The Second Year of the War

Preface

. In presenting a second volume of a popular History of the Southern War for Independence, the author gratefully acknow ledges the kind reception by the Southern public of his first volume, the generous notices of the independent Press of the Confederacy, and the encouragement of friends. He has no disposition to entreat criticism or importune its charities. But he would be incapable of gratitude, if he was not sensible of the marks of public generosity which have been given to a work which made no pretensions to severe or legitimate history and ventured upon no solicitations of literary success. He can afford no better vindication of the character and objects of his work than by quoting here what was prefixed to one of the editions of his first volume : " Every candid mind must be sensible of the futility of attempting a high order of historical composition in the treat ment of recent and incomplete events ; but it does not follow that the cotemporary annal, the popular narrative and other inferiour degrees of history can have no value and interest, because they cannot compete in accuracy with the future retrospect of events.

The vulgar notion of history is that it is a record intended for posterity. The author contends that history has an office to perform in the present, and that one of the greatest values of cotemporary annals is to vindi-

PREFACE.

. cate in good time to the world the fame and reputation of nations." " With this object constantly in view, the author has com posed this work. He will accomplish his object, and be rewarded with a complete satisfaction, if his unpretending book shall have the effect of promoting more extensive inqui ries ; enlightening the present ; vindicating the principles of a great contest to the cotemporary world ; and putting before the living generation in a convenient form of literature, and at an early and opportune time, the name and deeds of our people." Richmond, July, 1883. CONTENTS.

Chapter I

The New Orleans Disaster... Its Consequences and Effects. ..Dispatches of the European Commissioners ..Butler "the Beast". ..Public Opinion in Eu rope...The Atrocities of the Massachusetts Tyrant. ..Execution of Mumford... Lesson of New Orleans. ..Spirit of Resistance in the South. ..Change in the Fortunes of the Confederacy... Two Leading Causes for it.. .The Richmond "Examiner". ..The Conscription Law. ..Governor Brown of Georgia...Re-or ganization of the Army. ..Abandonment of our Frontier Defences. ..The Policy ef Concentration. ..Governor Rector's Appeal. ..First Movements of the Sum mer Campaign in Virginia. ..The Retreat from Yorktown... Evacuation of Nor folk...Destruction of the "Virginia". ..Commodore Tatnall's Report...Secre tary Mallory's Visit to Norfolk. ..The Engagement of Williamsburg...The Affair of Barhamsville...

McClellan's Investment of the Lines of the Chicka hominy...Alarm in Richmond. ..The Water Avenue of the James. ..The Panic in Official Circles. ..Consternation in the President's House. ..Correspondence between President Davis and the Legislature of Virginia. ..Noble Resolutions of the Legislature. ..Response of the Citizens of Richmond. ..The Bombard ment of Drewry's Bluff.. .The Mass Meeting at the City Hall... Renewal of Public Confidence. ..The Occasions of This. ..Jackson's Campaign in tb« Valley. ..The Engagement of McDowell. ..The Surprise at Front Royal... Banks' Retreat Down the Valley ...The Engagements of Port Republic...Re sults of the Campaign... Death of Turner Ashby. ..Sufferings of the People of the Valley of the Shenandoah. ..Memoik or Turner Ashby. Page 17

Chapter II

The Situation of Richmond. ..Its Strategic Importance. ..What the Yankees Had Done to Secure Richmond. ..The Battle of Seven Pines. ..Miscarriage of Gen. Johnston's Plans. ..The Battles of the Chickahominy. ..Storming of the Enemy's Entrenchments. ..McClellan Driven from his Northern Line of Defences. ..The Situation on the Other Side of the Chickahominy. ..Magruder's Comment. ..The Affair of Savage Station....The Battle of Frazier's Farm... A Terrible Crisis. ..Battle of Malvern Hill. ..The Enemy in Communication with his Gunboats....The Failure to Cut him off....Glory and Fruits of Our Victory.... Misrepresentations of the Yankees. ..Safety of Richmond. ..The War in Other Parts of the Confederacy. ..The Engagement of Secessionville.. .The Campaign CONTENTS. VI of the West. ..The Evacuation of Corinth. ..More Yankee Falsehoods. ..Capture of Memphis. ..The Prize of the Mississippi. ..Statistics of its Navigation. ..Siege of Vicksburg. ..Heroism of "the Queen City "...Morgan's Raid into Ken tucky...The Tennessee and Virginia Frontier. ..Prospects in the West. ..Plan of Campaign there Page 57

