presidential Election of 1876 the Most Perilous in the History of the Country.

THE SEVENTEENTH PRESIDENT.

As provided by the Constitution, Andrew Johnson, Vice-President, took the oath of office as President on the day that Abraham Lincoln died. He was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, December 29, 1808, and his parents were so poor that they did not send him to school at all. When only ten years old, he was apprenticed to a tailor, and anyone who at that time had prophesied that he would some day become President of the United States would have been set down as an idiot or a lunatic.

Among the visitors to the tailor shop was a kind-hearted old gentleman who was in the habit of reading to the boys and men. Andrew became interested in what he heard, and, seeing how much better it would be for him to be able to read for himself, set to work and learned. He removed to Greenville, Tennessee, in 1826, and there married a noble woman, who encouraged his ambition and helped him in his studies. Nature had given him marked ability, and he became interested in local politics. The citizens had confidence in him, for he was twice elected alderman, twice mayor, was sent three times to the State Legislature, and in 1843 was elected to Congress. He remained there for ten years, when he was chosen governor of Tennessee, and, in 1857, became United States senator.

Johnson had always been a Democrat, and, when the political upheaval came in 1860, he supported Breckinridge. While he favored slavery, he was a Unionist in every fibre of his being, and declared that every man who raised his hand against the flag should be hanged as a traitor. Tennessee was torn by the savage quarrel, and for a time the secessionists were rampant. When Johnson returned to his home in May, 1861, his train was stopped by a mob who were determined to lynch him, but he met the angered men at the door with a loaded revolver and cowed them.

It was such men as Johnson that President Lincoln appreciated and determined to keep bound to him. He appointed him military governor of Tennessee in 1862, and it need hardly be said that Johnson made things lively for the secessionists, and did not forget to give attention to those who had persecuted him. His personal courage and honesty won the admiration of the North, and, as we have shown, led to his being placed on the ticket with President Lincoln, when he was renominated in 1864.

The reader will not forget that the surrender of Johnson and the capture, imprisonment, and release of Jefferson Davis occurred while Johnson was President.

THE PROBLEM OF RECONSTRUCTION.

Reconstruction was the grave problem that confronted the country at the close of the war. The question was as to the status of the States lately in rebellion. It would not do to restore them to their full rights, with the same old governments, for they might make better preparations and secede again. Nothing was clearer than that slavery was the real cause of the war, and the safety of the nation demanded that it should be extirpated forever. The Emancipation Proclamation was a war measure and simply freed the slaves, but did not prevent the re-establishment of slavery. In December, 1865, therefore, the Thirteenth Amendment, having been adopted by three-fourths of the States, was declared a part of the Constitution. By it slavery was forever abolished, and one of the gravest of all perils was removed.

President Johnson was a man of strong passions and prejudices. He had been a "poor white" in the South, whose condition in some respect was worse than that of slaves. He held a bitter personal hatred of the aristocratic Southerners, who had brought on the war. His disposition at first was to hang the leaders, but after awhile he swung almost as far in the opposite direction. At the same time, he was not particularly concerned for the welfare of the freed slaves, who were called "freedmen."

THE PRESIDENT'S POLICY.

President Johnson termed his plan "my policy," and briefly it was: To appoint provisional or temporary governors for each of the States lately in rebellion. These governors called conventions of delegates, who were elected by the former white voters of the respective States. When the conventions met they declared all the ordinances of secession void, pledged themselves never to pay any debt of the Southern Confederacy, and ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, as proposed by Congress early in 1865, and which abolished slavery. Before the close of the year named, each of the excluded States had been reorganized in accordance with this plan. Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas took the step while Lincoln was President.

The vexatious question was as to the treatment of the freedmen. The South had no faith that they would work, except when compelled to do so by slave-overseers. The new governments passed laws, therefore, to compel them to work, under the penalty of being declared vagrants and sent to jail, where they would be forced to hard labor. This method was denounced in the North as a re-establishment of slavery under a new name. The Republican majority in December, 1865, refused for a time to admit any members from the States that had been in rebellion.

QUARREL BETWEEN CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT.

Thus a quarrel arose between the President and Congress. The latter proposed to keep the States on probation for a time, before giving them their full rights, while the President strenuously insisted that they should be admitted at once on the same status as those that had not been engaged in secession. To keep out the eighty-five members who had been refused admission, Congress imposed a test oath, which excluded all who had been connected in any way with the Confederate government. The Republicans had a two-thirds vote in Congress which enabled them to pass any bill they chose over the President's veto. While they had not formulated any clear policy, they were resolved to protect the freedmen in all their rights. The reorganization of Tennessee being satisfactory, her members were received by Congress in 1866.

The congressional elections of this year intrenched the Republicans in Congress, and they were sure of the power for the next two years to carry through any policy upon which they might agree. By that time, too, they had fixed upon their plan of reconstruction and prepared to enforce it.

This policy was to allow the freedmen to vote and to deprive the Confederate leaders of the right to do so. To accomplish this, the plan was to place all the seceding States under military governors, who should call new conventions to form State governments. The negroes and not the leading Confederates had the power to vote for these delegates. Provided the new governments allowed the freedmen the right of suffrage, and ratified the Fourteenth Amendment (which excluded the leading Confederates from office), then the Southern senators and representatives would be admitted to Congress.

THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL.

The "civil rights" bill, which placed the blacks and whites on the same footing, was vetoed by the President, March 27th. He pointed out the danger of giving suffrage to 4,000,000 ignorant people, lately slaves, and said unscrupulous men in the North would hasten South and take advantage of their ignorance. This was precisely what took place. The South was overrun by a set of scoundrels known as "carpet-baggers" (because they were supposed to carry all their worldly possessions when they reached the South in a carpet bag; in many instances a score of trunks would not have sufficed to hold what they took back), whose rule was worse than a pestilence, and forms one of the most shameful episodes in our history. According to the old system, the negroes were counted in making up the congressional representation of the South, and the Republicans insisted that they were, therefore, entitled to vote. The bill was passed April 9th, over the President's veto.

The story of the bitter quarrel between the President and Congress is an unpleasant one. Words were uttered by him and by leading members of Congress which it would be well to forget. The President became angrier as the wrangle progressed, for, in the face of the hostile majority, he was powerless. The fight continued through the years 1867 and 1868. In June of the latter year, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina were re-admitted to Congress. The States that had seceded were divided into five military districts, and President Johnson, much against his will, was obliged to appoint the governors. As a result of all this, the negroes were largely in the majority in the South, and the Republican vote in Congress was greatly increased. But in the North, the fall elections went mostly Democratic, though not enough so to overcome the opposing majority in Congress.

During these exciting times there were several occurrences of a different nature which require notice. The Fenians are men of Irish birth who favor the independence of their country from Great Britain. One of their favorite methods is by the invasion of Canada. In 1866, about 1,500 of them entered Canada from Buffalo, and some skirmishing occurred, but the movement was so clearly a violation of law that the President sent a military force to the frontier and promptly stopped it.

EXECUTION OF MAXIMILIAN.

France had taken advantage of our Civil War to make an attempt to establish a monarchy in Mexico. French troops were landed, an empire proclaimed, and Maximilian, an Austrian archduke, declared emperor. He went to Mexico in 1864, where he was compelled to fight the Mexicans who had risen against his rule. With the help of the strong military force which Louis Napoleon placed at his disposal, he was able to maintain himself for a time. With the conclusion of the war, our government intimated to Emperor Napoleon that it would be politic for him to withdraw from Mexico, although we were quite willing to allow Maximilian to remain emperor if it was the wish of the Mexicans. Napoleon acted on the warning, but the misguided victim chose to stay, and was captured by the Mexicans in 1867 and shot. That was the end of the attempt to establish an empire in Mexico, which has long been a prosperous and well-governed republic.

ADMISSION OF NEBRASKA.

Nebraska was admitted to the Union in 1867. It was a part of the Louisiana purchase and was made a Territory in 1854, by the Kansas-Nebraska act. Being located much further north than Kansas, it escaped the strife and civil war which desolated that Territory. It has proven to be a rich agricultural region, though it suffers at times from grasshoppers, drought, and storms.

The attempts to lay an Atlantic telegraph cable resulted in failures until 1866, when a cable was laid from Ireland to Newfoundland. Since then other cables have been successfully stretched beneath the ocean until it may be said the world is girdled by them.

PURCHASE OF ALASKA.

In 1867 our country purchased from Russia the large tract in the northwest known as Russian America. The sum paid was $7,200,000, a price which many deemed so exorbitant that it was considered a mere pretext of Secretary Seward, who strongly urged the measure, in order to give Russia a bonus for her valuable friendship during the Civil War. Inclusive of the islands, the area of Alaska is 577,390 square miles. The country was looked upon as a cold, dismal land of fogs and storms, without any appreciable value, but its seal fisheries and timber have been so productive of late years that it has repaid its original cost tenfold and more.

WIDENING OF THE BREACH BETWEEN CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT.

One of the acts passed by Congress in March, 1867, forbade the President to dismiss any members of his cabinet without the consent of the Senate. The President insisted that the Constitution gave him the right to do this. Secretary of War Stanton, who had resigned by his request, was succeeded by General Grant, who gave way to Stanton, when the latter was replaced by the Senate, in January, 1868. On the 21st of February the President dismissed him and appointed Adjutant-General Thomas secretary ad interim. Stanton refused to yield, and remained at his office night and day, with a company of friends and a military guard. Several demands for the office were made by General Thomas, but all were refused. It was believed the President would send troops to enforce his order, but he did not proceed to that extremity.

IMPEACHMENT AND ACQUITTAL OF THE PRESIDENT.

On the 24th of February the House of Representatives passed a resolution to impeach the President. This was simply to accuse or charge him with the commission of high crimes and misdemeanors. In such cases the trial must be conducted by the Senate. A committee was appointed to prepare the articles of impeachment, which, in the main, accused the executive of violating the civil tenure act in his removal of Secretary Stanton, though other charges were added.

When the President is impeached, the Constitution provides that his trial shall take place before the Senate, sitting as a court. The trial occupied thirty-two days, lasting until May 26th, with Chief Justice Chase presiding, on which day a vote was taken on the eleventh article of impeachment. Thirty-five senators voted for acquittal and nineteen for conviction. One more vote--making the necessary two-thirds--would have convicted. Ten days later the same vote was given on the other charges, whereupon a verdict of acquittal was ordered.

SAD CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY.

The country was in a lamentable condition. Congress censured the President, who expressed his contempt for that body. General Sheridan, whom the President had removed from the governorship of Louisiana, was complimented for his administration, and Congress declared that there was no valid government in the South, the jurisdiction of which was transferred to General Grant, the head of the army.

