to end, by his foresight and indomitable persistency, both in personal and national triumph. It was when the country had been so strained for months that it seemed almost at the point of exhaustion, when the patience of Europe concerning the blockade had been pushed to the extreme, and the prominent inquiry at home and abroad was, "When is this to end? what evidence is there of conquering such a foe? where are the Northern victories?" that the tide of doubt and disaster was turned in favor of our national forces, never to change its current till the last vestige of insurrection had been swept away.

CHAPTER II.

THE FIRST GREAT VICTORY.

MANY will remember well the anxiety of those waiting for the news on the gloomy night of that Sunday when the report came of the taking of Fort Donelson. The day had been unusually depressing, even for that era of suspense and longing. Suddenly the operator's face shone as he heard the click of the telegraph. He read the despatch aloud: "Fort Donelson captured with the entire force!" Cheers went up from those who heard this announcement; for the long catalogue of Union defeats had reached its limit. How the tidings flew! People shouted it on the cars and in the streets. Door-bells were rung, and to

the question,

"What is it?"

"Grant has captured Fort Donelson," was the

answer.

"Any prisoners?"

"Seventeen thousand six hundred and twenty

three."

"Glorious! That wipes out Bull Run. Any thing else?"

"Seventeen heavy guns, forty-eight field-pieces,

twenty thousand small arms, three thousand horses, flags, and military stores."

"Hurrah for Grant!" was on every loyal tongue. And the next morning the people read in detail that Grant, after taking Fort Henry prior to his great victory at Donelson, had been instructed to be very cautious in his advance; to use the contrabands with pick and shovel in fortifying his position; and to feel his way with the "spade" with precaution. The people read that Grant, not relishing fighting with the spade behind breastworks, and chafing under the delay, annoyance, and restraint of red tape, determined to "move on the enemy's works." They read that Fort Donelson had been made by the Confederacy the "strongest place in that theatre of operation." Every thing that military skill and engineering could do for it had been done. To repel attack, the natural position was formidable, and all the appliances of the science of war had been added. The people read that Grant closed in upon this stronghold on the 12th of February, 1862. They read that on the next day an attack by the Union gunboats had proved a total failure, and a premature assault on the right had been repulsed; that on the 14th, after a counsel of war by the rebel chiefs, a most desperate attempt was made to dislodge the national forces, and force a way out into the open country. So probable was the success of this movement at high noon of the 14th, that Pillow sent the message, "On the honor of a soldier, the

day is ours." Of this almost accomplished adverse demonstration, Grant knew nothing until nine o'clock of the day it took place. By request of Admiral Foote, he had been in consultation with that wounded officer at the gunboats, some distance from his own headquarters. The interview over with Foote, on his return he was informed of the rebel sortie, and he immediately gave orders to attack the rebel right. Meeting the troops already engaged, Grant, as the story read, found them in much disorder and badly broken up. Riding over the field of action, he saw the knapsacks of the enemy's dead packed with several days' rations. With that insight into the minutest details which belongs to instinctively military natures, he deciphered the rebel intention. "They are trying to escape. Armies don't come out to fight with three days' provisions. Whichever party makes the attack will win the day, and the rebels will have to move quickly to beat me," said Grant. The command was given to the encouraged troops "to advance along the whole line." Foote was telegraphed to "to steam up, and to make pretence of renewing attack." The ground and guns lost in the morning were recaptured, and the enemy was forced back. And, with tears of joy filling their loyal eyes, the people read of the closing charge, in the late afternoon, that ploughed through the abattis, scaled the heights, and burst upon the whole rebel line with a force that "nothing human could resist," securing a Union victory which the

generalship of Grant and the bravery of his men had wrested from a nearly irrevocable defeat. And as the story concluded with the record of the rebel chieftains passing the night swapping the dignity and honor of their command, Floyd resigning to Pillow, and Pillow giving up to Buckner, who stood his ground while the outranking generals slid away under the cover of darkness, with a brigade as escort, and two steamboats as means of delivery; and as the ringing words of Grant in answer to the condition of surrender, which have become a proverb with the nation, finished this full chapter of glory, the people by the millions, who thus read, hailed with joy the man and the movement which after so many weary months had given a victory so overwhelming and important that it became the harbinger of ultimate triumph for the republic. It was a victory of such dimensions as to attract world-wide consideration; and it settled in the American mind the fact, that a new man was on the stage, and a new era had begun. Flags waved from every house; hymns were chanted in every church; and guns boomed from deck and fort in commemoration of the event. Press united with pulpit to swell the chorus of praise. The despatch from Boston to Grant "That the furore of jubilation was never equalled in the memory of living men -expressed the universal popular sentiment. The lightning that informed Lincoln of the capture of Donelson bore back the next instant to its conqueror a commis