Chapter III

Effect of McClellan's Defeat in the North. ..Call for more Troops. ..Why the North was not Easily Dispirited... The War as a Money Job. ..Note: General Washington's Opinion of New England. ..The Yankee Finances. ..Exasperation of Hostilities. ..The Yankee Idea of a " Vigourous Prosecution of the War"... Ascendancy of the Radicals. ..War Measures at Washington. ..Anti-Slavery Aspects of the War. ..Brutality of the Yankees. ..The Insensibility of Europe... Yankee Chaplains in Virginia. ..Seizures of Private Property. ..Pope's Orders in Virginia. ..Steinwehr's Order Respecting Hostages. ..The Character and Ser vices of General John Pope. ..The "Army of Virginia". ..Irruption of the Northern Spoilsmen. ..The Yankee Trade in Counterfeit Confederate Notes- Pope's "Chasing the Rebel Hordes". ..Movement Against Pope by "Stone wall" Jackson. ..Battle of Cedar Mountain...

McClellan Recalled from the Peninsula. ..The Third Grand Army of the North. ..Jackson's Surprise of the Enemy at Manassas. ..A Rapid and Masterly Movement. ..Change of the Situ ation—Attack by the Enemy upon Bristow Station and at Manassas Junc tion...Marshalling of the Hosts. ..Longstreet's Passage of Thoroughfare Gap... The Plans of General Lee. ..Spirit of our Troops. ..Their Painful Marches... The Second Battle of Manassas... A Terrible Bayonet Charge — Rout of the Enemy... A Hideous Battle-Feld... General Lee and the Summer Campaign of Virginia. ..Jackson's Share in it. ..Extent of the Great Victory of Manassas... Excitement in Washington. ..The Yankee Army Falls Back Upon Alexandria and Washington. ..Review of the Situation. ..Rapid Change in our Military Fortunes. ..What the South had Accomplished. ..Comparison of Material Strength Between North and South. ..Humiliating Result to the Warlike Reputation of the North. Page 83

Chapter IV

Rescue of Virginia from the Invader. ..Gen. Loring's Campaign in the Kanawha Valley... A Novel Theatre of the War. ..Gen. Lee's Passage of the Potomac... His Plans. ..Disposition of our Forces. ..McClellan again at the Head of the Yankee Army. ..The Battle of Boonsboro'...The Capture of Harper's Ferry — Its Fruits. ..The Battle of Sharpsbueg... Great Supe riority of the Enemy's Numbers. ..Fury of the Battle. ..The Bridge of Antie tam...A Drawn Battle. ..Spectacles of Carnage. ..The Unburied Dead. ..General Lee Retires into Virginia. ..McClellan's Pretence of Victory. ..The Affair of Shepherdstown... Charges against McClellan. ..His Disgrace. ..Review of the Maryland Campaign — Misrepresentations of Gen. Lee's Objects... His Re treat...Comment of the New York "Tribune". ..The Cold Reception of the Confederates in Maryland. ..Excuses for the Timidity of the Marylanders...