By this time the carpet-baggers had swarmed into the sorely harried region like so many locusts. They secured the support of the ignorant blacks, by falsehood and misrepresentations, controlled the State Legislatures, and had themselves elected to Congress. Enormous debts were piled up, and negroes, who could not write their names, exultingly made laws for their former masters, who remained in sullen silence at their homes and wondered what affliction was coming next. The colored legislators adjourned pell-mell to attend the circus; hundreds of thousands of dollars were stolen, and extravagance, corruption, and debauchery ran riot. As a public man remarked, one general conflagration, sweeping from the Potomac to the Gulf of Mexico, could not have wrought more devastation in the South than the few years of carpet-bag governments.

Yet all such evils are sure to right themselves, sooner or later. The means are apt to be violent and revolutionary, and sometimes breed crime of itself. It was not in the nature of things that the whites should remain passive and meek under this unspeakable misrule. They united for self-protection. One of the bands thus formed was the Ku-Klux, which in time committed so many crimes in terrorizing the negroes that they were suppressed by the stern arm of the military; a revolt of the best people took place, and soon after 1870 the blight of carpet-bag government disappeared from the South.

TRUE RECONCILIATION.

Despite the turbulence and angry feeling, the work of reconciliation went on of itself. Northern capital entered the promising fields of the South; former Union and Confederate leaders, as well as privates, respected one another, as brave men always do, and became warm friends. While many of the former went South, hundreds of the latter made their homes in the North, where they were welcomed and assisted in the struggle to "get upon their feet." This fraternal mingling of former soldiers and the friendly exchange of visits between Union and Confederate posts brought about true reconciliation, despite the wrangles of politicians.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1868.

Before, however, this was fully accomplished, the presidential election of 1868 took place. The most popular hero in this country, as in others, is the military one, and the great value of General Grant's services in the war for the Union made it clear, long before the assembling of the nominating convention, that he would be the candidate of the Republican party. He was unanimously named, with Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as the nominee for Vice-President. The Democrats placed in nomination Horatio Seymour, of New York, and General Francis P. Blair, of Missouri. The result in November was as follows: Republican ticket, 214 electoral votes; Democratic, 80. The election was a striking proof of the popularity of the great soldier.

Andrew Johnson was hopeful of a nomination from the Democrats, but his name was scarcely mentioned. He lived in retirement for a number of years, but was elected United States senator in 1875, and he died at his home July 31st of that year.

THE EIGHTEENTH PRESIDENT.

Ulysses S. Grant had already become so identified with the history of our country that little remains to be added to that which has been recorded. He was born at Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27, 1822. Appointed to West Point, he gave no evidence of special brilliancy, and was graduated in 1843 with only a fair standing. He did good service in the war with Mexico and was brevetted captain, but resigned his commission in 1854 and went into business, where he attained only moderate success. He was among the first to volunteer when the Civil War broke out. The opportunity thus presented for the full display of his military genius rapidly brought him to the front, the culmination of his career being reached when he compelled the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox Court-House in April, 1865, thereby bringing the long and terrible war to a triumphant conclusion. He was a man of simple tastes, modest, but with an unerring knowledge of his own abilities, thoroughly patriotic, honest, chivalrous, devoted to his friends, and so trustful of them that he remained their supporters sometimes after receiving proof of their unworthiness. The mistakes of his administration were due mainly to this trait of his character, which it is hard to condemn without reservation.

The country being fairly launched once more on its career of progress and prosperity, the government gained the opportunity to give attention to matters which it was compelled to pass by while the war was in progress. The first most important step was to call England to account for her help in fitting out Confederate privateers, when we were in extremity. It required considerable tact and delicacy to get the "Alabama Claims," as they were termed, in proper form before the British authorities, for they felt sensitive, but it was finally accomplished. The arbitration tribunal which sat at Geneva, Switzerland, in June, 1872, decreed that England should pay the United States the sum of $15,500,000 because of the damage inflicted by Confederate cruisers upon Northern commerce. The amount was paid, and friendly relations between the two countries were fully restored.

Our rapid growth had long since made the building of a railroad from the East to the Pacific a necessity that continually grew more urgent. Construction was begun as early as 1863, but the Civil War caused the work to lag, and at the end of two years only one hundred miles had been graded and forty laid. The progress then became more vigorous.

The road consisted of two divisions. The first was from Omaha, Nebraska, to Ogden, Utah, a distance of 1,032 miles, while the western division, known as the Central Pacific, covered the distance of 885 miles between Ogden and San Francisco. Steadily approaching each other, these long lines of railway met on the 10th of May, 1869, when the last spike, made of solid gold, was driven, and the two locomotives, standing with their pilots almost touching, joined in a joyous screech of their whistles. The important event was celebrated with much ceremony, for it was worthy of being commemorated.

RECONSTRUCTION COMPLETED.

The vexatious work of reconstruction was completed during the early months of 1870. Virginia had held out against the terms prescribed by Congress, but her senators and representatives were admitted to their seats in the latter part of January; those of Mississippi in the following month, and those of Texas in March, at which time the secretary of State issued a proclamation declaring the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees negro suffrage. For the first time in almost twenty years, all the States were fully represented in Congress.

THE CHICAGO FIRE.

On the 8th of October, 1871, Chicago was visited by the greatest conflagration of modern times, with the single exception of that of Moscow. Like many events, fraught with momentous consequences, it had a trifling cause. A cow kicked over a lamp in a stable on De Koven Street, which set fire to the straw. A gale swiftly carried the flames into some adjoining lumber yards and frame houses. All the conditions were favorable for a tremendous conflagration. The fire swept over the south branch of the Chicago River, and raged furiously in the business portion of the city. The main channel of the river was leaped as if it were a narrow alley, and there were anxious hours when thousands believed the whole city was doomed. As it was, the fire-swept district covered four or five miles, and fully 20,000 buildings were burned. It is believed that 250 lives were lost, about 100,000 people made homeless, and $192,000,000 worth of property destroyed.

Chicago's affliction stirred the sympathy of the whole country. Contributions were sent thither from every State, and everything was done to aid the sufferers who had lost their all. With true American pluck, the afflicted people bent to the work before them. Night and day thousands toiled, and within the space of a year a newer and more magnificent city rose like a Phoenix from its ashes. Chicago to-day is one of the grandest and most enterprising cities in the world.

SETTLEMENT OF THE NORTHWESTERN BOUNDARY.

We had made a treaty with England in 1846 which located the line of our northwestern boundary along the 49th parallel westward to the middle of "the channel" separating the continent from Vancouver's Island, and then southward through the middle of the channel and of Fuca's Strait to the Pacific Ocean. It was found, however, there were several channels, and it was impossible to decide which was meant in the treaty. The claim of England included the island of San Juan, she insisting that the designated channel ran to the south of that island. Naturally, we took the opposite view and were equally insistent that the channel ran to the north, and that San Juan, therefore, belonged to us. The two nations displayed their good sense by referring the dispute to arbitration and selected the Emperor of Germany as the arbitrator. He decided in 1872 in our favor.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1872.

It was a curious presidential election that took place in 1872. The South was bitterly opposed to the Republican plan of reconstruction and a good many in the North sympathized with them. One of the strongest opponents of Grant's renomination was the New York Tribune, of which Horace Greeley was editor. The Republicans who agreed with him were called "Liberal Republicans," while the Straight-out Democrats retained their organization. Naturally, the regular Republicans renominated Grant, but Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, took the place of Schuyler Colfax as the nominee for the Vice-Presidency. Horace Greeley, who had spent his life in vigorously fighting the principles of the Democratic party, was now endorsed by that organization after his nomination by the Liberal Republicans, with B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, as his running partner.

The election was a perfect jumble. Eight candidates were voted for as President and eleven for Vice-President. Grant received 286 electoral votes and carried thirty-one States. Greeley was so crushed by his defeat that he lost his reason and died within a month after election. His electors scattered their votes, so that Thomas A. Hendricks, the regular Democratic candidate, received 42; B. Gratz Brown, 16; Charles J. Jenkins, 2; and David Davis, 1.

THE INDIAN QUESTION.

The second term of Grant was more troublous than the first. The difficulties with the Indians, dating from the first settlement in the country, were still with us. At the suggestion of the President, a grand council of delegates of the civilized tribes met in December, 1870, in the Choctaw division of the Indian Territory. The subject brought before them was the organization of a republican form of government, to be under the general rule of the United States. A second convention was held in the following July and a provisional government organized. A proposal was adopted that the United States should set aside large tracts of land for the exclusive occupancy and use of the Indians. These areas were to be known as "reservations," and so long as the Indians remained upon them they were to be protected from molestation.

This scheme seemed to promise a settlement of the vexed question, but it failed to accomplish what was expected. In the first place, most of the Indians were unfriendly to it. No matter how large a part of country you may give to a red man as his own, he will not be satisfied without permission to roam and hunt over all of it.

A more potent cause of trouble was the origin of all the Indian troubles, from the colonial times to the present: the dishonesty and rascality of the white men brought officially in contact with the red men. Not only did these miscreants pursue their evil ways among the Indians themselves, but there was an "Indian ring" in Washington, whose members spent vast sums of money to secure the legislation that enabled them to cheat the savages out of millions of dollars. This wholesale plundering of the different tribes caused Indian wars and massacres, while the evil men at the seat of the government grew wealthy and lived in luxury.

THE MODOC TROUBLES.

Trouble at once resulted from removing the Indians to reservations that were inferior in every respect to their former homes. The Modocs, who had only a few hundred warriors, were compelled by our government to abandon their fertile lands south of Oregon and go to a section which was little better than a desert. They rebelled, and, under the leadership of Captain Jack and Scar-faced Charley, a number took refuge among some lava beds on the upper edge of California. On the 11th of April, 1873, a conference was held between the Indian leaders and six members of the peace commission. While it was in progress, the savages suddenly attacked the white men. General Edward S. Canby and Dr. Thomas were instantly killed, and General Meachem, another member, was badly wounded, but escaped with his life.

The war against the Modocs was pushed. After much difficulty and fighting, they were driven to the wall and compelled to surrender. Captain Jack and two of his brother chiefs were hanged in the following October. The remaining members were removed to a reservation in Dakota, where they have given no further trouble.

CIVIL WAR IN LOUISIANA.

In the early part of this year, civil war broke out in Louisiana because of the quarrels over reconstruction measures. The difficulty first appeared two years earlier, when opposing factions made attempts to capture the Legislature by unseating members belonging to the opposing party. Matters became so grave that in the following January Federal troops had to be used to preserve the peace. In December, 1872, another bitter quarrel arose over the election of the governor and members of the Legislature. The returning board divided, one part declaring William P. Kellogg elected, while the other gave the election to John McEnery, the candidate of the white man's party. Most of the negro vote had been cast for Kellogg.

As a consequence, two rival State governments were organized. McEnery was enjoined by the United States district court from acting, because, as was asserted, the returning board which declared him elected had done so in defiance of its order.

