and was pointed at the woods in front. Captain Beiral, of the Califor nians, who was with his company supporting the piece, exclaimed to Cogswell,

"Look to the left! look to the left!"

Coggswell saw the dark column of the rebels sweeping across the spar of the field, wheeled the terrible gun around, and discharged it square at their centre. The shell opened a lane through the charging force, a score or more falling never to fight again, and the column retreated upon the main body behind.

But the end was fast approaching. The thinning Union forces were assailed by four times their number. From every side death stormed upon their unsheltered bodies. Half their line officers were wounded or killed. The undaunted leaders were also falling. Ward, LieutenantColonel of the Fifteenth, had received a frightful wound; Coggswell was shot through the wrist; Lee, Devens, Harvey and Stewart were still fighting sadly and in vain; a ball shattered Wistar's sword armhe dropped the weapon, picked it up with his left hand, and General Baker himself restored it to the scabbard. The shouting enemy began to break from the wood and through the smoke upon the confused lines. The crisis had come. There was some hand-to-hand fighting; a few of the gray-coats got entangled with the Federal forces, who took a prisoner and passed him to the rear: the enemy took a dozen, and made charge after charge. Just then a body of men appeared, pressing down from the left. The General ordered the troops around him to stand firm, and cried, "Who are those men ?" "Confederate troops!" was the reply; and they rushed almost within bayonet distance. One of them drew a revolver, came close to Baker, and fired four balls at the General, every one of which took effect, and a glorious soul fled through their ghastly openings. Captain Beiral seized the slayer by the throat, and blew out his brains--the hero and the traitor falling within the same minute, and face to face. In a second the enemy swarmed over the spot. "For God's sake, boys," cried Adjutant Harvey, in hist hot English way, "are you going to let them have the General's body!" An angry howl was the answer, and a dozen charged, with set teeth and bayonets fixed, upon the rebels, who recoiled from the shock, and surrendered their priceless trophy. The body of this thrice-heroic man was passed down the bluff, and safely conveyed to the island. But now the Union lines were hopelessly disordered. The rebels came through both the field and woods in final force. Coggswell saw that the day was lost, and that the desperate, impossible retreat had come. So he ordered his scattered men to retire for embarkation, and the field was given up to the foe.

Large numbers of the Union troops had anticipated the order to

retreat; for an hour the shore had been lined with stragglers and wearied men. Still, the reinforcing business had not ceased from the island, and during the fiercest of the action the two boats, which were bringing away the dead and wounded, returned from each trip laden with the residue of the Tammany and Massachusetts regiments. The life-boat proved a death-boat, for it swamped, from some cause, while conveying to the battle-field the last of the Tammany companies.

Down the hill they came, in every direction and without order, hotly followed by the rebels to the very edge of the descent. Then the pursuers paused, too cautious to meet the chance of volleys from Harrison's Island, but throwing a plunging fire upon the retiring loyalists, and aiming ruthlessly at the hundreds trying to swim the rapid river channel. The tumult and agony of that headlong descent, the clamor and crowd along the shore, the rush into one wretched skiff, already over-laden with wounded men, which forced it beneath the surface and brought the horror of death by water upon men who had already so fairly faced the battle-field are beyond description. Who can depict the wild strug

gle with those turbid waters, and the desperate calmness with which each wretched soldier went down at last? Who can tell of those who, struck down by the fire from above, slipped in their own blood upon the clayey river bank; of those who wasted too feeble strength in swimming half way across the cruel stream; of the shouts for help where no A few, more fiercely courageous than' the rest, dragged the cannon to the edge of the hill and plunged them over, thus rendering them useless to the enemy. The colonels who had fought so steadily still refused to surrender, but guarded the retreat, so far as desperate courage could do it, to the end.. Led by Coggswell and Lee, several organized companies charged up at their tormentors, once and again returning dangerous volleys. They kept the enemy at bay till long after nightfall closed upon the scene. All who could pass over to the island had escaped, and midnight was close upon them before the two colonels and the other field officers still on the shore saw that their duty was accomplished, and surrendered themselves and the remnant of their commands to the enemy.

A most painful scene transpired at the sinking of the launch, in which were some sixty wounded men, and twenty or thirty members of the California First. The launch had been safely taken half way across the river, when, to their utter consternation, it was discovered that it was leaking, and the water gradually, but surely, gaining upon them. The wounded were lying at the bottom, suffering intolerably from their various dislocations, wounds and injuries, and all soaking in water, which at the very start was fully four inches deep. As the water grew deeper and rose above the prostrate forms of the wounded, their comrades lifted them into sitting postures that they might not be strangled by the fast rising stream. But the groans and cries, screams and moanings of the poor fellows who were thus tortured, were most distressing and indescribable. Despite all that could be done, the fate of the launch, and all that were in it, with the exception of a few expert swimmers, was sealed; suddenly, and like a flash of lightning, the fragile craft sunk, carrying with it at least fifty dying sufferers, and some twenty or thirty others, who had trusted their lives to its treacherous hold.

