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 RETREAT OF THE UNION ARMY.
The Federal troops remained in Springfield until Monday
morning, and then started on their retreat towards Rolla,
unmolested by the rebels. The enemy entered the town immediately
after its evacuation by the Federal forces, having suffered the loss of
a large portion of their tents, baggage and camp stores by the attack
of Sigel.
Hundreds of the inhabitants of this section were now compelled to
leave their homes, and the exiles were seen every day on the roads
leading to St. Louis, fleeing for refuge beyond the lines of the
insurgents, plundered of everything and destitute, having been
forced to abandon their homes and property to save their lives.
The loyal people who remained were favored with proclamations
by McCulloch and Price, which abounded in abuse and
misrepresentation of the Federal army, and were filled with
professions and promises which strikingly contrasted with their
administration and conduct.
This calamity was not merely disastrous by its positive loss, but it
gave a prestige of success to the rebel leaders, and afforded an
opportunity for them to increase the spirit of rebellion among the
people, as well as to nerve themselves to other enterprises. On the
17th, fifteen hundred recruits had assembled in Saline county, and
were preparing to join General Price, or to engage in local operations
in the surrounding counties. On the 18th, about one thousand men
from Chariton county crossed the Missouri at Brunswick, with a
large number of horses and wagons, on their march to join Price’s
division.
The rebels were so much elated with the death of General Lyon
and the abandonment of Springfield by the Federal troops, that they
became more reckless than ever in their depredations and
persecutions of the loyal citizens. In St. Louis on the 14th, after the
retreat became known, they became so bold and defiant that General
Fremont proclaimed martial law, and appointed Major J. McKinstry
as Provost-Marshal.
 On the 20th, a train on the Hannibal and St. Joseph’s railroad was
fired into, and one soldier killed and six wounded. The train was
immediately stopped, and two of the guerrillas were killed and five
captured.
Five days afterwards, on the 25th, Governor Gamble issued a
proclamation calling for forty-two thousand volunteers to defend the
State, restore peace and subdue the insurrection; the term of service
to be six months, unless sooner discharged.
 KENTUCKY.

