The retreating of the Rebel fleet carried the Union gunboats several miles below the city before the contest was over. At ten o’clock Commodore Davis steamed back to the city. There stood the multitude, confounded by what had taken place. A boat came off from the shore, pulled by two oarsmen, and bringing a citizen, Dr. Dickerson, who waved a white handkerchief. He was a messenger from the Mayor, tendering the surrender of the city. There were some men in the crowd who shook their fists at us, and cried, “O you blue-bellied Yankees! You devils! You scoundrels!” We could bear it very well, after the events of the morning. A few hurrahed for Jeff Davis, but the multitude made no demonstration.
A regiment landed, and marched up Monroe Street to the court-house. I had the pleasure of accompanying the soldiers. The band played Yankee Doodle and Hail Columbia. How proudly the soldiers marched! They halted in front of the court-house. An officer went to the top of the building, tore down the Rebel flag, and flung out the Stars and Stripes.
Wild and hearty were the cheers of the troops. The buried flag had risen from its grave, to wave forevermore,—the emblem of power, justice, liberty, and law!
Thus the Upper Mississippi was opened again to trade and the peaceful pursuits of commerce. How wonderfully it was repossessed. The fleet lost not a man at Island No. 10, not a man at New Madrid, not a man at Fort Pillow, not a man at Memphis, by the fire of the Rebels! How often had we been told that the strongholds of the Rebels were impregnable! How often that the Union gunboats would be blown up by torpedoes, or sent to the bottom by the batteries or by the Rebel fleet! How often that the river would never be opened till the Confederacy was recognized as an independent power! General Butler was in possession of New Orleans, Memphis was held by Commodore Davis, and the mighty river was all but open through its entire length to trade and navigation. In one year this was accomplished. So moves a nation in a career unparalleled in history, rescuing from the grasp of pirates and plunderers the garnered wealth of centuries.
In 1861, when Tennessee seceded, the steamer Platte Valley, owned in St. Louis, belonging to the St. Louis and Memphis Steamboat Company, was the last boat permitted to leave for the North. All others were stolen by the secessionists, who repudiated the debts they owed Northern men. The Platte Valley, commanded by Captain Wilcox, was in Commodore Davis’s fleet of transports. Captain Wilcox recognized some of his old acquaintances in the crowd, and informed them that in a day or two he would resume his regular trips between St. Louis and Memphis! They were ready to send up cargoes of sugar and cotton. So trade accompanies the flag of our country wherever it goes.
This narrative which I have given you is very tame. Look at the scene once more,—the early morning, the cloudless sky, the majestic river, the hostile fleets, the black pall of smoke overhanging the city, the forest, the stream, the moving of the boats, the terrific cannonade, the assembled thousands, the glorious advance of the Queen and the Monarch, the crashing and splintering of timbers, the rifle-shots, the sinking of vessels, the cries of drowning men, the gallantry of the crews of the Benton and Carondelet, the weeping and wailing of the multitude, the burnings, the explosions, the earthquake shock, which shakes the city to its foundations! These are the events of a single hour. Remember the circumstances,—that the fight is before the city, before expectant thousands, who have been invited to the entertainment,—the sinking of the Union fleet,—that they are to see the prowess of their husbands, brothers, and friends, that their strength is utter weakness,—that, after thirteen months of robbery, outrage, and villany, the despised, insulted flag of the Union rises from its burial, and waves once more above them in stainless purity and glory! Take all under consideration, if you would feel the moral sublimity of the hour!
In these pages, my young friends, I have endeavored to make a contribution of facts to the history of this great struggle of our beloved country for national life. It has been my privilege to see other engagements at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg, and if this book is acceptable to you, I hope to be able to tell the stories of those terrible battles.