THE WAR IN MISSOURI.
This State was largely Union. The Convention had declined to pass an ordinance of secession; yet there was a strong effort made by Governor Jackson to preserve, at least, an armed neutrality. Captain Lyon foiled this attempt. He broke up Camp Jackson, saved the United States arsenal at St. Louis, and defeated Colonel Marmaduke at Booneville (June 17). General Sigel (se-gel), however, having been defeated by the Confederates in an engagement at Carthage (July 5), Lyon, now General, found that he must either fight the superior forces of Generals McCulloch and Price, or else abandon that part of the State. He chose the former course. At the head of about five thousand he attacked more than twice that number at Wilson's Creek (August 10). He fell, gallantly leading a bayonet charge. His men were defeated. Colonel Mulligan was forced to surrender Lexington after a brave defence. General John C. Fremont now assumed charge, and drove Price as far south as Springfield. Just as he was preparing for battle, he was replaced by General Hunter, who took the Union army back to St. Louis. Hunter was soon superseded by General Halleck, who crowded Price south to Arkansas. Later in the fall, General Grant made an unsuccessful attack upon a Confederate force which had crossed over from Kentucky and taken post at Belmont (map opp. p. 222).
[Footnote: The Confederates, in their final assault, fought behind a movable breastwork, composed of hemp-bales, which they rolled toward the fort as they advanced.]
[Footnote: Kentucky, like Missouri, had tried to remain neutral, but was unsuccessful. Soon both Confederate and Union troops were encamped on her soil, and the State was ravaged by hostile armies. In all the border States affairs were in a most lamentable condition. The people were divided in opinion, and enlisted in both armies. As the tide of war surged to and fro, armed bands swept through the country, plundering and murdering those who favored the opposite party.]
Early in the war, Davis issued a proclamation offering to commission privateers. In reply, Lincoln declared a blockade of the Southern ports. At that time there was but one efficient vessel on the Northern coast, and only forty-two ships in the United States navy; but at the close of the year there were two hundred and sixty-four.
[Footnote: The Savannah was the first privateer which got to sea, but this vessel was captured after having taken only a single prize. The Petrel, also from Charleston, bore down upon the United States frigate St. Lawrence, which the captain mistook for a merchant ship; his vessel was sunk by the first broadside of his formidable antagonist. The Sumter, under Captain Semmes, captured and burned a large number of Federal ships, but, at last, it was blockaded in the Bay of Gibraltar by a Union gunboat, and, being unable to escape, was sold.]
Two joint naval and military expeditions were made during the year. The first captured the forts at Hatteras Inlet, N. C. The second, under Commodore Dupont and General Thomas W. Sherman, took the forts at Port Royal Entrance, S. C., and Tybee island, at the mouth of the Savannah. Port Royal became the great depot for the Union fleet.
[Footnote: During this engagement the ships described a circle between the forts, each vessel delivering its fire as it slowly sailed by, then passing on, and another taking its place. The line of this circle was constantly changed to prevent the Confederates from getting the range of the vessels.]
THE TRENT AFFAIR.—England and France had acknowledged the Confederate States as belligerents, thus placing them on the same footing with the United States. The Southern people having, therefore, great hopes of foreign aid, appointed Messrs. Mason and Slidell commissioners to those countries. Escaping through the blockading squadron, they took passage at Havana on the British steamer Trent. Captain Wilkes, of the United States steamer San Jacinto, followed the Trent, took off the Confederate envoys, and brought them back to the United States. This produced intense excitement in England. The United States government, however, promptly disavowed the act and returned the prisoners.
[Illustrations: ADVANCE UPON ATLANTA.
SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA.
CAMPAIGNS IN KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, ETC.
CAMPAIGNS IN MISSOURI. RED RIVER EXPEDITION, ETC.]
[Illustration]
GENERAL REVIEW OF THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.—The Confederates had captured the large arsenals at Harper's Ferry and Norfolk. They had been successful in the two great battles of the year—Bull Run and Wilson's Creek; also in the minor engagements at Big Bethel, Carthage, Lexington, Belmont, and Ball's Bluff. The Federals had saved Fort Pickens* and Fortress Monroe, and had captured the forts at Hatteras Inlet and Port Royal. They had gained the victories of Philippi, Rich Mountain, Booneville, Carrick's Ford, Cheat Mountain, Carnifex Ferry, and Dranesville. They had saved to the Union Missouri, Maryland, and West Virginia. Principally, however, they had thrown the whole South into a state of siege—the armies on the north and west by land, and the navy in the east by sea, maintaining a vigilant blockade.
[Footnote: This fort was situated near Pensacola. Lieutenant Slemmer, seeing that an attack was about to be made upon him, transferred his men from Fort McRae, an untenable position, to Fort Pickens, an almost impregnable fortification, which he held until reinforcements arrived.]
1862.
THE SITUATION.—The national army now numbered 500,000; the Confederate, about 350,000. During the first year there had been random fighting; the war henceforth assumed a general plan. The year's campaign on the part of the North had three main objects: (1) the opening of the Mississippi; (2) the blockade of the Southern ports; and (3) the capture of Richmond.
[Illustration: VIEW OF RICHMOND, VA.]