In the face of this prohibition, McEnery was inaugurated. The question was referred to the Federal government, which declared in favor of Kellogg. Thereupon the McEnery government disbanded, but in the latter part of 1874 McEnery again laid claim to election. D.P. Penn, his lieutenant-governor, and his armed followers took possession of the State House. A fight followed in which Kellogg was driven from the building, twenty-six persons killed and a large number wounded. Kellogg appealed to Washington for help. McEnery, who was absent during these violent proceedings, now returned and took the place of Penn. President Grant ordered his supporters to disperse and General Emory forced McEnery to surrender. The peace was broken in January, 1875, over the election of members to the Legislature, and the Federal troops were again called to restore order. A congressional committee was sent South to investigate, and finally the quarrel was ended and Kellogg was recognized as the legal governor.

ADMISSION OF COLORADO.

Colorado became the thirty-eighth State in August, 1876. The name is Spanish, and refers to that part of the Rocky Mountains noted for its many colored peaks. Colorado has more than thirty peaks within its borders whose height is quite or nearly three miles. The wild, mountainous region was explored in 1858 at two points, one near Pike's Peak and the other in the southwestern portion. Both exploring parties discovered gold, which, while abundant, is hard to extract. The Territory was organized in 1861, and the principal discoveries of the enormous deposits of silver have been made since 1870. The date of Colorado's admission has caused it often to be referred to as the "Centennial State."

THE PANIC OF 1873.

We had learned the meaning of hard times in 1837 and again in 1857. Once more, in 1873, the blight fell upon the country. There were various causes, all of which, in one sense, were the war. Prices had become inflated, money was plentiful, and cities, towns, and people had become extravagant. A mania seemed to seize municipal corporations for indulging in "improvements," which brought ruinous debts upon the municipalities. Enormous sums of money were invested in the building of new railroad lines where the country was not developed sufficiently to repay the expenditures. The quantity of goods brought into this country was much in excess of that exported, a fact which turned the balance of trade, as it was termed, against us. This required the sending abroad of a large amount of money.

As illustrative of the extravagance in railroad building, it may be said that, in the single year 1871, 8,000 miles were put in operation. Instead of using ready money with which to build these lines, bonds were issued by the railroad companies, which expected to pay the debts out of the future earnings of the roads. In the course of five years $1,750,000,000 were invested in railroad projects. The same speculative spirit pervaded mining and manufacturing companies, which also borrowed money by issuing bonds. A great amount of these were sold abroad, after which the home market was industriously worked through the newspapers, which overflowed with glowing promises. Thousands of poor widows, orphans, and the trustees of estates invested all their scanty savings in these enterprises.

Then the failures began. The banking firm of Jay Cooke & Company, Philadelphia, one of the greatest in the United States, suspended, and the whole country was alarmed. Next came the panic, which reached its height in a few months. This was followed by dull times, when factories closed, and multitudes were thrown out of employment. Several years passed before the country fully recovered from the panic of 1873.

NOTABLE DEATHS.

Many noted men died during those times. The bluff, aggressive, and patriotic Edwin M. Stanton, Lincoln's war secretary, passed away in December, 1869, shortly after his appointment to the bench of the supreme court by President Grant. General R.E. Lee, who had become president of the Washington and Lee University, died at his home in Lexington, Virginia, in 1870. Among others of prominence who died in the same year were General George H. Thomas and Admiral Farragut. In 1872, William H. Seward, Horace Greeley, Professor Morse, and General George H. Meade breathed their last, and in the year following Chief Justice Chase and Charles Sumner died. Millard Fillmore and Andrew Johnson, as has been stated, died respectively in 1874 and 1875.

The Democrats now gained a majority in the House of Representatives for the first time since 1860. Among the members elected from the South were several distinguished military leaders of the Southern Confederacy, besides Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, who had been its vice-president.

It was about this time that gold was discovered among the Black Hills, which by treaty belonged to the Sioux Indians, since the section was within their reservation. White men were warned to keep away, and steps were taken by the military authorities to prevent them entering upon the forbidden ground. But no risk or danger is sufficient to quench men's thirst for gold, and thousands of the most desperate characters hurried to the Black Hills and began digging for the yellow deposit.

CUSTER'S MASSACRE.

The Sioux are fierce and warlike. They have given our government a great deal of trouble, and, finding their reservation invaded by white men, they retaliated by leaving it, burning houses, stealing horses, and cattle, and killing settlers in Wyoming and Montana. Their outrages became so serious that the government sent a strong military force thither under Generals Terry and Crook, which drove a formidable body of warriors under the well-known Sitting Bull and others toward the Big Horn Mountains and River.

Generals Reno and Custer rode forward with the Seventh Cavalry to reconnoitre, and discovered the Indians encamped in a village nearly three miles long on the left bank of the Little Big Horn River. Custer, who was an impetuous, headlong officer, instantly charged upon the Indians without waiting for reinforcements.

This woeful blunder was made June 25, 1876. All that is known of it has been obtained from the Indians themselves. They agree that Custer and his men dashed directly among the thousands of warriors, and that they fought with desperate heroism, but Custer and every one of his men were killed. The number was 261. General Reno held his position at the lower end of the encampment on the bluffs of the Little Big Horn until reinforcements arrived. Soldiers were sent to the neighborhood, and there was more sharp fighting. It was a long time and there was much negotiation necessary before the Sioux could be persuaded to return to their reservation in Dakota.

On the 4th of July, 1876, the United States was one hundred years old. Preparations had been on foot for several years to give it a fitting celebration. A bill was passed by Congress as early as March, 1871, providing that an exhibition of foreign and American arts, products, and manufactures should be held under the auspices of the government of the United States. A centennial commission was appointed, consisting of General Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut; Professor John L. Campbell, of Indiana; Alfred T. Goshorn, of Ohio; and John L. Shoemaker, of Pennsylvania. Naturally Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was written and signed, was selected as the most fitting place to hold the celebration. Fairmount Park, one of the largest and finest in the world, was set apart for the buildings.

The invitations sent to other nations were courteously accepted, the following being those that took part: The Argentine Confederation, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, France (including Algeria), German Empire, Great Britain and her colonies, Greece, Guatemala, Hawaii, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Orange Free State, Persia, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Siam, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunis, Turkey, United States of Colombia, and Venezuela.

To furnish room for the display of the myriads of articles, five principal buildings were erected, viz.: the Main Building, 1,876 feet long and 464 feet wide; the Art Gallery or Memorial Hall, Machinery Hall, Agricultural Hall, and Horticultural Hall. The exhibition was formally opened by President Grant, May 1st, and closed by him six months later. The daily attendance began with about 5,000, but rose to 275,000 toward the close. The total number of visitors was some 10,000,000, and the total receipts, as officially given out, were $3,761,598. The exhibition was a splendid success in every sense.

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1876.

Few people to-day understand the danger through which the country passed in the autumn and winter of 1876. In June, the two great political parties put their presidential tickets in the field. That of the Republicans was Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, and William A. Wheeler, of New York; of the Democrats, Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana. The Independent Greenback party also nominated a ticket, at the head of which was the venerable philanthropist, Peter Cooper, of New York, with Samuel F. Cary, of Ohio, the candidate for the vice-presidency.

There was little difference between the platforms of the two leading parties. The Democrats declared for reform through all the methods of the administration. The Republicans were equally loud in their calls for the reform of every political abuse, and for the punishment of any and all who made wrongful use of political offices. They also insisted that the rights of the colored men should be safeguarded, and denounced the doctrine of State sovereignty, of which there was little to be feared, since it had been effectually killed by the war.

The Greenbackers made considerable stir. They also used the shibboleth of reform, but put the currency question before all others. Although the government was committed to the redemption of the national legal-tenders and bonds in gold, the Greenbackers insisted that this was impossible, and was also unjust to the debtor class. They claimed, further, that it was the duty of the government to provide a national paper currency, based not on specie, but on bonds bearing a low rate of interest. The Republicans and Democrats maintained that the government could not abrogate its promises of redeeming the currency and bonds in gold.

The Greenback party polled 81,740 votes, the Prohibition 9,522, and the American 2,636, none gaining an electoral vote. For several days after the November election, it was generally believed that the Democrats had been successful, though a few Republican papers, notably the New York Times, persistently claimed that the Republican ticket had been successful.

There was a dispute in four States. In Louisiana, the returning board threw out the returns from several parishes on the ground of intimidation and fraud, thereby placing 4,000 majority to the credit of the Republicans. The Democrats insisted that the rejected votes should be counted, and, had it been done, Tilden would have been elected.

In South Carolina, two bodies claimed to be the legal Legislature and both canvassed the returns, one giving a plurality of 800 to the Republican ticket and the other a smaller majority to the Democratic. Precisely the same wrangle occurred in Florida, where each side claimed a majority of about a hundred. Matters were still more complicated in Oregon, where a Republican elector was declared ineligible, because he held the office of postmaster at the time he was chosen elector. The governor proposed to withhold the certificate from him and give it to a Democrat. Had everything claimed by the Republicans been conceded, they would have had 185 and the Democrats 184. It was necessary, therefore, for the Republicans to maintain every point in order to secure their President, for it was beyond dispute that Tilden had received 184 electoral votes. On the popular vote, he had 4,284,885 to 4,033,950 for Hayes. Each party charged the other with fraud, and thousands of Democrats were so incensed at what they believed was a plot to cheat them out of the presidency that they were ready to go to war. Had they done so, it would have been the most terrible peril that ever came upon the Republic, for the war would not have been one section against the other, but of neighborhood against neighborhood throughout the land.

As if nothing in the way of discord should be lacking, the Senate was Republican and the House Democratic. The election being disputed, it fell to them to decide the question--something they would never do, since they were deadlocked. This was so apparent that thoughtful men saw that some new and extraordinary means must be found to save the country from civil war.

Congress, after long and earnest discussion, passed a bill creating an Electoral Commission, to which it was agreed to submit the dispute. This commission was to consist of fifteen members, five to be appointed by the House, five by the Senate, and the remaining five to consist of judges of the Supreme Court.

The Senate being Republican, its presiding officer, the Vice-President, named three Republicans and two Democrats; the House naturally appointed three Democrats and two Republicans; while of the Supreme Court, three were Republicans and two Democrats. This, it will be noted, gave to the commission eight Republicans and seven Democrats. The body by a strict party vote decided every dispute in favor of the Republicans, and on the 2d of March, 1877, two days before inauguration, Rutherford B. Hayes was decided President-elect of the United States.