What was Accomplished by the Summer Campaign of 1862. ..The Outburst CONTENTS. VII of Applause in Europe. ..Tribute from the London "Times" — Public Opinion in England. ..Distinction between the People and the Government — The Mask of England. ..Our Foreign Relations in the War... A Historical Parallel of Secession. ..Two Remarks on the "Neutrality" of Europe. ..The Yankee Blockade and the Treaty of Paris — The Confederate Privateers — Temper of the South. ..Fruits of the Blockade. Page 128

Chapter V

Movements in the West. ..The Splendid Programme of the Yankees. ..Kentucky the Critical Point. ..Gen. Kirby Smith's Advance into Kentucky. ..The Battle of Richmond. ..Reception of the Confederates in Lexington...Expec tation of an Attack on Cincinnati. ..Gen. Bragg's Plans. ..Smith's Movement to Bragg's Lines. ..Escape of the Yankee Forces from Cumberland Gap...Af fair of Munfordsville. ..Gen. Bragg between the Enemy and the Ohio. ..An Opportunity for a Decisive Blow. ..Buell's Escape to Louisville. ..The Inaugu ration of Governor at Frankfort. ..An Idle Ceremony. ..Probable Surprise of Gen. Bragg... The Battle of Perryville. ..Its Immediate Results in our Favour. ..Bragg's Failure to Concentrate bis Forces... His Resolution of Re treat...Scenes of the Retreat from Kentucky. ..Errours of the Campaign.. .A Lame Excuse. ..Public Sentiment in Kentucky — The Demoralization of that State. ..The Lessons of Submission. Page 149

Chapter VI

Our Lines in the Southwest. ..General Breckenridge's Attack on Baton Rouge. ..Destruction of the Ram Arkansas. ..Gen. Price's Reverse at Iuka... Desperate Fighting. ..The Battle of Corinth. ..Van Dorn's Hasty Exulta tions...The Massacre of College Hill. ..Wild and Terrible Courage of the Con federates...Our Forces Beaten Back. ..Our Lines of Retreat Secured. ..The Military Prospects of the South Overshadowed. ..The Department of the Trans-Mississippi. ..Romance of the War in Missouri... Schofield's Order Calling Out the Militia. ..Atrocities of the Yankee Rule in Missouri. ..Robbery Without "Red Tape "...The Guerilla Campaign. ..The Affair of Kirksville... Execution of Col. McCullough. ..The Affair of Lone Jack. ..Timely Reinforce ment of Lexington by the Yankees. ..The Palmyra' Massacre. ..The Question of Retaliation with the South. ..The Military and Political Situation...

Survey of the Military Situation. ..Capture of Galveston by the Yankees. ..The Enemy's Naval Power... His Iron Clads.. Importance of Founderies in the South. ..Prospect in the Southwest. ..Prospect in Tennessee. ..Prospect in Vir ginia. ..Stuart's Raid into Pennsylvania. ..Souvenirs of Southern Chivalry... The "Soft-mannered Rebels "...Political Complexion of the War in the North. ..Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation "...History of Yankee Legis lation in the War. ..Political Errour of the Emancipation Proclamation — Its Effect on the South. ..The Decay of European Sympathy with the Abolition ists...What the War Accomplished for Negro Slavery in the South. ..Yankee Falsehoods and Bravados in Europe. ..Delusion of Conquering the South by Starvation.. Caricatures in the New York Pictorials. ..The Noble Eloquence of Hunger and Rags.. .Manners in the South. ..Yankee Warfare. ..The Desola- CONTENTS.

