Government to bestow upon him the important command of the Department of the Cumberland, in Kentucky.

General Buell, on reaching Louisville -his headquarters-was for a long time, like most of our military leaders, occupied in organizing the rude material which the generous patriotism of the country had so profusely supplied.

The enemy, already in possession of Columbus, which they continued to fortify, and of Hickman, on the Mississippi, both in Kentucky, had invaded the State from Tennessee. This was by means of a force under the command of General Zollicoffer, through Cumberland Gap. General Buckner, a Kentuckian, had also mustered a considerable number of his fellow-citizens and raised the standard of | Sept. revolt at Bowling Green. The chief 16. command, however, of the enemy's force with which they hoped to wrest Kentucky from the Union was subsequently given to General Albert Sydney Johnston.

Albert Sydney Johnston was born in Macon County, Kentucky, in 1803. Admitted a cadet at the West Point Military Academy, he was, on the completion of his studies, commissioned a lieutenant of infantry, and soon after ordered on duty to the West. During the Black Hawk War he acted as adjutant-general, and on its termination resigned his commission. He now settled in Missouri as a planter, but soon after removed to Texas, where, on the breaking out of the war of independence, he entered the Texan army as a private, but soon rose, by his gallantry and ability, to a high

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position. He subsequently, when Texas had succeeded in securing a separate government from Mexico, became the secretary of war of the new State.

In the war with Mexico, which ensued upon the annexation of Texas to the United States, Johnston raised a partisan troop and accompanied General Taylor to Monterey. At the close of the war he retired to his plantation, but becoming embarrassed in circumstances he accepted the office of paymaster in the United States army. Through the influence of Jefferson Davis, then secretary of war, President Pierce was prevailed upon to make Johnston colonel of the Second. Cavalry, and give him the command of the South-Western Military District. During the rebellion of the Mormons of Utah, he was appointed chief of the expedition sent across the plains to quell it by arms. He acted with great promptitude and vigor, and continued to exercise a rigid severity of military rule as long as he retained his command, which only ceased when, in consequence of his well-known co-operation with the enemies of the Government, he was forced to relinquish it. After striving in vain to excite a movement in California and Oregon in favor of the Southern rebellion, he only escaped capture by the Federal authorities by hastening to join his fellow-conspirators at Richmond.

Johnston had the resolute temper of the frontiersmen of the West, with a body and spirit hardened by the rude trials of border life. He was a man of unquestionable energy and determination, and his admirers claimed for

Before the great struggle between the two opposing forces in Kentucky began, some comparatively unimportant actions had been fought. The first occurred at Camp Wild Cat, Rock Castle County. This post had been occupied by the Unionists to oppose the invasion of Kentucky from Tennessee through Cumberland Gap, where Zollicoffer was stationed with a large force.

Zollicoffer having heard of the meagre means of resistance at Camp Wild Cat, where there was a single regiment reduced by sickness to only 700 men, under the command of Colonel Garrard, advanced with a large force, consisting, as was rumored, of six regiments of infantry and 900 cavalry with nine pieces of artillery. On his march he sacked the towns of Barboursville and London, and boldly approached Camp Wild Cat, confident of an easy victory over the little force encamped there. In the mean time, however, the Seventeenth Ohio and a regiment of Kentucky Cavalry had reinforced the Wild Cat camp, and General Schoepf had arrived and assumed the command. Additional troops, moreover, were rapidly marching to the same point. The battle which ensued, and the victory won by the Unionists, is thus described by a spectator :*

"About eight o'clock on Monday morning, the 21st, the rebels advanced upon our lines, shouting and yelling like savages, secure, apparently, of an easy victory. Our men received them coolly,

Boston Courier.

For a time they withstood it gallantly, possibly believing what had often been told them, that they were each a match for five times their number. Gradually their confidence gave way, and they retired, sullenly at first, but soon their retreat became flight. To understand the movements of the day more clearly, I find it will be necessary to give a sketch of the position. Colonel Garrard was encamped at the junction of three roads. -the Mount Vernon road, leading to Camp Dick Robinson, along which the reinforcements came; the London road, by which the rebels approached; and the Winding Blades' road, leading to Richmond. Between the last two roads, and commanding Colonel Garrard's position, is a high, conical hill. The whole face of the country is covered with a heavy growth of timber, except where it has been felled by the soldiers since. they were stationed here. The first attack had been made in a hollow extending from the London road to the Winding Blades' road.

"After the repulse, the rebels formed again, and attempted to come along the London road. By this time an Indiana regiment, the Thirty-third, had come upon the ground, and a portion of them led to the top of the conical hill. A battery of artillery, too, arrived at this critical juncture. ture. The rebels advanced, shouting as before, supported by their artillery, at every discharge of which they screamed like fiends. A shell from the first of our guns silenced both their shouts and their cannonade, and sent them flying again