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XX. ADMINISTRATIONS OF HAYES, GARFIELD, AND ARTHUR, 1877-1885

R.B. Hayes--The Telephone--Railway Strikes--Elevated Railroads--War with the Nez Perce Indians--Remonetization of Silver--Resumption of Specie Payments--A Strange Fishery Award--The Yellow Fever Scourge--Presidential Election of 1878--James A. Garfield--Civil Service Reform--Assassination of President Garfield--Chester A. Arthur--The Star Route Frauds--The Brooklyn Bridge--The Chinese Question--The Mormons--Alaska Exploration --The Yorktown Centennial--Attempts to Reach the North Pole by Americans --History of the Greely Expedition.

THE NINETEENTH PRESIDENT.

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born in Delaware County, Ohio, October 4, 1822, and was graduated from Kenyon College at the age of twenty years. In 1845 he completed his legal studies at Harvard University, and practiced law, first at Marietta, in his native State, then at Fremont, and finally in Cincinnati. He entered the military service, at the beginning of the war, as major, and rose to the rank of brevet major-general. His career as a soldier was creditable. While still in the service, in 1864, he was elected to Congress, and was governor of Ohio in 1867, 1869, and again in 1875. His popularity as chief magistrate of one of the leading States led to his nomination to the presidency, to which, however, it must be conceded, he had not a clear title. He died at Fremont, Ohio, January 17, 1893.

President Hayes proved his desire to strengthen the fraternal feeling between the North and South by appointing as a member of his cabinet David McKey, his postmaster-general. Mr. McKey was from Tennessee, and had served the Confederacy during the Civil War. Hayes' administration on the whole was uneventful, though marked by a number of incidents which deserve mention. It was in 1877 that the first telephone for business purposes was put into use. It connected the residence of Charles Williams, in Somerville, Massachusetts, with his business office in Boston, three miles distant. Alexander Bell, of the latter city, was the inventor of the instrument, which is now in general use throughout the country, and serves to connect points more than a thousand miles apart.

RAILWAY STRIKES.

In the summer of 1877 occurred one of the most violent outbreaks among labor men that has ever been known in this country. There was unrest in the mining districts over the question of wages, and the dissatisfaction spread to the principal manufacturing points. When the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad made a reduction of 10 per cent. in the pay of its employees it was followed, July 14th, by a partial strike on their line. The men had the sympathy of workmen throughout the country, and the strike spread to the Pennsylvania, Erie, New York Central, and their western connections, including the Missouri and Pacific, and a number of less important lines west of the Mississippi.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers is one of the most intelligent and conservative labor organizations in the country. It has won the respect of corporations as well as of the community-at-large by its fairness and its refusal to engage in strikes, except as a last resort against grievances. Its members are located in all parts of the country, and include a good many thousands. In the strike named the Brotherhood took the lead, and the firemen, brakemen, and other railroad employees joined them. The result was the stoppage of the wheels of commerce and the ruin of vast amounts of perishable freight, to say nothing of the expensive delays of all kinds. The railroad companies called upon the various State authorities for protection in operating their lines, but, as is generally the case, the militia were either in sympathy with the strikers or were afraid of them. As a final resort, an appeal was made to the United States government, whose soldiers understand only one duty, that of obeying orders.

The strikers stopped all trains in Baltimore and Martinsburg, West Virginia, and defied the authorities. The militia were scattered, but a few regulars were sufficient to raise the blockade. On the 20th of July, in an attempt of the rioters to resist the clearing of the streets in Baltimore, nine persons were killed and a score wounded. The strike extended until it included the whole country, with the exception of the cotton-growing States.

The most dangerous outbreak was in Pittsburg, where an immense mob held control of the city for two days. Disorder and violence reigned, and the authorities were powerless. When on the 21st soldiers appeared on the streets they were assailed with stones and pistol-shots, and they replied with several volleys which killed and wounded a number of rioters. This only added fuel to the flames, and the mob became more savage than ever. The soldiers were attacked so furiously that they ran into a roundhouse of the railway company for protection. There they were besieged, and oil cars were rolled against the building and fired with the purpose of burning the soldiers to death. The firemen were not allowed to put out the flames, and it was several days before the defenders were rescued.

The infuriated mob applied the torch to the buildings of the railroad company, gutted cars, scattered or carried off the contents, burst open and drank barrels of whiskey, and raged like so many wild beasts. Before the terrific outbreak subsided, the Union Depot and all the machine shops and railway buildings in the city were burned. Among the losses were 126 locomotives and 2,500 cars laden with valuable freight. The regular troops finally subdued the rioters, but not until a hundred people had been killed and property destroyed to the value of five million dollars.

There was rioting accompanied with violence in Chicago, Buffalo, Columbus, Ohio, and at many other points. In Chicago, on the 26th of July, nineteen persons were killed. St. Louis was disturbed, but there was no special outbreak. In San Francisco a savage attack was made on the Chinese and the managers of the lumber yards. At one period, on 6,000 miles of railroad not a wheel was turned, and 100,000 laborers were idle or assisting in the rioting. Such violent ebullitions soon expend themselves. By-and-by the men began returning to their work, and within two or three weeks all the railroads were operating as usual.

About this time the elevated railway system was adopted in New York City. It has proved so convenient that many lines have been added in the metropolis, and the same means of travel is used in other cities, though of late years electric trolley cars have been widely introduced.

THE NEZ PERCE WAR.

When Lewis and Clark journeyed across the upper part of our country, at the beginning of the century, they made a treaty with the Nez Perce Indians, whose home was in the northwest. They were visited afterward by missionaries, and no trouble occurred with them until after our war with Mexico. A large section of their land was bought by the United States government in 1854, and a reservation was set apart for them in northwestern Idaho and northeastern Oregon. As in the case of the Seminoles of Florida however, many of the chiefs were opposed to the sale of their lands, and, when the date came for their departure, refused to leave.

Chief Joseph of the Nez Perces was one of the most remarkable Indians of the century. He was shrewd, sagacious, brave, and remarkably intelligent. General Wesley Merritt, of the United States army, has pronounced his military genius of the highest order, and, in the incidents we are about to narrate, his exploit in its way has never been surpassed. A good many people will recall seeing Joseph at the ceremonies at the tomb of General Grant in 1897, where his fine military appearance attracted much attention.

In 1877, General Howard, commanding the department of the Columbia, marched against the troublesome Nez Perces with a small force of regulars. Being too weak to fight the soldiers, Chief Joseph, at the head of his band, repeatedly eluded them with masterly skill. This strange chase continued for hundreds of miles, Joseph keeping his women, children, and impedimenta not only intact, but beyond reach of the pursuers, who were filled with admiration of his genius. In the autumn of 1877, the Nez Perces passed through the mountains of northern Montana, where they were confronted by Colonel Miles and the regulars. Even then Joseph could not be brought to battle, and crossed the Missouri near the mouth of the Mussel Shell. In the Bear Paw Mountains, however, his camp was surrounded and he was brought to bay. The Nez Perces fought with great bravery, but were defeated. Joseph faced the inevitable, and, walking forward to where General Howard was sitting on his horse, handed him his rifle. Then, pointing to the sun in the sky, he said: "From where the sun is in yonder heavens, I fight the white man no more."

General Howard admired the valiant and chivalrous warrior, who had conducted his campaign not only with rare skill, but without any of the outrages and cruelties which seem natural to the American race. He took his hand, and promised to be his friend. General Howard was able to keep his promise, and secured such a favorable location for Joseph and his band that they have been peaceable and satisfied ever since.

REMONETIZATION OF SILVER.

The money or currency question has long been a disturbing factor in politics. During the war the silver currency had been out of circulation, its place being taken for awhile by postage stamps and afterward by "shinplasters," which were paper fractional parts of a dollar. In 1873, Congress made gold the exclusive money standard. Silver depreciated some ten per cent., and the "hard money" people opposed the measures that were set on foot to remonetize silver; that is, to bring it into circulation again. Such a bill was passed, then vetoed by the President, promptly repassed over his veto, and it was ordered that the coinage of silver should proceed at a rate not to exceed $2,000,000 a month. About this time (December 18, 1878), gold and paper money for the first time in seventeen years was of equal value.

In accordance with the law of 1875, specie payments by the United States government was effected January 1, 1879. At that time there was an accumulation of $138,000,000 in the United States treasury, nearly all of it gold, representing forty per cent. of the outstanding bonds. The mere knowledge of this fact so strengthened the public credit that, instead of the anticipated rush on the 1st of January, only $11,000,000 was offered for redemption. The problem of specie payment proved to be a bugbear.

THE FISHERY AWARD.

By the treaty of Washington, signed in 1872, Americans were allowed to take fish of every kind, except shellfish, on the seacoasts and shores and in the bays, harbors, and creeks of the provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward's Island, and the adjacent islands, without restriction as to the distance from shore. In return for this privilege, our government agreed to charge a duty upon certain kinds of fish brought by British subjects into American harbors. There were other mutual concessions, and, in order to balance matters and make everything smooth, the whole question was placed in the hands of an arbitration commission, which began its sessions in the summer of 1877, at Halifax. The commission included a member appointed by the Queen, one by the President, and the third by the Austrian ambassador at the Court of St. James. Our country was astounded by the verdict of this commission, which was that the United States should pay the sum of $5,000,000 to the British government. Even England was surprised, and our government was disposed to refuse to accept the verdict; but to do that would have established a bad precedent, and the sum named was paid to Great Britain in the autumn of 1878.

THE YELLOW FEVER SCOURGE.

Yellow fever has been one of the most dreadful scourges that our country has suffered. It first appeared on this continent in 1780, when Boston was ravaged in the summer of that year. It afterward appeared in New York and Philadelphia, especially in 1793 and 1797, after which its visitations have been mainly confined to the South, where the sanitation measures have been less rigid than in the North. It has been proven that strict quarantine and absolute cleanliness are safeguards against its entrance, though, after the frightful plague has once appeared in a place, it is impossible to stamp it out. It subsides before the approach of frost and cold weather, and the cure for those smitten is to carry them to cool elevations. Thus far science has not been able to discover the real nature of yellow fever, nor to provide a remedy. It has been established, however, that it is due to bacilli or disease germs, as is the case with cholera, consumption, and many other diseases, and there is reason to believe a specific remedy will soon be brought to light.

One of the most destructive visitations of yellow fever was in the summer and autumn of 1873. Memphis and New Orleans suffered the most, and at one time those cities were abandoned by all who could leave them. Other portions of the country contributed every possible assistance in the way of medical help, nurses, and money, but before the scourge was extirpated by cool weather fully 15,000 persons had succumbed.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1878.

The Republican National Convention was held in Chicago at the opening of June. As General Grant had returned from his memorable tour round the world, having been received everywhere with the highest honors, a determined effort was now made to renominate him for a third term. Roscoe Conkling, United States senator from New York, was the leader in the movement, and the whole number of Grant's supporters was 306, who without a break cast their vote for him thirty-six times in succession. They failed because of the widespread opposition to any man holding the exalted office for a longer period than Washington, the Father of his Country.