Kentucky occupies a central position among the States, and is

about four hundred miles in length, by one hundred and seventy in
width at the widest point, where the State stretches from the
boundary of Tennessee across to Covington, opposite Cincinnati, on
the Ohio river. This river, from the Virginia line, follows a circuitous
course along the Kentucky border, a distance of six hundred and
thirty-seven miles, until it flows into the Mississippi at Cairo. The
Cumberland and Tennessee rivers pass through the western part of
the State, as they approach their confluence with the Ohio. Big Sandy
river, two hundred and fifty miles in length, forms for a considerable
distance the boundary between Kentucky and Virginia. The Kentucky
river rises in the Cumberland Mountains and falls into the Ohio river
fifty miles above Louisville. These geographical facts are necessary to
a perfect understanding of the struggles in that State, and are worthy
of remembrance.
When the President of the United States, on the 15th of April, 1861,
issued his proclamation, in which the Governors of the States that
had not already committed themselves to the cause of secession,
were called upon to furnish their quota of seventy-five thousand men
for the national defence, Beriah Magoffin, Governor of Kentucky,
replied by saying, that, “Kentucky will furnish no troops for the
wicked purpose of subduing her sister States.”
This act was looked upon with both sorrow and surprise by the
loyal people of that State, and was hailed with delight by the
Confederate Government at Montgomery. The rebel Secretary of War
congratulated Governor Magoffin on his “patriotic” response,
informed him that Virginia needed aid, and requested him to send
forward a regiment of infantry without delay to Harper’s Ferry.
Though sympathizing with the enemies of the Union, Governor
Magoffin was not prepared to set at defiance the wishes of the people
of Kentucky, and commit himself unqualifiedly to the work of
overthrowing the Federal Government.
Many of the prominent men of Kentucky, including a large number
of the wealthy citizens, were zealous in the promotion of the
secession interests. The most indefatigable efforts were made by
them to force the State into the ranks of the revolted States, and
thousands of her young men were induced to enlist, and encamp on
the adjoining borders of Tennessee, waiting for the hour when they
could sweep Kentucky with the rush of armed battalions, and
overwhelm her peace and prosperity with the clash of arms, and the
thunders of artillery. The loyal sentiment was, however, in the
ascendant, although it was subdued and overawed to a considerable
extent. Between the two forces, therefore, it was deemed expedient
by her rulers that Kentucky should hold a neutral position, and not
ally herself with either the Federal or the Confederate interest.
To render this neutrality more certain, on the 8th of June, General
S. B. Buckner, then the acknowledged commander of the State
militia, entered into negotiations with General McClellan, at
Cincinnati, the terms of which stipulated that Kentucky should
protect the United States property, and enforce all the United States
laws within her limits—that her neutrality should be respected by the
Federal army, even though the Southern forces should occupy her
soil; “but in the latter case General McClellan should call upon the
authorities of the State to remove the said Southern forces from her
territory;” if the State were unable to accomplish this, then the
Federal forces might be called in.
This negative position was found, however, to be one of positive
advantage and aid to the traitors. They desired to secure a “masterly
inactivity” on the part of loyal men, of which they might avail
themselves by secret organizations. Taking advantage of this
confessed neutrality, large numbers of the young men of Kentucky
were enticed into Buckner’s camp; while bodies of men from
Tennessee were thrown into several localities in the southern and
western portions of the State, and boldly avowed their determination
to march on Frankfort, the capital, and revolutionize the State. Home
Guards were organized by the loyal men, and it became apparent,
that if the tide were not resisted by active measures, there was no
security for Kentucky.
The election for members of the Legislature, however, early in
August, the result of which showed an overwhelming majority in
favor of the Union, signed the death-warrant of neutrality, and
thenceforth Kentucky was regarded as loyal to the Union. The
Legislature assembled at Frankfort on the 5th of September, ordered
the United States flag to be hoisted on the court-house, and
proceeded to adopt various measures calculated to promote the
Union cause in the State.

SECTION OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

SHOWING THE DISTANCES FROM

NEW ORLEANS.
 SECTION OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

SHOWING THE DISTANCES FROM

NEW ORLEANS.

The great Union majority now revealed gave such decided

evidence that Kentucky was not likely to be seduced from her loyalty,
that the secessionists became convinced of the necessity of
accomplishing their purpose by other means. The rebel forces were,
therefore, ordered to take possession of several important points,
which they did on the 4th of September, and commenced fortifying
Hickman and Columbus—the former being in the western part of the
State, near the line, and the latter some twenty-five miles further
north, on the Mississippi river. Generals Pillow and Polk now took
command of the rebel troops, and were soon reinforced, their
combined forces amounting to thirteen regiments of artillery, six
field batteries, a siege battery, three battalions of cavalry, three
steamers, and a gunboat. In the mean time, Jefferson Thompson,
with two regiments, took possession of Belmont, on the Missouri
side, opposite Columbus. The assumed neutrality having thus been
broken by this invasion, the Federal commander, General U. S.
Grant, then at Cairo, Illinois, lost no time in making a movement to
intercept the further progress of the rebels northward. He
accordingly sent a sufficient force up the Ohio, to the mouth of the
Tennessee river, and effected
 THE OCCUPATION OF PADUCAH.