VIII tion of Virginia. ..The Lessons of Harsh Necessity. ..Improvement of the Civil Administration of the Confederacy. ..Ordnance, Manufacturing Resources, Quartermasters' Supplies, &c Page 167

Chapter VII

The Heroism of Virginia... Her Battle-Fields...Burnside's Plan of Campaign. ..Calculations of his Movement upon Fredericksburg. ..Failure to Sur prise Gen. Lee. ..The Battle of Fredericksburg. ..The Enemy Crossing the River. ..Their Bombardment of the Town. ..Scenes of Distress. ..The Battle on the Right Wing. ..The Story of Marye's Heights. ..Repulse of the Enemy... The Old Lesson of Barren Victory. ..Death of Gen. Cobb. ..Death of General Gregg. ..Romance of the Story of Fredericksburg. ..Her Noble Women...Yan kee Sacking of the Town.. .A Specimen of Yankee Warfare in North Caro lina...Designs of the Enemy in this State. ..The Engagements of Kinston... Glance at other Theatres of the War. ..Gen. Hindman's Victory at Prairie Grove. ..Achievements of our Cavalry in the West. ..The Affair of Hartsville... Col. Clarkson's Expedition. ..Condition of Events at the Close of the Year 1862 Page 192

Chapter VIII

The Eastern Portion of Tennessee. ..Its Military Importance. ..Composition of Bragg's Army — The Battle of Murfreesboro'. ..The Right Wing of the Enemy Routed — Bragg's Exultations. ..The Assault of the 2d January..." The Bloody Crossing of Stone River "...The Confederates Fall Back to Tulla homa...Review of the Battle Field of Murfreesboro'. ..Repulse of the Enemy at Vicksburg.. ..The Re-capture of Galveston. ...The Midnight March... Capture of " the Harriet Lane "...Arkansas Post Taken by the Yankees. ..Its Advantages. ..The Affair of the Rams in Charleston Harbour. ..Naval Structure of the Confederacy. ..Capture of the Yankee Gunboat " Queen of the West "... Heroism of George Wood. ..Capture of "the Indianola". ..The War on the Water. ..The Confederate Cruisers. ..Prowess of "the Alabama." Page 211

Chapter IX

An Extraordinary Lull in the War. ..An Affair with the Enemy on the Blackwater. ..Raids in the West.. .Van Dorn's Captures. ..The Meeting of Congress. ..Character of This Body. ..Its Dullness and Servility. ..Mr. Foote and the Cabinet. ..Two Popular Themes of Confidence. ..Party Contention in the North. ..Successes of the Democrats There. ..Analysis of the Party Politics of the North. ..The Interest of New England in the War... How the War Affected the Northwestern Portions of the United States. ..Mr. Foote's Reso lutions Respecting the Northwestern States. ..How They Were Received by the Southern Public. ..New War Measures at Washington. ..Lincoln a Dic tator...Prospect of Foreign Interference. ..Action of the Emperor Napoleon... Suffering of the Working Classes in England. ..The Delusions of an Early Peace. ..The Tasks Before Congress. ..Prostrate Condition of the Confederate CONTENTS.

IX Finances. ..President Davis' Blunder. ..The Errours of Our Financial System... The Wealth of the South. ..The Impressment Law of Congress. ..Scarcity of Supplies. ..Inflated Prices. ..Speculation and Extortion in the Confederacy... Three Remarks About These. ..The Verdict of History. . . Page 235

Chapter X

Character of Military Events of the Spring of 1863. ..Repulse of the Enemy at Fort McAllister. ..The Siege of Vicksburg. ..The Yazoo Pass Expedition... Confederate Success at Fort Pemberton. ..The Enemy's Canals or "Cut Offs"... Their Failure. ..Bombardment of Port Hudson. ..Destruction of "The Mis sissippi"...A Funeral Pyre. ..Happy Effects of our Victory... A Review of the Line of Inland Hostilities. ..Hooker's Hesitation on the Rappahannock. ..The Assignment of Confederate Commands West of the Mississippi. ..The Affair of Kelly's Ford. ..Death of Major Pelham. ..Naval Attack on Charleston... Destruction of "The Keokuk". ..Scenery of tho Bombardment. ..Extent of the Confederate Success. ..Events in Tennessee and Kentucky. ..Pegram's Re verse...The Situation of Hostilities at the close of April 1862. Page 250