The principal rivals of General Grant were James G. Blaine, of Maine, and John Sherman, of Ohio. There being a deadlock, the supporters of these two candidates united and thereby nominated James A. Garfield, of Ohio, with Chester A. Arthur, of New York, as the nominee for Vice-President.

The Democratic Convention, which met in Cincinnati in the latter part of June, placed in nomination General Winfield S. Hancock, of New York, and William H. English, of Indiana. The prospect of Hancock's election was excellent, but he destroyed it by one of those unfortunate expressions which more than once have defeated candidates for high office. When questioned concerning the tariff he expressed the opinion that it was a "local issue," a remark which many accepted as displaying ignorance of the important subject, and they, therefore, voted against him. The result was as follows: James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur, 214 electoral votes; W.S. Hancock and W.H. English, 155; James B. Weaver and B.J. Chambers, the Greenback candidates, received 307,306 popular votes; Neal Dow and H.A. Thompson, the Prohibition, 10,305; and John W. Phelps and S.C. Pomeroy, American, 707; but none of the three secured an electoral vote.

James A. Garfield was born at Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, November 19, 1831. While he was an infant his father died and he was left to the care of his noble mother, to whom he was devotedly attached.

Garfield spent his boyhood in the backwoods, and at one time was the driver of a canal-boat. He became strong, rugged, and a fine athlete, and at the same time obtained the rudiments of an English education. At the age of seventeen he attended the high school at Chester, and by hard study acquired an excellent knowledge of Latin, Greek, and algebra. He was a student at Hiram College, and became an instructor in 1854. The same year he entered Williams College, from which he was graduated with honor in 1856. He returned to Ohio, and was appointed a professor in Hiram College. He indulged his taste for politics and law, and served for a time in the State Senate, but was president of the college when the war broke out. He at once volunteered, and was appointed lieutenant-colonel and afterward colonel of the Forty-second Regiment of Ohio Volunteers.

Garfield displayed remarkable ability in the military service, and had he remained would have won high distinction. As a brigadier-general he did fine work in Kentucky and Tennessee. He was chief-of-staff to General Rosecrans, and showed great gallantry in the tremendous battle of Chickamauga. He was in the field when elected to Congress in 1862. His desire was to remain, but, at the personal request of President Lincoln, he entered Congress, where it was felt his help was needed in the important legislation before the country. The estimate in which he was held by his fellow-citizens is shown by the fact that he served as a member of Congress for seventeen years. In 1879 he was chosen United States senator, but did not take his seat because of his nomination for the presidency.

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.

The question of "civil service reform," as it is termed, assumed prominence during the term of Hayes. This, as all understand, means that the public offices should be filled not in accordance with politics, but be determined by fitness. The charge has been made with reason that, when public servants have become skilled in the discharge of their duties, they are turned out to make room for the friends of the new administration, where politics are different. In that way public service is injured.

The opponents of civil service reform maintain, on the other hand, that there are thousands out of office who are just as capable as those in office, and that the party ought to reward those that have helped it to success. "To the victor belong the spoils" was the policy of Andrew Jackson, and it has been followed in a greater or less degree ever since. The cry of civil service reform was long a well-sounding motto with which to catch votes, but no serious effort was made to enforce it. Hayes tried his hand, but the clamor for political rewards was so insistent that he gave it up, and matters dropped back into their old ruts. The vexatious question was inherited by Garfield, and the hope was general that he would not only make a determined effort, but would succeed in carrying out the principles of real civil service reform.

The task soon proved beyond the capacity of himself or any human being. It seemed as if nearly every man in the country had been the deciding factor in the election of the President, while the "original Garfield man" would have formed a full regiment. The executive threw up his hands, and decided to pass over the plague to the next administration.

The quarrel produced a split in the Republican party itself, and two wings were formed, known as "Half-breeds" and "Stalwarts." At the head of the latter was the brilliant New York senator, Roscoe Conkling, who had been so persistent in his efforts to renominate General Grant for a third term. The leader of the Half-breeds was James G. Blaine, as brilliant as Conkling, while both were strong personal opponents. The Stalwarts claimed the right of dividing the offices, as had been the custom for a century, the senators and representatives apportioning the plums among the horde of claimants. The President was supported by the Half-breeds in his claim that it was his province to bestow these gifts as he saw fit.

The collectorship of the port of New York is one of the best offices at the disposal of the administration. The President nominated Judge William Robertson. He was personally distasteful to Conkling, and, when he found himself unable to prevent his confirmation by the Senate, he and Thomas C. Platt, the junior senator from New York, resigned their seats. Both afterward sought and failed to secure a re-election from the Legislature. Congress adjourned in June.

ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD.

Relieved from the pressure of his duties, the President now made his arrangements for placing his two sons in Williams College and joining his invalid wife at the seashore. On the 2d of July, 1881, accompanied by Secretary Blaine and several friends, he rode to the Baltimore Railroad station to board the cars. He had just entered the building and was chatting with his secretary, when a miscreant named Charles Julias Guiteau stepped up behind him and shot him with a pistol in the back. The wounded President sank to the floor and was carried to the executive mansion, while the assassin was hurried to prison before he could be lynched, as he assuredly would have been but for such prompt action by the authorities.

The shock to the country was scarcely less than when Abraham Lincoln was shot in Ford's Theatre. Although the wound of the President was severe, it was not believed to be necessarily fatal. He received the best medical attention, and prayers for his recovery were sent up from every quarter of the land and across the sea. Daily bulletins of his condition were issued and messages of sympathy were received from many crowned heads on the other side of the Atlantic. The sufferer was removed on the 6th of September to Elberon, New Jersey, where it was hoped the invigorating sea-air would bring back strength to his wasted frame. These hopes were vain, and, on the 19th of September, he quietly breathed his last. It may be noted that this date was the anniversary of the battle of Chickamauga, where General Garfield performed his most brilliant service in the war. Amid universal expressions of sympathy the remains were borne to Cleveland, where a fine monument has been erected to his memory.

Guiteau was a miserable "crank," who had long dogged the President for an appointment, failing to obtain which he shot him. That his brain was partly awry, with perhaps a taint of insanity, cannot be questioned, but, none the less, it was shown that he clearly knew the difference between right and wrong and was morally responsible for his unspeakable crime. He was given a fair trial, and, having been found guilty, was hanged on the 30th of June, 1882.

THE TWENTY-FIRST PRESIDENT.

Chester Alan Arthur, who was immediately sworn in as President, was born in Vermont, October 5, 1830. He received his education at Union College, from which he was graduated in 1849. He taught school for a time in his native State, and then removed to the City of New York, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar. His ability speedily brought him to the front and gave him a lucrative practice. He was quartermaster-general of the State of New York during the war and displayed fine executive ability. When the war ended, he resumed the practice of law and was made collector of customs for the port of New York in 1871. Seven years later he was removed by President Hayes, and shortly after he entered the presidential canvass of 1880. He died November 18, 1886.

Arthur took the oath of office in New York, on the day succeeding the death of Garfield, and left at once for Washington. Chief Justice Waite administered the oath again to him in the vice-president's room. Among those present were General Grant, General Sherman, Senator Sherman, and ex-President Hayes.

While President Arthur showed slight disposition to change the policy of the administration, he inherited many vexatious matters from his predecessor. One of the worst of these was the "Star Route Frauds."

The rapid settlement of the West naturally created a demand for improved mail facilities. In a number of places, fast mail routes had been organized by the postoffice department, and these were designated on the official documents by the figures of stars. The authorized expenditures of the postoffice department were clearly defined, but a clause in the law permitted it to "expedite" such routes as proved to be inefficient. This opened the door for fraud, and, as is always the case, it lost no time in entering.

The contracts were let at the legal rates, and then, availing themselves of the legal authority, the same routes were "expedited" at immense profits. The money thus stolen--and it amounted to immense sums--was divided among the parties letting the contracts and the contractors. Stephen W. Dorsey, John W. Dorsey, and Thomas J. Brady--formerly second-assistant postmaster-general--were indicted for a conspiracy to defraud the government and enrich themselves. All were prominent politicians, and their trial attracted national attention. Although the testimony seemed to establish the guilt of the parties accused, all three escaped, the miscarriage of justice causing a qualm of disgust and indignation among right-minded citizens.

One of the famous structures in the country is the Brooklyn Bridge, which was completed and opened for traffic May 24, 1883. Operations on it were begun January 3, 1870, and the towers were finished six years later. The first wire reaching from tower to tower was strung August 14, 1876. Each of the four cables contains 5,296 wires, untwisted, lying straight, and held in place by other wires coiled tightly around them. The length of the main span is 1,595-1/2 feet; the two land spans are 930 feet each; the masonry approach on the New York side is 1,562 feet long, and that on the Brooklyn side 971 feet. The total distance, therefore, is about 6,000 feet, or more than a mile. The middle of the main span is about 135 feet above the water in summer, and in winter, owing to the contraction caused by cold, it is three feet more. The height is such that nearly any ship can pass under the bridge without lowering its top-mast. Twenty persons were killed during the construction of the bridge. Although the day was inclement and unfavorable, the opening of the structure to travel was attended with many ceremonies, including civic and military processions, oratory, salutes by naval vessels, and illuminations and fireworks in the evening.

THE CHINESE.

The State of California, on account of its situation, received thousands of Chinese immigrants every year from across the Pacific. These people live so meanly that they could afford to work for wages upon which a white man would starve. Consequently they crowded out other laborers and caused so much discontent that something in the nature of a revolt took place against them. The grievance of the Californians was so well-founded that Congress, while Hayes was President, passed a bill which forbade the immigration of Chinese laborers to this country, and requiring those already here to take out certificates, if they left the United States, so as to identify themselves before being allowed to return. President Hayes vetoed the bill, but it was passed in 1882. The amazing ingenuity of the Chinese has enabled them to evade the law in many instances, but their immigration was substantially checked. Probably there is no more degraded community on the face of the earth than the part in San Francisco known as "Chinatown." Most of the yellow celestials live underground, where their unspeakable villainies are a flaming reproach to the authorities that permit them.

THE MORMONS.

The Mormons proved a thorn in the side of the body politic. Their polygamous practices led to the passage in 1882 of Senator Edmunds' bill which excluded polygamists from holding office. A good many persons were convicted and sentenced for violation of the law, which was upheld by the Supreme Court.

While this legislation did much to abate the crime, it cannot be said that it effectually ended it, for, at this writing, one of the representatives from the new State of Utah is the husband of several wives, and it is apparent that still more severe legislation will be required to stamp out the evil.

EXPLORATION OF ALASKA.