On Thursday evening, the 5th of September, the gunboats Tyler

and Conestoga were ordered to convey the troops to Paducah. The
Ninth Illinois, under the gallant Major Philips, and the Twelfth
Illinois, Colonel John McArthur, with four pieces of Smith’s Chicago
Artillery, under Lieutenant Charles Willard, embarked on the
steamers G. W. Graham and W. H. B., and left Cairo at 11 o’clock, P.
M., the gunboat Tyler, Captain Rogers, leading, and the Conestoga,
Captain Phelps, in the rear. The fleet pushed out into the stream
amid the cheers of thousands of spectators, and steamed grandly up
the Ohio.
They reached Paducah about eight o’clock, A. M., on Friday, the 6th.
The troops were speedily disembarked. Colonel McArthur’s regiment
landed at the Marine Hospital, in the lower part of the city, and the
Ninth at the foot of Main street. The Twelfth found quarters at the
hospital, and the Ninth repaired to the depot of the Ohio and New
Orleans railroad. The citizens were sullen and unfriendly, and closed
their places of business.
On arriving at the depot the troops found that the rolling stock of
the road had all been removed, but a large quantity of stores for the
confederate army was discovered, and promptly seized. They were
marked for Memphis, New Orleans, and other points south, and
were worth about $20,000.
Captain Rogers immediately took possession of the telegraph
office. The post-office was next visited, and a large amount of rebel
correspondence secured. Five companies of infantry, and a battery of
Smith’s Light Artillery, Lieutenant Willard, were sent under Major
Philips down the railroad about seven miles without meeting any of
the rebel troops. Pillow was reported to be advancing, and a large
bridge and trestle work were burnt to prevent him from reaching
Paducah and falling upon the place by surprise.
A rumor became current that a large force of rebels from
Tennessee were on their way down the Tennessee river in
steamboats. To ascertain the facts, and to intercept their progress,
the gunboat Conestoga was dispatched up the river some thirteen
miles to watch the rebel movements, and to capture suspicious
vessels. Although no hostile forces were seen, a steamer was
discovered on Friday, which, on seeing the Conestoga, turned about,
was run ashore, and the officers and crew abandoned her. It was the
Jefferson, a small stern-wheel boat, loaded with a cargo of tobacco.
On Saturday the Conestoga captured a fine propeller, called the John
Gault, and a boat called the Pocahontas, belonging to John Bell, of
Tennessee. The prizes were all safely taken to Cairo.
The inhabitants of Paducah were now seized with panic, and large
numbers left the town, apprehending an attack from Pillow, in which
case they expected the gunboats would freely use shell. On Saturday
part of Colonel Oglesby’s Eighth regiment, the Forty-first Illinois,
and the American Zouave regiment, from Cape Girandeau, entered
the town, increasing the forces to about 5,000 men.
 THE REBEL TROOPS ORDERED TO
WITHDRAW FROM KENTUCKY.
On the 9th of September a dispatch from General Polk to Governor
Magoffin was laid before the Legislature, the substance of which was
that he had occupied Columbus and Hickman, on account of reliable
information that the Federal forces were about to possess those
points; that he considered the safety of Western Tennessee and of the
rebel army in the vicinity of Hickman and Columbus demanded their
occupation, and that, as a corroboration of that information, the
Federal troops had been drawn up in line on the river opposite to
Columbus prior to its occupation by them, causing many of the
citizens of Columbus to flee from their homes for fear of the entrance
of the Federal troops. General Polk proposed substantially that the
Federal and rebel forces should be simultaneously withdrawn from
Kentucky, and to enter into recognizances and stipulations to respect
the neutrality of the State.
But it was well known that the cry of neutrality was only an
invention of the enemy to work his plans in Kentucky, so that when
the appointed time should come Kentucky would swarm with rebels
from Tennessee and Virginia; and two days afterwards both branches
of the Legislature, by a vote of 71 to 26, adopted a resolution
directing the Governor to issue a proclamation ordering the rebel
troops then encamped in the State to evacuate Kentucky. A counter-
resolution, ordering both Federal and rebel troops to leave the soil,
was negatived under the rules of order. Governor Magoffin
accordingly issued a proclamation to the effect that “the government
of the Confederate States, the State of Tennessee, and all others
