they continued to throw a few shells at the camp of the fugitives, where they had sought refuge. The pursuers now resting on their arms, bivouacked on the ground for the night. Early next morning the Tenth Indiana, Tenth Kentucky, Fourteenth Ohio, and Fourth Kentucky regiments were ordered to take possession of the enemy's intrenched camp, which was found entirely abandoned. The Tenth Kentucky was the first to enter, followed by the other regiments. "We found everything left," says one of the Indiana men.* "Horses stood saddled and bridled; teams were hitched up; the horses were standing attached to the cannon; officers' trunks were found strewn on the bank of the river. We took about 2,000 head of horses and mules, 250 wagons, 14 cannons-two of which were captured by them at Bull Run-some 4,000 or 5,000 stand of arms, and any number of flags."

General Schoepf's force had in the mean time arrived, and joining General Thomas' troops, pursued, in company with the victors, the flying enemy. A steamboat was seen moving on the river, and being fired at with shells was soon in a blaze. The combined force, having seized several boats which the fugitives had used, but in their haste failed to destroy, crossed the Cumberland at Mill

The same writer gives the account of the death of Zollicoffer: "You have seen it reported in the papers that Colonel Fry and Zollicoffer had some conversation, and that Fry shot Zollicoffer. This is a great hoax. Zollicoffer was shot three times; the ball that killed him

was from an Enfield rifle, and entered his heart. The shot was fired by Corporal James Swan, of Company H, who is a dead shot."

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Spring, but the enemy scattering in every direction, made no attempt at resistance. From the condition of the roads, however, and for fear of being at too great a distance in a hostile and poor country from the basis of operations, General Thomas was compelled to check the rapidity of his advance and wait for his train of supply-wagons. He subsequently withdrew his main force and posted it within the intrenchments on the north side of the Cumberland, abandoned by the enemy, while General Schoepf continued to advance on the south until he reached Monticello, near the borders of Tennessee, where a great number of the enemy's wounded were found abandoned by their comrades, who continued to scatter in flight over the country.

General Crittenden, with the small force he was able to keep together, retreated until he reached Gainesborough, where he arrived on Sunday, January 28th, one week after the battle.

"The retreat," reports one of the enemy, "was made in good order, and by three o'clock in the afternoon our army was inside its intrenchments. Immediately a severe cannonading was commenced by the enemy, making it evident that their superiority in guns could eventually drive our forces from their camp.

"Between dusk and dawn our entire army was taken across the river, with the loss merely of the artillery and worn-out tents and camp equipage. Long before the enemy dreamed of the evacuation, our forces had gained an

movement in Tennessee, Zollicoffer opposed it, but was finally induced to risk his fortunes upon the cause of the Southern confederacy, by which he was appointed brigadier-general. He was a man of great energy and courage, but without military knowledge or experience, and devoid of prudence. The attack at Mill Spring-supposed to have been suggested by Zollicoffer-which resulted so disastrously to him, was a movement alike characteristic of the enterprise and audacity of the man.

Zollicoffer had only joined the secession force at Mill Spring a few hours before the movement, and served in the battle under General Crittenden, to whom belonged the chief command. The latter, brother to the General T. L. Crittenden, who commanded a division of General Buell's army, and a son of the venerable Senator Crittenden, of Kentucky, was formerly an officer in the United States army.

General George H. Thomas, the chief in command of the tenth division of the Federal army in Kentucky, and who led in the battle of Mill Spring, was born in Virginia. He entered West Point in 1836, and in 1840 was appointed a second lieutenant of artillery. In the campaign against the Indians in Florida he earned the brevet of first lieutenant, and during the war with Mexico so distinguished himself that he was successively rewarded with various brevet ranks to that of major. In 1850 he was appointed a teacher of artillery and cavalry at the West Point Academy.

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In December, 1853, he was made a full captain of artillery; and on the 12th of May, 1855, was appointed major of the Second Cavalry. At the beginning of the civil war, General Thomas was promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy of his regiment, and on the 3d of May, 1861, was made colonel of the Second Cavalry. As colonel he had charge of the United States regular forces under General Patterson, in the Department of the Shenandoah, and led the troops across the Potomac. He was next appointed an acting brigadier-general in the same. department, in which capacity he served under General Banks. On the 17th of August, 1861, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers, and was ordered to Kentucky, where, after serving under Generals Anderson and Sherman, he was appointed by their successor, General Buell, to the command of the tenth division, designed to operate in the south-eastern part of Kentucky.

General Alvin Schoepf is a Hungarian, who came to this country as a political refugee, and was employed for some time as a draughtsman and clerk in the Patent Office at Washington. He subsequently was transferred to the War Department; here, giving proof of his capacity as an engineer, he was sent into Virginia to conduct a military survey. He was soon after appointed brigadier-general of volunteers and ordered to Kentucky, where he gave, by his spirited defence at Wild Cat, a signal proof of his spirit and skill.

1862.

THE breaking of the enemy's line in Kentucky by their rout at Mill Spring was the signal for the commencement of those combined expeditions by land and water which had been so long maturing at St. Louis, Cairo, and Paducah. These posts were within the department of General Halleck, and upon him devolved the preparation for and the direction of the important movements contemplated in Kentucky and Tennessee.

The enemy had striven to secure the command of the Mississippi, Tennessee, and the Cumberland, by the construction of fortifications on these rivers. At Columbus, in Kentucky, on the left bank of the Mississippi, were the most formidable of these works; at Dover, on the left of the Cumberland, in a southeasterly direction from Columbus, was Fort Donelson with its extensive intrenchments; the next in importance, and on the right of the Tennessee, which flows in a parallel line with the latter river, and between it and the former, was Fort Henry, the least considerable of the three works.

Forts Donelson and Henry were just within the boundary line of Tennessee, the former being somewhat more to the south, and consequently farther removed from the border of Kentucky than the latter, which almost touched it.

After repeated reconnoissances in force from Cairo down the Mississippi and from Paducah and Smithland*--which had been lately occupied by the Unionists-up the Tennessee and Cumberland, and a vigilant reconnoitring by land of the enemy's strength and position, it was determined to begin operations by an attack upon Fort Henry.

This work stands on the east bank of the Tennessee River, upon low ground, about the height of the high-water mark. A bend just above prevents any command up the stream; but the Tennessee below, being straight for two miles, the guns of the fort have an effective range for that distance in the direction of the flow of the river. On the opposite side of the Tennessee are three hills which com

• Smithland is situated to the east of Paducah, on the Ohio, near the mouth of the Cumberland.