Attention was so generally directed toward Alaska, our recent purchase from Russia, that an exploring expedition visited that country in 1883, under the command of Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka. It should be stated that the party, which was a small one, went thither without authority from the government, its departure from Portland, Oregon, May 22d, being secret. It was gone for several months, and brought back interesting and valuable information. One bit of knowledge was new. The explorers learned that the length of the great river Yukon is 2,044 miles, which makes it the third in length in the United States, the fourth in North America, the seventh in the western hemisphere, and the seventeenth in the world. The area drained by this immense stream is 200,000 square miles.

THE YORKTOWN CENTENNIAL.

We have learned of the centennial celebration of the birth of our republic in Philadelphia. Many other celebrations of important events were held in different parts of the country, the most important of which was the commemoration of the great victory at Yorktown, which brought the Revolution to a close and secured the independence of our country.

As was befitting, preparations were made on a grand scale for this celebration. Thousands journeyed thither days before the exercises opened. President Arthur arrived at ten o'clock on the morning of October 18, 1881, in a government steamer, his approach being announced by salute after salute, each of twenty-one guns, from the different ships of the fleet.

The exercises were opened with prayer by Rev. Robert Nelson, grandson of Governor Nelson, who commanded the Virginia militia at Yorktown and directed the fire so as to destroy his own home, in which Cornwallis had his headquarters, after which Governor Holliday, of Virginia, made the address. At its conclusion, the sword was held up to view which was presented to the horseman who rode at high speed to Philadelphia with the news of the surrender of Cornwallis. Another interesting fact was that W.W. Henry, the grandson of Patrick Henry, was sitting at that moment on the platform.

The corner-stone of the monument was laid with Masonic ceremonies. The chair in which the Grand Master for the occasion sat was one that had been used by Washington when he was Grand Master of the Virginia Masons. The sash and apron were presented to him at Mount Vernon in 1784, and had been worked by Mrs. Lafayette. The gavel was made from a portion of the quarter-deck of the United States frigate Lawrence, flagship of Commodore Perry, when he won his great victory on Lake Erie in September, 1813. Space cannot be given to enumerate the notables who were present nor the eloquent addresses that were made. Among the guests were descendants of Rochambeau, Steuben, and many German and French friends. The centennial ode was written by Paul H. Hayne, the Southern poet (who died in 1886), and the oration of the day was by Robert C. Winthrop.

It was a graceful tribute to the friendly course of England, when Secretary Blaine, at the reception which followed the ceremonies, read the following order:

"In recognition of the friendly relations so long and so happily existing between Great Britain and the United States, in the trust and confidence of peace and good-will between the two countries for all centuries to come, and especially as a mark of the profound respect entertained by the American people for the illustrious sovereign and gracious lady who sits upon the British throne, it is hereby ordered that at the close of these services, commemorative of the valor and success of our forefathers in their patriotic struggle for independence, the British flag shall be saluted by the forces of the army and navy of the United States now at Yorktown. The secretary of war and the secretary of the navy will give orders accordingly.

"CHESTER A. ARTHUR.

"By the PRESIDENT. "JAMES G. BLAINE, Secretary of State."

The final ceremonies of Yorktown occurred on the 20th of October, at which time 9,000 sailors, regulars, and militia made an impressive spectacle. They were under the command of General Hancock, and represented all of the thirteen original States, including a number of others. They passed in review before the President, both branches of Congress, governors of the States and their staffs, and the French and German guests of the government.

ATTEMPTS TO REACH THE NORTH POLE.

One of these days the North Pole will be reached, but no one can say when. For hundreds of years the attempt has been made again and again, and daring navigators have penetrated far into those icy regions, where the temperature for months at a time registers forty, fifty, and sixty degrees below zero, only to perish or be turned back disappointed.

The first American expedition into the Arctic regions was conducted by Dr. Elisha Kent Kane. He sailed from New York in the steamer Advance, May 30, 1853. He reached Smith Strait, as far as Cape George Russell, and then returned to Van Rensselaer Harbor for the winter. A number of excursions were made from that point, and 125 miles of coast were traced to the north and east. Two of the men penetrated to Washington Land in latitude 82 deg. 27', and discovered an open channel, which they named Kennedy. Kane came home in 1855, having been further north than any other explorer. He was obliged to abandon his ship and proceed overland to the Danish settlements in the south, where he was met by a relief party.

One of the members of this expedition was Dr. Isaac I. Hayes, who, in 1860, attained 81 deg. 35' north latitude, when he was forced to return without having accomplished anything of importance. Sir John Franklin, an English navigator, had been lost in the Arctic regions a number of years before, and several expeditions had been sent in search of him, but all failed to secure any definite information. In 1860, Dr. Charles F. Hall, of Connecticut, led an expedition in quest of the lost explorer. He was unfortunate enough to lose his boat and was obliged to return. The most interesting discoveries made by Dr. Hall were a number of relics of Frobisher's expedition to those dismal regions fully 300 years before. A second party, under Hall, found the same year several relics of Franklin, and dissipated all possible hope that he or any of his men were still living.

Dr. Hall was an enthusiastic explorer of those inhospitable regions and spent five years among the Eskemos. Coming home, he organized a third party, for, cheerless and dismal as are those frozen solitudes, they seemed to hold a resistless fascination to all who have visited them. This expedition reached 80 deg. north latitude, where Hall died.

THE GREELY EXPEDITION.

In 1880, the proposal was made by an international polar commission that the leading countries should unite in establishing meteorological stations in the polar region. This was with no intention of helping explorations toward the North Pole, but to permit the study of weather phenomena and the actions of the magnetic needle, respecting which much remains to be learned.

Congress appropriated funds with which to establish a scientific colony for Americans, one at Point Barrow in Alaska and the other at Lady Franklin Bay in Grinnell Land. These stations were to be occupied for periods varying from one to three years.

The party designed for Lady Franklin Bay consisted of First Lieutenant Adolphus W. Greely, U.S.A., Commander; Lieutenants F.S. Kislingbury and James B. Lockwood, U.S.A., as assistants; and Dr. O. Pavy as surgeon and naturalist. In addition, there were twenty-two sergeants, corporals, and privates, all belonging to the army, and two Eskemos. All the other attempts to establish circumpolar stations, numbering about a dozen, were successful.

The steamer Proteus conveyed the expedition to Lady Franklin Bay, the start being made from the harbor of St. John's, Newfoundland. It would seem that every needed precaution had been taken to avert disaster. Since the expedition had an attainable point fixed upon as its destination, it would seem that it had only to establish a base, where the government would deposit abundant supplies, to which Greely could return when he chose or when he found himself compelled to retreat. Then he could carry forward supplies on his sleds and leave them at different points along his route, so that he would be sure of finding them on his return. This scheme is so simple that it would seem that there was no possible, or at least probable, way of going wrong. Yet misfortune has been the fate of most of the Arctic expeditions.

It was arranged that two ships were to go to Lady Franklin Bay in the summer of 1883 to bring back the explorers. These ships were to be the steam whaler Proteus and the United States gunboat Yantic, commanded by Lieutenant E.A. Garlington; but the Proteus, when near Cape Sabine and before she had landed her supplies, was crushed by the ice and sunk. With great difficulty, Garlington and his men escaped from the wreck in small boats and made their way to Upernavik, where they had left the Yantic. The party then returned to the United States, without having left an ounce of supplies at Lady Franklin Bay, where Greely expected to find all he needed on his return.

Now let us follow the exploring party under Greely which left St. John's, Newfoundland, July 7, 1881, in the Proteus, that was afterward lost. Icebergs were soon encountered, but seven hundred miles were passed without any land appearing. The days had lengthened, light appearing shortly after midnight and lasting until ten o'clock the succeeding night, but the fog was dense and all-pervading. On July 16th, the Proteus was steaming cautiously through the mist, when the icy coast of Disco Island, several hundred feet in height, loomed up directly ahead.

The most interesting sight was a vast iceberg in two parts, joined by an immense overhanging arch, under which it would have been easy for the ship to sail. The captain was too wise to make any such attempt. He steamed to one side of it, and, when some distance beyond, fired a signal gun for a pilot. The report was followed by a thunderous rumbling, and, looking back, the crew saw the vast arch, weighing thousands of tons, descend to the water with a crash that caused the steamer to rock to and fro for several minutes. Had she been caught beneath the mass, she would have been crushed like a tiny insect.

A landing was made at the settlement of Disco. In this squalid town all the dwellings were mere huts, with the exception of those of the inspector and governor. It was a strange sight to find in one of these dwellings in the North a piano, billiard table, carpets, and many of the luxuries of civilized life. The visitors were treated with the utmost hospitality and took part in a dance in progress.

Returning to the Proteus the party steamed through the fog to Upernavik, which was reached on the 23d of July. They were never out of sight of icebergs, but they caused no trouble, and were easily avoided. By means of the steam launch, several men made a passage through inner waters to Proven, a sparse settlement, where they procured some clothing suitable for the high latitudes.

These settlements, far beyond the Arctic Circle, belong to Denmark, which exercises a nominal control over them. One of the industries of Proven is the furnishing of supplies to Arctic explorers. A liberal quantity of fresh food was secured, beside two native guides and thirty-two Eskemo dogs. It was near here that McClintock, the explorer, was frozen in for an entire year; but the weather continued unusually mild. A mountainous iceberg while drifting slowly with the current sloughed off so much from one side that its centre of gravity was displaced and the mountain of ice turned a complete somersault before it settled to rest.

There is hardly any limit to the time in which provisions can be preserved in the polar regions. A cache was found among the Gary Islands which had been left by Sir George Nares years before, and nearly all was in as good condition as when placed there. One of the strange phenomena of the Arctic regions is the red snow, mentioned by Sir John Ross, which was seen by the Greely party. This color is found to be due to myriads of tiny plants deposited on the crust. That most eminent botanist, Robert Brown, subjected it to careful examination and pronounced it to be a unicellular plant of the order Algae, and Dr. Greville, of Edinburgh, gave it its name (Protococcus nivalis), by which it is now known to the scientific world.

The steamer halted at Littleton Island on the 2d of August. A number of articles were found at "Life-Boat Cove," that had been left by the Polaris expedition in 1873. A quantity of coal was unloaded here to be taken aboard on the return.

Steaming up Kennedy Channel, a deposit of provisions was made near Franklin Island and Carl Ritter Bay. A short distance north, an immense ice pack stopped the ship which repeatedly tried in vain to butt its way through. It was compelled to drift with the pack until the 11th of August, when an opening appeared and the Proteus forced a passage to Bellot Island, at the entrance to Discovery Harbor.

AT LADY FRANKLIN BAY.

The steamer had now reached Lady Franklin Bay, which was its destination, and near which Fort Conger, a signal station, was to be established. The ship was unloaded and a house built, the men living in tents the meanwhile, and on the 19th of August, the Proteus bade the explorers good-by and started on her return to Newfoundland.