concerned, are hereby informed that Kentucky expects the
Confederate or Tennessee troops to be withdrawn from her soil
unconditionally.”
 ATTEMPT TO FORM A REVOLUTIONARY
GOVERNMENT IN THE STATE.
After this decisive action of the Legislature, which effectually
destroyed the hopes entertained by the conspirators of obtaining a
semblance of legal authority for their designs, their next expedient
was to hold an informal meeting at Russelville, a small town in the
southern portion of the State, on the 29th of October. Here they drew
up a declaration of grievances, in which they charged the majority of
the Legislature with having betrayed their solemn trust, by inviting
into the State the “armies of Lincoln,” with having abdicated the
government in favor of a military despotism, and thrown upon the
people and the State the horrors and ravages of war. They
recommended the immediate arming of a “Guard” in each county, of
not less than one hundred men, to be paid as Confederate troops,
subject to the orders of the “Commanding General.” Finally, they
called for a Convention to be held at Russelville, on the 18th of
November, to be “elected, or appointed in any manner possible,” by
the people of the several counties, for the purpose of “severing
forever our connection with the Federal Government.”
John C. Breckinridge, late Vice President of the United States, was
appointed one of the commissioners to carry out the orders of the
convention. This Convention met at the time designated, composed
of about two hundred persons, professing to represent sixty-five
counties, though self-appointed, and without any form of election.
On the 20th of November they adopted a “Declaration of
Independence, and an Ordinance of Secession,” and appointed a
“Provisional Government, consisting of a Governor, and a Legislative
Council of Ten,” and dispatched H. C. Burnett, W. E. Simms, and
William Preston, as commissioners to the Confederate States. On the
9th of December, the “Congress’” of the Confederate States, in
session at Richmond, passed an “Act for the admission of the State of
Kentucky into the Confederate States of America,” as a member “on
equal footing with the other States of the Confederacy.”
 George W. Johnson, of Scott county, who was chosen as
Provisional Governor, by the Convention, in his “Message,” declared
his willingness to resign “whenever the regularly elected Governor
[Magoffin] should escape from his virtual imprisonment at
Frankfort.”
Governor Magoffin, in a letter, dated December 13, 1861, says of
this Convention, “I condemn its action in unqualified terms. Situated
as it was, and without authority from the people, it cannot be
justified by similar revolutionary acts in other States, by minorities
to overthrow the State Governments. My position is, and has been,
and will continue to be, to abide by the will of the majority of the
people of the State, to stand by the Constitution and laws of the State
of Kentucky, as expounded by the Supreme Court of the State, and by
the Constitution and laws of the United States, as expounded by the
Supreme Court of the United States. To this position I shall cling in
this trying hour as the last hope of society and of constitutional
liberty.”
MILITARY MOVEMENTS OF THE REBELS IN
KENTUCKY.
While Pillow and Polk were invading the south-western part of the
State, General Zollicoffer was operating in the east. With some six
thousand rebels he came to Cumberland Ford—which is situated
near the point where the corner of Virginia runs into Kentucky—
capturing a company of Home Guards. On the 17th of September the
Legislature received a message from Governor Magoffin
communicating a telegraphic dispatch from General Zollicoffer,
announcing that the safety of Tennessee demanded the occupation of
Cumberland and the three long mountains in Kentucky, and that he
had occupied them, and should retain his position until the Federal
forces were withdrawn and the Federal camp broken up.
That portion of Kentucky lying west of the Cumberland river was
then declared under insurrectionary control, and Secretary Chase
instructed the Surveyor at Cairo to prevent all commercial
intercourse with that section, and to search all baggage and all
persons going thither. Just about the same time the gunboat
Conestoga captured the rebel steamers Stephenson and Gazelle, on
the Cumberland, and one of them was found to contain one hundred
tons of iron.
 DECISIVE MEASURES OF THE LOYAL
STATE GOVERNMENT.
When the seditious plans of General Buckner became too plain for
concealment, the Legislature found it necessary to depose him from