Chapter XI

Close of the Second Year of the War. ..Propriety of an Outline of Sftne Succeeding Events. ..Cavalry Enterprises of the Enemy. ..The Raids in Mis sissippi and Virginia... Sketch of the Battles of the Rappahannock. ..The Enemy's Plan of Attack. ..The Fight at Chancellorsville. ..The Splendid Charge of "Stonewall" Jackson. ..The Fight at Fredericksburg. ..The Fight at Salem Church. ..Summary of our Victory. ..Death of "Stonewall" Jackson. ..His Character and Services Page 268

Chapter XII

A PerSia of Disasters. ..Department of the Mississippi. ..Grant's March Upon Vicksburg. ..Its Steps and Incidents. ..The Engagement of Port Gibson... The Evacuation of Jackson. ..The Battle of Baker's Creek. ..Pemberton's Declarations as to the Defence of Vicksburg... A Grand Assault upon "the Heroic City". ..Its Repulse... The Final Surrender of Vicksburg... How the Pub lic Mind of the South was Shocked. ..Consequences of the Disaster... How it Involved Affairs on the Lower Mississippi. ..Other Theatres of the War. ..The Campaign in Pennsylvania and Maryland... Hooker Manoeuvred out of Vir ginia. ..The Recapture of Winchester. ..The Second Invasion of the Northern Territory. ..The Alarm of the North. ..General Lee's Object in the Invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania. ..His Essays at Conciliation...

The Errour of Such Policy. ..The Advance of his Lines into Pennsylvania. ..The Battle of Gettys burg...The Three Days' Engagements. ..Death of Barksdale. ..Pickett's Splen did Charge on the Batteries. ..Repulse of the Confederates. ..Anxiety and Alarm in Riohmond... Lee's Safe Retreat into Virginia... Mystery of his Movement. ..Recovery of the Confidence of the South ***** Review of the Present Aspects of the War... Comparison Between the Disasters of CONTENTS. X 1862 and those of 1863. ..The Vitals of the Confederacy yet Untouched... Review of the Civil Administration. ..President Davis, his Cabinet and his Favourites... His Private Quarrels. ..His Deference to European Opinion... Decline of the Finances of the Confederacy. ..Reasons of this Decline— The Confederate Brokers. ..The Blockade-Runners. ..The Disaffections of Property- Holders. ..The Spirit of the Army. ..The Moral Resolution of the Confede racy...How the Enemy has Strengthened it. ..The Prospects of the Future. Page 283

Chapter XIII

REVIEW— POLITICAL IDEAS IN THE NORTH, &c The Dogma of Numerical Majorities. ..Its Date in the Yankee Mind... Demoralization of the Idea of the Sovereignty of Numbers. ..Experience of Minorities in American Politics. ..Source of the Doctrine of "Consolida tion "...The Slavery Question the Logical Result of Consolidation. ..Another Aspect of Consolidation in the Tariff. ..Summary of the Legislation on the Tariff.. .A Yankee Picture of the Poverty of the South. ..John C. Calhoun... President Davis' Opinion of his School of Politics..." Nullification," as a Union Measure. ..Mr.' Webster's "Four Exhaustive Propositions "...The True Interpretation of the Present Struggle of the South. ..The Northern Idea of th0 Sovereignty of Numbers. ..Its Results in this War. ..President Lincoln's Office... The Revenge of the Yankee Congress Upon the People. ..The Easy Surrender of their Liberties by the Yankees. ..Lincoln and Cromwell...Expla nation of the Political Subserviency in the North. ..Superficial Political Edu cation of the Yankee. ..His " Civilization "...The Moral Nature of the Yankee Unmasked by the War. ..His New Political System. ..Burnside's "Death Order"...