A number of musk oxen were shot in the vicinity, and now and then a ptarmigan was bagged. The men moved into the house in the latter part of August, and Lockwood directed the laying out of the observatory and the digging of the foundation pier for the transit. The earth was frozen so hard that it was like chipping solid ice. The house gave the men comfortable quarters. On the first Sunday all work was stopped and religious services held. The intention was to send an exploring expedition along the northern coast of Greenland, and it was placed in charge of Lockwood. It would have been given to Kislingbury, the senior officer, but for the fact that he and Greely were not on good terms.

Men were sent to examine St. Patrick's Bay to the northeast, for a site to establish a depot on the channel of exploration. Such a place was found and the exploring parties were continually active, some of them going a good many miles from camp. Game was plentiful, but the wolves were fierce. Numbers were poisoned by means of arsenic mixed with meat thrown in their way. It being the beginning of their Arctic experience, the men enjoyed themselves to an extent that would hardly be supposed. This was mainly because they were kept busy and the novelty of their life had not yet worn off. One pleasant custom was that of celebrating the birthdays of different members of the party, which was done with a vigor that sometimes reached good-natured boisterousness.

When the sun sank far from sight on the 16th of October, every one knew that it would not show itself again for four months. It will be admitted, too, that the weather had become keen, for it registered forty degrees below zero most of the time and the moisture within the house was frozen to the depth of an inch on the window-panes.

With the coming of the long, dismal night the wolves became fiercer, and prowled so closely around the building that no one dared venture far from the door without firearms in his hands, and the men generally went in company, ready for an attack that was liable to be made at any minute.

INTOLERABLE LONELINESS.

Time always hangs heavy when one is forced to remain idle and the dismal night stretches through a third or half of the year. On the 1st of November, Lieutenant Lockwood, accompanied by seven men, left the dwelling to try the passage of the straits, hoping to push his way to the place where Captain Hall made his winter quarters. They dragged a heavily loaded sled after them, upon which rested a boat, which they expected to use in case they reached open water. The men set out bravely and toiled hard, but were compelled to turn back, finding it impossible to make any progress.

No one can describe the horrible loneliness of such a life as the party were now compelled to lead. They played cards and games, told stories, and held discussions until all such things palled on their taste. Then they grew weary of one another's company, and hours would pass without a man speaking a word. Dr. Hayes has related that, when thus placed, he has dashed out of the dwelling in desperation and wandered for miles through the frozen solitudes, for no other reason than that the company of his friends had become unbearable. He stated further that a rooster on his ship deliberately flew overboard and committed suicide out of sheer loneliness.

One means resorted to by the explorers for relieving the frightful monotony was the publication of a paper called the Arctic Moon. The contents were written and copies made by the hektograph process. Then Greely formed a class in arithmetic, and Lockwood taught a class in geography and grammar. Matters were quite lively on Thanksgiving Day (the party being careful to note the passage of the regular days), when foot-races were run and shooting matches indulged in, Greely distributing the prizes.

One of the many curious facts regarding life in the Arctic regions is that its rigors are often withstood better by the inexperienced than by the experienced. The two Eskemo guides were the most depressed of the whole party, and one of them wandered off in a dazed condition. When found miles away, he was running as if in fear of his life, and it was with great difficulty he was persuaded to return. The second native would have run off had he not been closely watched.

In the middle of February, the thermometer fell to sixty-five degrees below zero, an intensity of cold which few living men have experienced. At such a terrible temperature pure brandy and glycerine freeze hard, and a man, though heavily clothed, will perish in a few minutes. The Eskemo dogs by choice slept in the snow outside rather than within the building.

THE GRAVE OF DR. HALL.

On the last day of February, Lieutenant Lockwood, accompanied by Brainard, Jewell, Long, the two Eskemos, and a couple of dog teams, started on a journey to Thank God Harbor, seventy-five miles away. The journey was made without accident and the observatory was found still standing, while near at hand was the grave of the Arctic explorer, Captain C.F. Hall. The grave was marked by a metallic headboard, put up by the English and the other by Hall's comrades. On the British board are these words: "To Captain Hall, who sacrificed his life in the advancement of science, November 8, 1871. This tablet has been erected by the British Polar Expedition of 1875, which followed in his footsteps and profited by his experience." The American inscription is as follows:

IN MEMORY OF CHARLES FRANCIS HALL, LATE COMMANDER U.S. STEAMER POLARIS, NORTH POLE EXPEDITION, DIED NOVEMBER 8, 1871. "I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE; HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME, THOUGH HE WERE DEAD, YET SHALL HE LIVE."

The great ambition of Lieutenant Lockwood was to lead an expedition along the northern coast of Greenland, to which Arctic explorers hitherto had paid comparatively slight attention. His intelligence, daring, and skill caused Greely to give him his full confidence and to leave the entire arrangement of the venture in his hands.

Lockwood's intention was to start about the 1st of April. Sergeant Brainard was to go with the supporting parties in advance to Cape Sumner and leave supplies. Then when Lockwood's party reached the same point, with all the provisions they could carry with comfort, the explorers would be well supplied.

LOCKWOOD'S EXPEDITION TO THE FAR NORTH.

Amid the firing of pistols, waving of flags, and cheers, the start was made by Lockwood on the 2d of April. Three days later, the party dragging a sled laden with pemmican reached a snow-house, where they found Brainard and his friends returning. There were thirteen in all, and they were crowded in their close quarters, but the fact gave them additional warmth.

It will be remembered that the long Arctic night was about ended. In the misty light, a dark object was discerned on the top of a neighboring iceberg, which being scrutinized was recognized as an eagle. It was accepted as a good omen by the men, who cheered the noble bird that vividly reminded them of their distant home.

The direction was now to the northeast. They crossed the straits at Cape Beechy, pushing to within a few miles of the eastern shore, whence they were to proceed directly to Fort Sumner. In order to follow the course of the party intelligently the reader needs to keep a reliable map of the Arctic regions before him.

Fort Conger stood close to the intersection of sixty-fifth meridian and the eighty-second parallel, being a little south of the latter and east of the former. From this starting-point, the route of Lockwood was slightly south of northeast to its termination. Almost from the beginning, the traveling was so difficult that the bravest explorers could not have been blamed for turning back.

The ice was tumbled together in irregular masses many feet in thickness, through which they often had to cut the way with axes for their sledges. The wind rose to a hurricane, and was of piercing coldness, and so filled with fine particles that they cut the face like bird-shot. Most of the time they could not see one another when separated by a few feet. Muffled to their eyes, the brave explorers fought their-way onward, often compelled to stop and turn their backs to the gale, which almost swept them off their feet. Frequently they crouched behind the piles of ice to regain their breath while the furious wind roared above their heads.

Toughened, as were all the men, some of them succumbed under the fearful work. These returned to camp, and the party was reduced to nine. This occurred on the 10th of April, very near where the 82d parallel crosses the 60th meridian. There Lieutenant Lockwood came to a halt, and turned back with the dogs to Fort Conger. The round journey was a hundred miles, but it was necessary to get supplies that could be obtained in no other way, and to secure new runners for their sledges, which were battered by their rough usage.

Accompanied by the two Eskemos, Lockwood made a new start on the 14th of April, and averaged two miles an hour until he reached his new camp. From that point the nine men had three sledges, which they dragged, and a fourth that was drawn by the dogs. With indomitable pluck they struggled onward, and all were thrilled on the 25th of the month by the knowledge that they had reached a point further north than had ever been attained by an American, and they hoped to surpass all others.

The heroic explorers had by no means finished their task. At regular points they cached their provisions against the return. If the reader will locate on his map the intersection of the 55th meridian with the parallel of 82 deg. 20', he will have a point close to Cape Bryant, where the supports of the party withdrew and started on their return to camp. All who were now left were Lieutenant Lockwood, Sergeant Brainard, and the Eskemo Frederick.

Lockwood apportioned rations for twenty-five days among the three. Consequently the northward journey and the return must be made within that time, since they believed it impossible to obtain food in that fearful region. Shaking hands with their companions, who wished them good-speed, the little party broke into two divisions, one tramping southward, while the other resumed its laborious journey toward the northeast.

Before Lockwood left Cape Sabine, Lieutenant Greely gave it as his belief that his brave assistant might succeed in reaching Cape Britannia, which lies about 40 deg. east and 82 deg. 45' north. The explorer Beaumont saw this cape, but was unable to reach it. When Lockwood and Brainard arrived there, however, they had no thought of stopping. A cairn was built, a written account of their travels deposited, and five days' rations left. Then the heroes bent to their herculean task again.

The Eskemo was left with the dogs, while the two white men, wrapped in their furs, laboriously climbed an adjoining mountain, half a mile in height. From the crest they scanned the snowy landscape, the very picture of desolation. Twenty miles to the northeast, the direction they were traveling, they made out a dark promontory, terminating in a rocky headland and penetrating the Polar Ocean, while between it and them a number of islands reared their heads and were separated by fiords. Half of the remaining horizon was filled with the dismal ice of the Frozen Sea.

They had no expectation of meeting with animal life in this world of desolation, but they fired several times (and missed) at ptarmigan, and, having wounded a rabbit, succeeded in running it down. It was a mystery to them how this little animal found the means of sustaining life so near the Pole.

It may be wondered how far these three men would have gone had it been possible to travel. They became accustomed to the exhaustive work, but the end of the journey was reached on the 13th of May, when they paused on the edge of an immense fissure in the ice, extending indefinitely to the right and left, and too broad to be crossed. They searched for a long time, only to learn that it was utterly out of their power to go a foot further. Nothing remained but to learn their exact location.

While Lockwood was preparing to take an observation, the sun was obscured by fog. All the next day so furious a storm raged that they could do nothing but huddle in their tent and wait for it to pass. Finally, the conditions became favorable and Lockwood made his observations with the utmost care. When they were completed the astounding truth was revealed that their latitude was 84 deg. 24-1/2' north and 40 deg. 46-1/2' west from Greenwich. This surpassed the achievement of the Nares expedition sent out by England, in 1875-76, for the sole purpose of reaching the furthest northern point possible. Lockwood and Brainard, therefore, had attained the highest point, which up to that time had never been reached by man. On the 7th of April, 1895, however, Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, the Norwegian explorer, penetrated to 86 deg. 15', which surpassed that of Lockwood and Brainard by 200 miles and was within 225 miles of the Pole itself.

The return journey was as exhausting and trying as the outward one, but the little party never lost courage. Fort Conger was reached early in June, and, as may be supposed, the explorers received a royal welcome from their comrades. The three men were suffering from snow blindness, rheumatism, and various ills brought on by their exposure and terrific labors, but all were in high spirits, as they might well be, when they recalled the wonderful achievement they had made.

WEARY WAITING.

The brief summer was at hand. The snow melted during the middle of the day and the first rain they had seen fell. On the 4th of July they had shooting matches and engaged in a game of baseball. It can hardly be said, however, that the American game has gained much of a foothold north of the Arctic Circle.