the command of the State troops, and General Thomas L. Crittenden,
a loyal citizen, was appointed to fill that position. Governor
Magoffin, in obedience to the resolutions and the enactments of the
Legislature, promptly issued a proclamation, authorizing that officer
to execute the purposes contemplated by the resolutions of the
Legislature in reference to the expulsion of the invaders, and General
Crittenden ordered the military to muster forthwith into service.
Hamilton Pope, Brigadier-General of the Home Guard (Union),
called on the people of each ward in Louisville to meet and organize
into companies for the protection of the city.
Great excitement existed at this time in Louisville. The Union
Home Guards began to assemble, while other Union forces were
arriving and being sent to different portions of the State. At nine
o’clock on the morning of the 18th, when the Government troops
reached Rolling Fork, five miles north of Muldragh’s Hill, they found
that the bridge over the fork had been burned by rebels under
General Buckner, who were then upon the hill.
The Legislature passed, over the veto of the Governor, a resolution
to the effect that, as the rebels had invaded Kentucky and insolently
dictated the terms upon which they would retire, General Robert
Anderson, the hero of Fort Sumter, one of Kentucky’s sons, should be
invited to take instant charge of that department, and that the
Governor must call out a sufficient force to expel the invaders from
her soil. General Anderson, who had been previously appointed by
the Government to command in Kentucky, responded to the call, and
on the 21st of September issued a proclamation calling upon the
people of Kentucky to rally to the support of the Union.
General S. B. Buckner, who had previously acted under neutrality
pretences, now gradually assumed an attitude of hostility, and in
September was openly arrayed against the Government. On the 12th
he issued an inflammatory proclamation to the people of Kentucky,
in which he declared that he sought to make no war upon the Union,
but only against the tyranny and despotism of the Federal
Government, which was about to make the people of Kentucky
slaves. By such means as these he aimed to arouse the freemen of
that State to arms and to rebellion. The proclamation was dated at
Russelville, while he was entrenching a position at Bowling Green,
about thirty miles from the Tennessee line, on the Louisville and
Nashville railroad.
Very soon the Government formed a new department, consisting
of Ohio, Indiana, and that part of Kentucky within a commanding
distance of Cincinnati, placing it under the charge of General
Mitchell, in order to relieve General Rosecranz in Western Virginia
and General Anderson of a part of their responsibility, and enable
them to give greater attention to their own specific departments. The
department under General Anderson seemed to require similar
military discipline to that of Annapolis and Maryland, and, as a
commencement, Martin W. Barr, the telegraphic news reporter of
the Southern Associated Press, the medium for the transmission of
correspondence from traitors at the North to rebels in the South, was
arrested, together with ex-Governor Morehead and Reuben T.
Murrett, one of the proprietors of the Courier, a rebel sheet.
 The State had now become a portion of the ground which was to be
so fiercely contested. Rebel journals and leaders made no
concealment of their purpose to wrest Kentucky from the Union at
every hazard. The Ohio river was to be the boundary of the Southern
empire, and notwithstanding the emphatic voice of her people, all
the energy of the combined forces of the rebel armies were to be
brought to bear upon the work. The fact could be no longer disguised
from the people, and the loyal men, finding that their patience and
confidence in the disloyal portion, with their previous consent to a
negative position of neutrality, were in vain, boldly declared that the
time had come to arouse and resist the impending ruin. The attempt
of the conspirators of the Cotton States to make Kentucky the battle-
field, along with Virginia, was to be defeated at every cost, and the
people, rising to a comprehension of their responsibility, hastened to
the work of organization and defence.
 Among the loyal men of the State to whom the highest honor is
due for their bold and stirring advocacy of the Union, and for the
most summary measures which patriotism and honor could dictate,
were Hon. Joseph Holt, and Hon. Lovell S. Rousseau, of the State
Senate, and the gifted divine, R. J. Breckinridge, D.D.
 NAVAL OPERATIONS.