A Bid for Confederate Scalps... A New Interpretation of the War... The North as a Parasite. ..The Foundations of the National Independence of the South... Present Aspects of the War. ..Its External Condition and Morals... The Spirit of the South and the Promises of the Future. . . »Page

Chapter I

The New Orleans Disaster. ..Its Consequences and Effects. ..Dispatches of the European Commissioners ..Butler "the Beast". ..Public Opinion in Eu rope...The Atrocities of the Massachusetts Tyrant. ..Execution of Mumford._ Lesson of New Orlenns... Spirit of Resistance in the South. ..Change in the Fortunes of the Confederacy. ..Two Leading Causes for it... The Richmond " Examiner". ..The Conscription Law. ..Governor Brown of Georgia...Re-or ganization of the Army...*bandonment of our Frontier Defences. ..The Policy of Concentration. .. Governor Rector's Appeal. ..First Movements of the Sum mer Campaign in Virginia. ..The Retreat from Yorktown... Evacuation of Nor folk...Destruction of the " Virginia"... Commodore Tatnall's Report...Secre tary Mallory's- Visit to Norfolk. .'.The Engagement of Willinmsburg...The- Affiiir of Barhiimsville...McClelliin's Investment of the Lines of the Chicka hominy...Alarm in Richmond. ..The Water Avenue of the James. ..The Panio in Official Circles. ..Consternation in the President's House. ..Correspondence between President Davis and the Legislature of Virginia. ..Noble Resolutions of the Legislature...

Response of th^e Citizens of 'Richmond. ..The Bombard ment of Drewry's Bluff.. .The Mass Meeting at the City Hall. ..Renewal of Public Confidence. ..The Occasions of This. ..Jackson's Campaign in thb Valley. ..The Engagement of McDowell. ..The Surprise at Front Royal... Banks' Retreat Down the Valley... The Engagements of Port Republic...Re sults of the C»mpaign... Death of .Turner Ashby. ..Sufferings of the People of the Valley of the Shenandoah... Memoir of Turner Ashby. The fall of New Orleans was one of the most extraordinary triumphs which the enemy had obtained. It was the crowning stroke of that extraordinary campaign of the winter and spring of the year 1862, in which, by the improvidence of the Southern authorities and a false military policy which divided their armies and weakened them by undue dispersion, they bad lost much of their territory,, most of the prestige of their arms, and had fallen upon a train of disasters well calculated to affect the general public, both at home and abroad.

The close of this campaign, so ill-starred to the Confederacy, found it with scarcely more than three entire States — Texas, Ala bama and Georgia. Large portions of the territories of Vir ginia, the Carolinas and Florida were occupied by the enemy ; he had broken our line of defences in Tennessee, and held im portant positions on the Upper Mississippi ; and now, by the capture of New Orleans, he had secured the great Southern depot of the trade of the immense central valley of the con tinent, obtained command of an extent of territory accessible by his gunboats grenter than the entire country before lost to the Confederacy, and had good reason to hope, by the junction of his fleets on the Mississippi, to open its navigation, and give to the West an outlet to the ocean. The conquests of the Federal arms made' in the winter and spring of 1862, were not without their Effect in Europe, and presented to the nations in that part of the world a sombre picture of the Confederacy.

The dispatches of our ministers at the courts of England and France declared' that the prospect of recognition, of which they had formerly given such warm and sanguine assurances, had been overclouded by the disaster at New Orleans. Mr. Slidell wrote from Paris that the French government declare* that "if New Orleans had not fallen, our recognition could not have Seen much longer delayed." He added, however, that he had been assured that "even after that disaster, if we obtained decided successes in Virginia and Tennessee, or could hold the enemy at bay a month or two, the same result would follow"— a promise, to the breach of which and to the unhappy expectations which it excited, we shall hereafter have occasion to refer. Mr. Mason, our minister at London, also referred to .the opinion that at the time of the enemy's capture of New Orleans, our recogni tion was on the eve of accomplishment.