All suffered from intense depression of spirits which could not be shaken off. Again hours would pass without a man speaking a word. They seemed mutually repellent and miserable. This sad condition resulted from purely physical causes and no one could be blamed for it.

The company were now waiting for the Proteus which was due. Several reports that she was in sight threw all into pleasurable excitement, but it need not be said they were doomed to disappointment, since the relief ship was at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. The little steam launch had been repaired and enabled the party to explore the neighboring coasts for a distance of several hundred miles. A number of musk oxen were shot, but, except at certain seasons, their flesh is so strongly impregnated with musk that it is unpalatable for food.

As the weary days passed without bringing the wished-for steamer, hope sank. Many were sure some accident had befallen the ship and she would never be seen again. If so (and of course such was the fact), more months must pass before the news could be carried to the United States and a new relief expedition be sent. It was hard thus to be forgotten by their friends at home. As a last resort the party could retreat in their boats, but all dreaded the almost hopeless recourse. Gradually the summer drew to a close and once more they saw the low-sweeping sun dip below the horizon not to appear again for months. The long, horrible Arctic night again enveloped them in misery and gloom.

When the month of January came every member of the party, including Greely himself, were convinced that their country had abandoned them and they must look out for themselves. He announced that if no relief appeared they would start for home not later than the 8th of August.

Lieutenant Lockwood seems to have been about the only member of the party who for a time kept up his high spirits. He was not satisfied with what he had already done, and insisted upon another chance to push northward. He had fixed upon the eighty-fourth parallel as the point to reach, and he urged the matter so strongly that Greely, who greatly admired his courage, gave his consent, though confident that he would find it impossible to do as well as in the former instance.

A FAILURE.

Lockwood made his start on the morning of March 27, 1883, his companions being the same as before. Two weeks later, as Greely was lying in his tent, wondering how his friend was making out, Lockwood walked in with a smile:

"Too much water," he said; "if it had only been ice, we could have managed it, but we had no means of getting across the water. Better luck next time."

The next time, however, never came. Greely, Lockwood, and Brainard always remained on good terms, but it was not the case with some of the others. Companionship, under such conditions, is a bore, and many a time the three gentlemen named went off on explorations that occupied several days, with no other object than to get away from those whose company was distasteful beyond bearing.

THE START HOMEWARD.

Greely had given up all hope of receiving help from the United States and determined to start for home as soon as his surroundings would permit. His plan was to proceed to Littleton Island, where it was possible they might find a vessel that would take them to Newfoundland. The explorers, twenty-five in all, made their start southward, August 9, 1883. Their boats were the steam launch referred to, a whale boat, an English boat, and a smaller one, which it was thought would prove useful in the event of an accident.

For a time the progress was encouraging. The water was quite open, but ice soon appeared. They saved their boats from being nipped by drawing them up on a floe. When open water again showed, they took to the boats and reached Sun Bay without mishap. Then they made their way to Cape Lieber, twenty miles south from Fort Conger, where they were almost overwhelmed in a blinding snowstorm. There they landed and waited for the ice to move and open the way for them along the western shore of the strait. A fog kept them there several days, and when they started again it was in the midst of another blinding snowstorm. One of the incidents of the struggle against ice and tempest was the falling overboard of Lieutenant Greely and an accident to the launch. Scoresby Bay was reached on the 22d of August, and found to be full of floating ice. It was necessary again to save the boats by drawing them up on the floe. By that time, too, the supply of coal had become so low that Greely held a consultation with his officers over their situation, which was not only dangerous but rapidly becoming more so. He proposed to abandon the launch, and use the other boats with which to push along the western shore, but the majority believed they had a chance of making Littleton Island. Ere long it was found necessary to leave behind the smallest boat, and when that was done most of the party believed all were doomed. The elements and even the tides were against them.

The launch soon became useless and was abandoned. Resort was then had to sledge travel, two carrying a boat between them, and all pulled by the men. They had not gone far in this toilsome manner when another of the boats had to be left behind, giving them only one. Even the courageous Lockwood now expressed his belief that none of the party would escape alive. Still it was better to die struggling than to sit down and fold their hands.

Misfortunes crowded upon them. The current continued the wrong way and the floe upon which they were drifting carried them toward Baffin Bay. Sludge ice, the most troublesome of all, abounded, and their poor rations grew scant. In the latter part of September enough of the floes came in contact to permit the men to pass over them to solid land, some twelve miles from Cape Sabine. A reconnoitering party in attempting to reach that point was turned back by the open water. Another company, however, got through and brought back important news. The Proteus had been wrecked and a couple of caches, left by English ships, together with the stores brought from the wreck of the Proteus, were discovered. As may be supposed, they formed a welcome addition to the meagre stock of food.

THE LAST EXTREMITY.

It being inevitable that another winter must be passed in the land of desolation, preparations were made for doing so. The spot selected was between Cape Sabine and Cocked Hat Island. A hut was erected and the supplies moved thither. Greely informed the men that he had decided to reduce the rations so that they would last until the coming March. A cairn was built at Cape Sabine in which was placed a record of what had been done by the explorers.

All admitted the necessity of reducing the rations, but it was done to that extent that the men suffered continually from hunger. They were glad to eat mouldy potatoes, and, when, occasionally, a fox was shot, nothing was left but the shining bones. If the preceding period was horrible it was now more so, for all felt they had every reason for depression, gloom, and despair. The meagre food made them more susceptible to cold, and, although Greely strove to awaken an interest in different educational subjects, the conditions were so woeful that he accomplished little. It may seem strange, but it was natural that the men's thoughts should dwell almost continually upon delicacies in the way of eating. They talked about the choicest viands and smacked their lips over tempting feasts which, alas! existed only in imagination.

Every man uttered a prayer of thanks when the 21st of December arrived, for it meant that the appalling polar night was half over, but how endless the other half seemed to them!

In the following month the feet of Corporal Ellison were so badly frozen that they sloughed off, as did several of his fingers. Soon afterward one of the men died. The brave Lockwood felt himself growing so weak that he privately requested Greely to leave him behind, if he should be alive, when the homeward start was made. Greely replied that under no conceivable circumstances would he abandon any one if alive, provided he himself survived the period of waiting.

An attempt was made in February to reach Littleton Island in the hope of finding the relief ship or stores, but the open water compelled the men to turn back. The same cause prevented their getting to the Greenland shore, which could be seen when the weather was clear.

When the middle of March came all were placed on starvation rations. None of the canned vegetables, coffee, or chocolate was left. The straits remained open and shut them off from reaching Greenland, where they might have found game. The bravest of the party lost heart and sank into the apathy of despair. They felt themselves simply waiting for death. Lockwood wrote in his diary: "I am glad that each day comes to an end. It brings us nearer the end of this life, whatever that end may be."

The fuel, which had been carefully husbanded, gave out in the latter part of March. The famishing sufferers gathered their furs more tightly around them and huddled together to secure the mutual warmth of their emaciated bodies. The furs and shoes could be gnawed and eaten when the last extremity arrived. Unexpectedly to all, Sergeant Lynn and one of the Eskemos died at the beginning of April. When there was a chance to shoot game the men were too weak to hunt for it.

Lieutenant Lockwood, the hero of the wonderful achievement narrated, whose high spirits and exalted courage carried him through all manner of perils, died early on the morning of April 9th, his death being due to starvation. When the brave fellow had passed away there had not been a mouthful of food within reach for several days.

Before this, it became evident that some one was stealing from the scanty store. Investigation disclosed the wretched thief to be a man named Henry. Greely warned him, for he was imperiling the lives of all. He stole again, whereupon, by orders of Greely, he was shot. When the final extremity came there is reason to believe that cannibalism was indulged in, though not to much extent. There is no certainty, however, on the matter, and the survivors denied having seen it.

THE RESCUE.

Though it may seem that the Greely party was forgotten at home, yet such was not the fact. The loss of the Proteus caused the gravest fears for their safety, and, in the spring of 1884, the navy department fitted out a new relief expedition, consisting of the Thetis, the Bear, and the Alert, under Commander Winfield S. Schley, who made such a brilliant record in our late war with Spain.

Commander Schley sailed from Brooklyn in May, and lost not an hour. He left St. John's on the 12th, meeting a great deal of ice in Baffin Bay and Smith Sound, but he fought his way through, and sent a strong party ashore June 22d to hunt for signs of the missing explorers. The steam launch of the Bear took the party to Brevoort Island, where Lieutenant Lockwood's letter was found, giving their location and stating that they were nearly out of provisions. Since the letter was dated eight months before, the dismayed commander and his officers believed it hardly possible that any of the men would be found alive.

The Bear was pushed on, and the launch started out again early the next morning. Before sunset Greely's camp was discovered. Making all haste forward, the relief party lifted the flap and breathlessly peered in.

They saw Greely on his knees, muttering the prayers for the dying over one of his comrades. He looked up, dazed, bewildered, and unable to read the full meaning of what met his eyes. Around him, in different postures, were stretched his comrades, some dead and the others close to death. Those still living were Greely, Brainard, Biederbeck, Fredericks, Long, Connell, and Ellison. A few days' later arrival on the part of the Bear, and not one would have been breathing. As it was their lives were still in great danger, and it was necessary to nurse them with the utmost care. The remains of all who had died, with the exception of the Eskemo, were brought back to the United States. During the halt in the harbor of Disco, to leave the body of the Eskemo, Corporal Ellison, who had been so badly frozen, died. The relief expedition reached St. John's on July 17th and New York on the 8th of August.

In 1886 the prize of the Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain and the back premium were awarded to Captain Adolphus W. Greely and Sergeant David L. Brainard, for having attained the greatest results for the year in adding to geographical knowledge by examinations or explorations. No one can deny that this recognition and honor were well won.

The Greely expedition possesses so much interest that we have given considerable space to the narration. Among the many explorations of the far North, few or none equal this, not only in heroic daring but in results accomplished. It may be said that the fate of the Sir John Franklin party was made clear in 1880, by Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka, of the United States army, who discovered the skeletons of several of the unfortunate explorers, together with various relics of the expedition.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1884.

In the presidential election of 1884 the Democratic candidates were Grover Cleveland, of New York, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana. The Republican were James G. Blaine, of Maine, and General John A. Logan, of Illinois. The chief issue with the Republicans was the tariff, while the Democrats put forward that of civil service reform. There was much bitter discussion, some of the leading Republican papers refusing to support Blaine because of charges affecting his personal integrity. On the other hand, Cleveland was attacked with scarcely less bitterness. The quarrel between the leading parties caused some of the weaker ones to put forward candidates, with a result as follows: Grover Cleveland and T.A. Hendricks, 219; James G. Blaine and John A. Logan, 182; John P. St. John and William Daniel, Prohibition, received 151,809 popular votes; and Benjamin F. Butler and A.M. West, People's party, 133,825.

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