At the commencement of hostilities the Government was

unprepared to meet the naval requirements incident to the contest
which had so suddenly been forced upon it. The necessity of a
stringent blockade of the entire southern coast had become
apparent; while the protection and supply of the naval stations in the
rebel States still in possession of our forces, and the recapture of
those which had been seized, required a navy vastly greater than that
at the command of the Government; and no time was lost in
preparing as far as practicable to meet this emergency.
Long before the attack on Fort Sumter, the enemy had given
evidence of a determination forcibly to destroy their relations with
the Government by seizing the revenue cutters belonging to the
United States stationed in the harbors of Charleston, Pensacola and
New Orleans, contemporaneously with their appropriation of the
forts, arsenals, marine depots and other property belonging to the
Government within the limits of the disloyal States.
Immediately upon the opening of hostilities, and to give the
pretence of law and authority to the proceedings now determined on,
Jefferson Davis, on the 17th of April, 1861, by proclamation, invited
men of every class, without regard to nationality, to become
privateers under letters of marque, to be issued by the Confederate
Government.
A “reward” of twenty dollars was offered by the Confederate
Congress for every life taken by these privateers in conflict with a
Federal vessel, and twenty-five dollars for each prisoner. In view of
the extensive commerce of the United States, the large number of
vessels sailing to all parts of the world, and the supposed inefficiency
of our navy, confident expectations were entertained by the rebels of
a rich harvest of wealth from this source, as well as of the destruction
of our commerce. The hope was also indulged that many vessels
would be secretly fitted out in northern ports to engage in this
enterprise. This hope soon proved to be futile; while the want of
proper vessels for the service in their own ports, and the scarcity of
able seamen, and, more potent than either, the rigorous blockade
that was soon established, presented insurmountable obstacles to
their plans. The English Government, by the Queen’s proclamation
of June 1, decided that privateers should not take prizes to any of her
ports; and France and Spain also declared that such vessels should
remain but twenty-four hours within their harbors, and prohibited
either confiscation or sale during such stay.
The first offensive act of the war on the part of our navy was the
attack on Sewall’s Point battery, in Virginia, on May 18, 1861. This
battery, then not completed, was situated at the mouth of Elizabeth
river, commanding also the entrance to James river. On the 18th the
United States steamer Star, two guns, and transport Freeborn, of
four guns, opened their fire and dislodged the enemy from their
entrenchments. During the night, however, the works were repaired
and occupied by a larger force. On the following day the steamer Star
again opened fire on them, and after exhausting her ammunition
retired.
On the 31st of May, the United States steamers Thomas Freeborn,
Anacosta and Resolute attacked the rebel batteries at the railroad
terminus at Acquia Creek. As the tide was out, the vessels could not
approach near enough to accomplish their reduction. On the
following day the fire was renewed by the vessels, under command of
Captain Ward, and returned by the enemy with spirit from three
batteries on the shore, and one on the heights above. They were soon
driven from the shore batteries, but that on the hill was at an
elevation which could not be reached by shot from the gunboats. The
vessels were struck several times, with but little damage, and two
men were wounded. The loss of the enemy was not ascertained.
On the 6th of June, while reconnoitering on the James river, the
steamer Harriet Lane discovered a heavy battery at Pigs Point, at the
mouth of the Nansemond river, opposite Newport News. She opened
fire on it to discover its character, and finding from the response that
it was too formidable for her guns, she withdrew, having five men
wounded in the encounter.
 On the 27th of June, Commander J. H. Ward of the steamer
Freeborn, accompanied by a party of men from the Pawnee, under
Lieutenant Chaplin, who were engaged in erecting a breastwork at
Matthias Point, on the Potomac, were attacked by a large force of the
enemy. The men on shore were exposed to a galling fire, but made
good their retreat in their boats, three only being wounded, taking all
their arms and implements with them. Commander Ward
immediately opened fire from his vessel on the attacking party, and
drove them to cover. While sighting one of the guns of the Freeborn,
Commander Ward was struck by a rifle ball, mortally wounded, and
died within an hour.
Captain James H. Ward was born in the year 1806, in the city of
Hartford, Connecticut. His early days were spent in the usual studies
of youth, and on the 4th of March, 1823, he entered the United States
service, sailing as midshipman, under Commodore McDonough, in
the frigate Constitution. After serving faithfully for four years with
McDonough, he was promoted to the position of lieutenant, and was
for some time attached to the Mediterranean service. Many years of
his life were spent on the coast of Africa, and he was also in the gulf,
as commander of the United States steamer Vixen. Nearly all his
naval life was spent on the ocean. For some time he had a very
responsible professorship in the naval school at Annapolis, and later
was in command of the receiving ship North Carolina. His talents
were not entirely devoted to naval affairs, for he is well known as an
author by his works, entitled “Steam for the Million,” “Ordnance and
Gunnery,” and “Naval Tactics.” The news of his death brought
sorrow to many, and his memory is safely embalmed in the heart of
an appreciating nation.