The immediate sufferers of the disaster at New Orleans were the people of that city. It was aptly rewarded for its easy Bubmission by the scourge of a tyrant. The corrupt and merciless master of this great emporium, General Butler of Mas sachusetts, was a man who found no merit in submission, unless such as grovelled in the dust and paid personal court and pecuniary tribute to himself. The rule of this vulgar and drunken man excited the honour and disgust of the civilized world, and secured for him in the South the popular soubriquet of " the Beast." His order which stigmatized as prostitutes the ladies of New Orleans, who betrayed in the streets or from the bal conies their indignation against the invader's of their city, while it made him the hero of the hour in the North with a peeple who admired the coarse spirit of the bully, drew upon him the execrations of all humane and honourable people.

In the British Parliament, Lord Palmerston declared the proclamation to be "Infamous," and the condemnation of the inde cent and dirty edict was echoed by the press of Europe.* The acts of the tyrant of New Orleans surpassed all former • , ■ * The "Order 28," which has stigmatized its brutal author throughout Christendom, was at first refused .publication by all tbe newspapers in New Orleans. It was then copied on sheels of paper and surreptitiously posted on many of the principal corners of the .streets in the immediate neighbourhood of the St. Charles Hotel. The next day all of the newspaper offices were ordered to be closed for disobedience of orders. On this becoming known, the True Delta paper published the order, and "the other newspapers timidly submitted to the force of circumstances, and published it also.

The natural excitement and indignation that followed throughout the community is indescribable. Several lady subscribers sent to the newspaper offices and indignautly and positively forbade that such papers should longer be left at their dwellings^ Mayor Monroe, with a party of influential citizens, at once called on the Beast and endeavored to obtain some qualification of the order; but they could get no satisfaction and were rudely dismissed. Mayor Monroe then wrote an indignant arid reproachful communication to Butler, and again pressed him for a modification of the hateful order. Butler then sent for the Mayor. Mayor Monroe replied, " Tell General Butler my office is at the City Hotel, where he can see me, if desirable." Butler retorted, that unless the Mayor came at once to his headquarters, he would send an armed force to arrest and bring him there.

Further opposition being useless, the Mayorj chief of police, and several friends, then went to the St. Charles Hotel, where they found the Beast in a towering rage. Butler claimed to be much insulted at the conduct of the Mayor, and without ceremony or delay, sent Mr. Mon roe and those who accompanied him to prison. In a few days they were all shipped down to Fort Jackson. THE &ECOND YEAR OF THE WAR. atrocities and outrages of the war. In frequent instances, Citizens, accused by Butler of contumacious disloyalty, were confined at hard labour, with balls and chains attached to their limbs; and sometimes" this degrading punishment was inflicted upon men whose only offence was that of selling medicines to the sick soldiers of the Confederacy. Helpless women were torn from their homes and confined in prison.

One of these — a Mrs. Phillips — was accused of laughing as the funeral train of a Yankee officer passed her doors ; she was seized, and, with an ingenious and devilish cruelty, her sentence was pro nounced by Butler — imprisonment on an island of barren sand under a tropical sun. Various pretexts were invented for plundering the inhabitants of the conquered city: men were forced to elect , between starvation by the confiscation of all their property and taking an oath of allegiance to the invaders of their country ; fines were levied at pleasure, and recusants threatened with ball and chain. • The conduct of the negroes in New Orleans became intole rable to their owners. They were fed, clothed and quartered by the Yankees, who fraternized with them generally in a shameful way. The planters in the neighbourhood of the city were required to share their crops with the commanding Gene ral, his brother.

Andrew J. Butler, and other officers ; and when this partnership was refused, the plantations were robbed of everything susceptible of 'removal, and the slaves taken from their owners and compelled to work under the bayonets of Yankee guards. It would occupy many pages to detail wha-t the people of New Orleans suffered at the hands of the invaders whom they bad so easily admitted into their city, in insult, wrings, confiscation of property, seizure of private dwellings and brazen robbery. The Yankee officers, from colonel to lieutenant, as the caprice of each might dictate, seized and took -possession Qf gentlemen's houses, broke into their wine rooms, forced open the wardrobes of ladies and gentlemen, and either used or sent away from the city the clothing of whole families. Some of the private' residences of respectable citizens were appropriated to the vilest uses, the officials who had "engaged them making them the private shops of the most infamous female characters.

