to pour deadly shot upon the garrison. About noon the hospital was taken. It was situated on the left, outside of the intrenchments. They besieged it, took it, and from the balcony and roof their sharpshooters poured a deadly fire upon the Federal troops. The hospital contained the chaplain and one hundred and twenty wounded men. But it could not be allowed to remain the possession of the enemy. The Montgomery Guard, Captain Gleason, of the Irish Brigade, was brought out, and the word to "charge" given. They stormed up the slope to the hospital, took it, and drove the enemy in wild confusion down the hill. The fire of the rebels was for the time lessened, only to be increased towards evening, and word was sent that if the Federal troops did not surrender before the next morning, the black flag would be hoisted and no quarter given.

The next morning the fire was resumed and continued all day. A fierce bayonet charge was made by the garrison, that served to show the enemy that the Union troops were not yet worn out. All that day the soldiers in that little band stood straining their eyes and searching the distance in hopes that some friendly flag might be coming to their assistance. But no welcome flag came in sight, and with the energy of despair they determined to do their duty at all hazards. It was intensely hot-the lips of the men were pahed and blistering. They were without water, and yet no word of murmuring was heard. That night two wells were dug. The morning of the next day, the 20th, dawned sadly upon them, and still the battle raged furiously. The rebels had constructed moveable breast works of hemp bales, rolled them up the hill, and advanced their batteries so as to command the fortifications. Heated shot were fired at them but without avail, they having been thoroughly water-soaked. The outer breast works were soon carried by a charge from the enemy, the Federal lines broken, and the rebels. rushed in. At point after point they were repulsed, but the cartridges of the Union troops had given out, and it was evident that the struggle could not be protracted. Of a sudden the firing ceased, and it was subsequently ascertained that the Home Guards had hoisted a white. flag. It was taken down, but again raised by the same hands from the centre of the fortifications-when the fire of the enemy slackened and ceased. Under this state of affairs, Colonel Mulligan, calling his officers into council, decided to capitulate, and Captain McDermott went out to the enemy's lines, with a handkerchief tied to a ramrod, and a parley took place. Major Moore, of the brigade, was sent to General Price's headquarters, at New Lexington, to know the terms of capitulation. These were soon made known; the officers to be retained as prisoners of war, the men to be allowed to parole, with their personal property, surrendering their arms and accoutrements.

Reluctantly this was acceded to, and the surrender took place. At four P. M. on Saturday, the Federal forces, having laid down their arms, were marched out of the intrenchments to the tune of "Dixie," played by the rebel bands. They left behind them their arms and accoutrements, reserving only their clothing. Many of the men wept on leaving their colors behind, as each company in the brigade had its own standard presented by its friends. At the surrender, the muster-rolls of the companies were taken to General Price's headquarters, the list of officers made out, and they ordered to report themselves as prisoners of war.

The scenes at the capitulation were extraordinary. Colonel Mulligan shed tears. The men threw themselves upon the ground, raved and stormed; well nigh frenzied, demanding to be led out again and “finish the thing." In Colonel Marshall's Cavalry regiment, the feeling was equally intense. Much havoc had already been done among their horses during the siege, and but little more than half of them remained. Numbers of the privates actually shot their own horses dead on the spot, unwilling that their companions in the campaign should now fall into the enemy's hands.

The privates, numbering some one thousand five hundred strong, were first compelled to take the oath not to serve against the Confederate States, when they were put across the river, and in charge of General Rains marched on Saturday night to Richmond, sixteen miles, whence on Sunday they marched to Hamilton, a station on the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad, where they were declared free to go where they pleased.

No reliable statement of the casualties at the siege of Lexington seems to have been published. Of the irregular army of General Price, large numbers of whom were not enrolled, but were outside volunteers, many were killed and buried on the spot, no record being made of their loss. One hundred and forty Federals were left in the hospital, many of whom were suffering from sickness, and not from wounds. Colonel Mulligan lost probably two hundred in killed and wounded, while the rebel loss could not have been less, and according to some estimates must have reached three or four times that number. General Price's force was estimated at numbers varying from twenty to thirty thousand, the lowest being probably nearest the actual number, with twenty-one pieces of artillery.

General Price, in his official report to Governor Jackson, inventoried his acquisitions as follow:-"Three thousand five hundred prisoners, including the colonels, and one hundred and eighteen commissioned officers, five pieces of artillery and two mortars, over three thousand stand of infantry arms, a large number of sabres, about seven hundred and fifty horses, many sets of cavalry equipments, wagons, teams, ammu

nition, more than a hundred thousand dollars' worth of commissary stores, and a large amount of other property."

For daring and patient suffering-fighting day after day without water, the battle of Lexington stands almost without a rival in history. It was stubbornly contested, and evinced in the most striking manner the devotion and faithfulness of the adopted citizens of our country.

ATTACK ON SANTA ROSA ISLAND.
OCTOBER 9, 1861.

Santa Rosa Island is a long, narrow strip of low land, partially covered with bushes and stunted trees, lying opposite Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, on the western coast of Florida. The Bay of Pensacola is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by this island, which varies in width from one hundred yards to five-eighths of a mile. At the western extremity of the island Fort Pickens stands, commanding the channel, and on the mainland, a short distance west of the Navy Yard, is Fort San Carlos de Barrancas.

General Bragg, commanding at Pensacola, had matured a well-devised plan by which he designed to surprise and capture Fort Pickens, but in which he was signally defeated by the watchfulness and bravery of the troops at the fort, and on the island. The Federal force encamped on the island was a part of the New York Sixth Volunteers, known as Wilson's Zouaves, numbering about three hundred men; and the destruction or capture of this force, was the first design of the leaders of the expedition, who confidently hoped, in the confusion arising from a night attack and rout, to obtain possession or destroy the batteries on the island, if not to capture Fort Pickens itself.

On the morning of Wednesday, the 9th of October, at two o'clock, the enemy silently commenced their advance upon the camp from a point about four miles distant, where they had landed during the night, about fifteen hundred strong, under General Anderson. The night was extremely dark, and it was almost impossible to distinguish any object at a distance of twenty yards. The Zouaves, numbering about three hundred, were encamped a mile from the fort, on the shore, but between the fort and the approaching foe, with their pickets thrown out a mile in advance. About three o'clock, the rebels, having driven in the pickets, who made a gallant resistance, reached the camp of Colonel Wilson, and owing to the confusion and darkness, before he had time to form his men, they were driven from their tents, many of which were burnt or destroyed by the enemy.

On the first alarm, Colonel Harvey Brown, commandant of the fort,