fine residences and ornamented grounds bore witness to the opulence and refinement of many of its inhabitants. The capitol was the finest building in North Carolina, and was esteemed superior to that of any other State in the South. It was situated in the centre of the city, upon the highest point, from which the four principal streets diverged, east, west, north, and south. As our troops entered the city the people generally kept in their houses, peeping through the blinds at the Yankee battalions swarming through the streets. As the divisions of the grand army arrived, they took their positions, one after another, within the city, and upon all the main thoroughfares around it. We regret to say that it is the universal testimony that, throughout all the South, the most venomous rebels were the clergy and the women. In Raleigh, as everywhere else, some of the women, taking advantage of the protection which their sex afforded them, insulted, in every way in their power, even the guards who were stationed to protect their dwellings. Many, however, received the guards not only with civility, but with gratitude. The citizens testified that Johnston's army, in its retreat through the town, exhibited a spectacle of haggardness, rags, and misery, seldom equalled. The men all seemed dispirited, and thoroughly disgusted with the war. It was the general impression that Johnston would not attempt much longer to carry on the struggle. The people of North Carolina had been very reluctantly drawn into the rebellion. The unintelligent masses had been deceived and betrayed. The arch-traitor Yancey, who possessed wonderful powers of popular eloquence, had harangued the multitude all through the State, assuring them that the Yankees never would fight; that by a little show of boldness they could have every thing their own way, and that he would pledge his honor that he would pay all the expenses of the war with a ten-cent piece, and that with his handkerchief he would wipe up all the blood that would be shed. Late on Friday evening, April 14th, a flag of truce came in from General Johnston, proposing a conference with General Sherman, with refer ence to a surrender of the rebel army. And here we must leave General Sherman for a time, while we go back in point of time, and visit the Bay of Mobile, and contemplate the stormy scenes which were transpiring there. ORDER OF ADMIRAL FARRAGUT.-SKILFUL LINE OF BATTLE.-PASSING FORT MORGAN.-FATE OF THE TECUMSEH.--CONTEST WITH THE REBEL RAM TENNESSEE.-COMMENDATORY NOTICES.— SURRENDER OF FORT MORGAN.--DISGRACEFUL CONDUCT OF COMMANDER PAGE.--INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE.--INVESTMENT OF MOBILE. ITS SURRENDER.-CONFLICT BETWEEN THE KEARSARGE AND ALABAMA. THE conflict in the Bay of Mobile, in which the rebel fleet was destroyed, and Fort Morgan was captured, was one of the most remarkable engagements on record. On the 12th of July, 1864, Admiral Farragut issued the following spirited order to the commanders of the fleet. It was dated from the United States flag-ship Hartford, off Mobile : GENERAL ORDER, No. 10. "Strip your vessels and prepare for the conflict. Send down all your superfluous spars and rigging; trice up or remove the whiskers; put up the splinter-nets on the starboard side; and barricade the wheel and steersmen with sails and hammocks. Lay chains or sand-bags' on the deck over the machinery, to resist a plunging fire. Hang the sheet-chains over the side, or make any other arrangement for security that your ingenuity may suggest. Land your starboard boats, or lower and tow them on the port side, and lower the port boats down to the water's edge. Place a leadsman and the pilot in the port quarter-boat, or the one most convenient to the commander. "The vessels will run past the forts in couples, lashed side by side, as hereinafter designated. The flag-ship will lead and steer from Sand Island, north by east by compass, until abreast of Fort Morgan; then northwest half north, until past the Middle Ground, then north, by west; and the others, as designated in the drawing, will follow in due order, until ordered to anchor; but the bow and quarter line must be preserved to give the chase-guns a fair range, and each vessel must be kept astern of the broadside of the next ahead; each vessel will keep a very little on the starboard quarter of his next ahead, and, when abreast of the fort, will keep directly astern, and as we pass the fort, will take the same distance on the port quarter of the next ahead, to enable the stern guns to fire clear of the next vessel astern. "It will be the object of the admiral to get as close to the fort as possible before opening fire; the ships, however, will open fire the moment the enemy opens upon us, with their chase and other guns, as fast as they can be brought to bear. Use short fuses for the shell and shrapnel, and, as soon as within three or four hundred yards, give them grape. It is understood that heretofore we have fired too high; but with grape-shot it is necessary to elevate a little above the object, as grape will dribble from the muzzle of the gun. "If one or more of the vessels be disabled, their partners must carry them through, if possible; but if they cannot, then the next astern must render the required assistance. But as the admiral contemplates moving with the flood-tide, it will only require sufficient power to keep the crippled vessels in the channel. "Vessels that can, must place guns upon the poop and top-gallant forecastle, and in the top on the starboard side. Should the enemy fire grape, they will remove the men from the top-gallant forecastle and poop to the guns below, until out of grape range. "The howitzers must keep up a constant fire from the time they can reach with shrapnel until out of its range. "D. G. FARRAGUT, "Rear-Admiral, Commanding W. G. B. Squadron." The city of Mobile is situated at the head of Mobile Bay, about thirty miles from the Gulf of Mexico. Dauphin's Island closes the mouth of the bay, with the exception of a narrow strait on each side. The western strait is inaccessible by vessels of any considerable size, as it affords a channel but five feet deep. The eastern strait furnishes twenty feet of water. Two strong forts guard this main entrance to the bay. Fort Mor gan is at the end of a long, low, sandy point opposite Dauphin Island, and about four miles distant from it. Upon the island, opposite Fort Morgan, is Fort Gaines. About a mile beyond Fort Gaines is Fort Powell and some water-batteries. The rebels had blockaded the whole passage between Fort Morgan and Dauphin Island with tiers of piles, chains, and torpedoes. A channel about fifteen hundred yards in width was left, through which their blockade-runners could pass directly under the guns of the fort. ६ It was not until the 5th of August that the Union fleet was ready for its perilous enterprise. Soon after sunrise the fleet moved up the bay, in the order prescribed. There were fourteen wooden gunboats and four iron-clad monitors. Under the guns of Fort Morgan the rebel fleet was lying, with guns shotted, and eager for the conflict. About seven |