But while Butler was thus apparently occupied with the oppression of "rebels," he was too much of a Yankee to be lost to the opportunity of making his pecuniary fortunes out of the exigencieswhich he had created. Tne banker and broker oi the corrupt operations in which he was engaged was his own brother, who b6ught confiscated property, shipped large consignments from New Orleans, to be paid for in cotton, and speculatcdiargely in powder, saltpetre, muskets and other war material sold to the Confederacy, surreptitiously sent out from the city and covered by permits for provisions. Of the trade in provisions for cotton, Butler received his share of the gains, while the robbery was covered up by the pretence of consumption in New Orleans "to prevent starvation," or by reported .actual issue to troops.

The Yankee General did not hesitate to deal in the very life-blood of his own soldiers. , The rule of Butler in New Orleans is especially memorable for the deliberate murder of William B. Mumford, a citizen of* the Confederate States, against whom the tyrant had invented the extraordinary charge that he had insulted the flag of the United States. The fadt was that before the city had surren dered, Munford had taken down from the mint 'the. enemy's flag. The ensign was wrongfully there; the city had not sur rendered; and even in its worst aspects, the act of Mumford was simply one of war, not deserving death, still less the death of a felon. ■ The horrible crime of murdering in cold blood an unresisting and non-combatant captive, was complete! by But ler on the 7th of June. On that day Mumford, the martyr, was publicly executed on the gallows.

The- Massachusetts coward and tyrant had no ear or heart for the pitiful pleadings made to save the life of his captive, especially by his unhappy wife, who in her supplications for mercy was rudely repulsed, and at times answered with drunken jokes a,nd taunts. • The execution took place in the sight of thousands of panic-stricken citizens.* None spoke but the martyr himself. His voice was loud and clear. Looking up at the stars and stripes which floated high over the scene before him, he remarked that he had fought under that flag twice, but it had become hateful to him, and he had torn it and trailed it in the dust. "I'con sider," said the brave young man, "that the manner of my death will be no disgrade*to my wife and child; my country will honour them." The experience of New Orleans gave a valuable lesson to the South.

It exhibited the consequences of submission to the enemy in confiscation, brutality, military domination, insult, universal poverty, the beggary of thousands, the triumph of the vilest individuals -in the community, the abasement of the honest and industrious, and the outlawry of the slaves. The spirit of resistance in the South was fortified by the enemy's exhibitions of triumph, and the resolution gained "ground that it was much better to consign the cities of the Confederacy to the flames than to suft-ender them to the enemy. A time was approaching when Yankee gunboats was to lose their prestige t>f terror; when cities were no longer to be abandoned or sur rendered on the approach of a foe; and when the freemen of the South were to be taught how,' by a spirit above fear and ready for all sacrifice, they might defy the most potent agen cies of modern warfare.

With the bright month of May a new era was dawninc on the fortunes of the Confederacy. This happy change of fortune was due not only to the improved resolution of the South. It is in a great degree to be attributed to two leading causes in the military administration. These were, first, the conscription law, with the consequent re-organization of the army; and, secondly, the abandonment of our plan of frontier defence^ which made way for the superiour and more fortunate .policy of the concentration of ourvforces in the interiour. The first suggestion of a conscription law was made by the Richmond* Examiner — a bold and vigilant leader of the ncWspancr press of the Confederacy. It was met with violent op position from the administration, with the clamor of demagogical presses that the suggestion conveyed a reflection upon the patriotism of the country, and with the fashionable nonsense that it was a confession calculated to giv% aid and comfort to the enemy.