The very skies were pitiless that evening. O the misery of the black, tempestuous night, when the rain poured down upon that narrow island where those who escaped the flood and field were bivouacked, ⚫ huddled together and bereft of their comrades-in-arms! Scores of the dead were guarded by sullen watchers; the wounded were tended in every possible shelter. The river swelled in a kind of savage triumph over the havoc it had made, its current darkling and murmuring on the east and west, while on the opposite shore lay their dead com

rades, whose white faces the rain beat in merciless fury, but all unfelt, and far more harmless than it fell upon the living victims.

Next morning boat loads of dead and wounded were brought from the battle-field under a flag of truce; and a dispatch had been published in Washington stating that General Stone had successfully thrown his force across the Potomac, and held his position secure against any hostile force.

The statistics of this conflict show that the total number of Federal troops that crossed the Virginia channel was about 1,853 officers and men. Of these 653 belonged to the Massachusetts Fifteenth, 340 to the Massachusetts Twentieth, about 360 to the Tammany regiment, and 570 to the first battalion of the First California. The Massachusetts Fifteenth lost in killed, wounded, and missing 322, including a lieutenant-colonel (wounded), and 14 out of 28 line officers who crossed. The Massachusetts Twentieth lost in all 159, including a colonel, major, surgeon, and adjutant (prisoners), and 8 out of 17 line officers who crossed. The Tammany companies lost 163, including a colonel, and 7 out of 12 line officers who crossed. The Californians lost 300, including their colonel (the general commanding), lieutenant-colonel (wounded), adjutant, and 15 line officers out of 17 who crossed. Total engaged in the fight, 1,853; total losses, 953; field officers crossing, 11; returning uninjured, 3; line officers crossing, 74; returning uninjured, 30.

The troops that were successful in reaching Harrison's Island remained there during the night of the 21st, and on the morning of the 22d were all passed over in safety to the Maryland shore, no attempt being made by the rebels to interfere with the movement. The condition of many of the men was pitiful., Some of them in their encounters with the enemy, and in struggling through the trees and thorny undergrowth, or plunging down the rocky steep, having been almost stripped of clothing. In a short time they were encamped in comforable quarters, and the wounded were provided for with the greatest care.

Large bodies of rebel troops had been brought up to Leesburg after the battle, to defend that point, and to make an offensive movement, if deemed expedient. About four thousand Federals, under the command of General Stone, occupied the Virginia shore immediately opposite Edwards Ferry, and were in imminent danger of attack from the now rapidly increasing force of rebels threatening their front. Generals McClellan and Banks, who had repaired to Edwards Ferry, on the Maryland shore, and were ready to furnish large reinforcements in the event of a general engagement, watched with anxiety the rebel movements on the opposite side of the river. Becoming convinced that the means of transportation were entirely inadequate to properly reinforce General Stone's command, the commander-in-chief ordered a with

drawal of all the Federal forces to the Maryland shore, which was safely accomplished on the night of the 23d.

Colonel E. D. Baker, whose death will make this battle-field immortal, was born in England, early left an orphan, and emigrated to this country. Few men have had a more eventful career, and few men have done so much to win the admiration of the people. He was, without question, one of the ablest speakers in the country; when he addressed public audiences he thrilled them with the electricity of his eloquence, and kindled them by his earnestness as a storm of fire sweeps over the prairie. For many years, whether at the bar, in the Congress of the nation, or before wild wood caucuses; in speaking to citizens, jurors, statesmen or soldiers; on the slope of the Atlantic, in the valley of the Mississippi, at the head of legions in Mexico, before the miners of California, or upon the banks of the Columbia, he held a place with the best men and finest orators in the land.

At the age of nineteen he was admitted to the bar in the State of Illinois. Subsequently he twice represented that State in the lower house of Congress. In 1846 he resigned in order to lead the Fourth Illinois regiment to Mexico. At Cerro Gordo, after the fall of General Shields, as senior Colonel he took command of the brigade, and fought through the desperate battle in a manner that drew an especial compliment from General Twiggs.

Returning home, he was, after his recovery from a severe wound received on the Rio Grande, again elected to Congress. Later in life he was connected with the Panama railroad; still later, in 1852, he removed with his family to Oregon, where he was elected United States Senator.

The struggle for the Union came, and he hastened to New York, where his fiery eloquence stirred the heart of its people. When they rushed impetuously to arms, he warned the country of the magnitude of the struggle, and was foremost in support of the Government. He was not, however, a speaker only, but a worker as well. In a little time he had gathered about him an effective regiment. Men from all States rushed to fill up the ranks. Refusing to resign his position in the Senate and be promoted to a Major-Generalship, he retained his simple title of Colonel, and died with no higher rank.

He was killed at the head of his brigade, and with his life's blood sealed the vow he had made to see America a free and united people or die in the struggle. Courageous, upright, earnest, indomitable spirits like his can never be forgotten; they are the jewels of a nation, which brighten as they pass into eternity. In his own words, the words that from his eloquent lips rung over the grave of Broderick, let us give him to immortality.

"True friend and hero, hail and farewell!"