and burn the schooner; those in the first and third cutters were to charge the battery and spike the recently mounted "big gun.'

Lieutenant Sproston, heading the crews of the first and third cutters, landed at the northern face of the stone wharf, and made directly for the newly-erected battery.

True courage, wherever found, will command respect, but the brave man sometimes loses his life where his light-heeled comrades save theirs, and so it proved in this instance, for, when they arrived at the spot, they found the battery of one gun entirely deserted except by a solitary soldier, who stood his ground, in the face of thirty men, and discharged his musket at the lieutenant; but at the same instant the sharp crack of a pistol was heard, and the lone defender of the battery, who had missed his own aim, fell a victim to that of the more fortunate gunner.

In a few minutes the "Columbiad" was spiked, and Lieutenant Sproston having accomplished the duty assigned him, according to previous orders, recalled his men to their boats.

The other division of the party, in the launch and second cutter, on approaching the schooner, found that instead of being moored in the stream, she had been hauled into the dry dock slip, and was tied up to the wharf. Nothing daunted, however, at this unpleasant change in the programme, the gallant fellows dashed ahead in the slip alongside the schooner. As they were approaching the vessel, they were hailed from her decks five or six times, and were thus prepared to expect a hand-to-hand encounter. The cutter being much the lighter boat-shot ahead of the launch as she approached the enemy's vessel, and as she passed under her bows was greeted by a galling fire, but in a moment she had grappled the schooner about midships, and Lieutenant

Blake and his men were on the rebel deck. In another moment the launch was under the schooner's guns, and, like the cutter, was received by a deadly salute.

Before the enemy had time to reload, Lieutenant Russell was upon her decks, followed by the brave fellows of his boat, who had escaped the murderous discharge of musketry with which they were greeted. Forty or more of officers, seamen, and marines, precipitating themselves. so unceremoniously upon the enemy's deck, produced a stampede among them, and nearly all of them fled from the deck to the shore. One only attempted to stand his ground. As soon as the decks were cleared of the rebels, the men proceeded to set the schooner on fire, and when this was effectually accomplished, they took to their boats and succeeded in getting off with but a few straggling shots from the rebels, who had begun to rally upon the wharf.

When the boats had got beyond the range of musketry, the first and second cutters were both ordered to give a parting salute to the enemy that were collecting upon the wharf, which they did in the shape of five or six rounds of "canister" from their twelve-pound howitzers.

The schooner that was destroyed was about two hundred tons, with four broadside guns, and one pivot-gun on the forecastle, and fully equipped for sea.

So small a force as this, under the command of Lieutenant Russell, on this occasion, entering into the very stronghold of an enemy, spiking his guns and burning an armed vessel, is an exploit not often surpassed, even in the history of a navy, many of whose members have been distinguished for gallantry.

It was not done, however, without loss-three killed, and fifteen wounded; two fatally, five severely, and the others slightly.

The only one of the Federalists killed upon the deck

of the schooner was the marine, John Smith. This poor fellow had, a few days previous, for some misdemeanor, been placed in confinement. When the expedition was gotten up, Smith was told that he might now have an opportunity to redeem his character, and if he conducted himself bravely he would be released from further punishment. He was rejoiced at the chance of a fight, and said to his commanding officer, "Sir, you shall have no cause to regret having released me, I will do my duty." He was in the second cutter, and was the first man to land upon the enemy's deck, and met his death in a few moments after.

September 17. Another railroad disaster.

To the Confederates it mattered but little in what way their enemies were destroyed, whether by fire, by explosions, by poison, by submarine batteries, by railroad accidents, by ambuscade, or at the cannon's mouth on the field of battle; whether by an open conflict in the broad blaze of day, or by some deep-laid plot in the silent midnight, only that they were annihilated, it mattered not in what way it was done. It seemed as if every imaginable machine of death, which their keen penetration and cunning ingenuity could devise, was brought into requisition; and now comes to us, on the wings of the wind, the heart-rending shrieks and groans consequent upon another bridge destroyed. On the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, at a point one hundred and forty-three miles west of Cincinnati, near the little town of Huron, Indiana, was bridge number forty-eight of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. On the night of the seventeenth, a train, containing two hundred and fifty men of the Nineteenth Illinois regiment, under Colonel Torchin, on their way to join Rosecrans in Western Virginia, broke through the bridge, the abutments having been sawn nearly in two by some traitorous or malicious persons, by which means four passenger cars were precipitated down into

the bed of the creek, and one box and one baggage car on the top of them; the engine and one car passed safely over. By this plot one hundred Union soldiers were killed and wounded.

Under date of 17th, also, we learn that Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky, issued a proclamation ordering all the Confederate troops out of Kentucky, informing the government of the Confederate States, the State of Tennessee, and all others concerned, that Kentucky expected the Confederate or Tennessee troops to be withdrawn from her soil unconditionally. Whereupon, General Zollicoffer, in command of the Confederate forces in Tennessee, sent a telegraphic despatch to Governor Magoffin, announcing that the safety of Tennessee demanded the occupation of Cumberland Gap, and the three long mountains in Kentucky, and that he had done so, and should retain his position until the National forces were withdrawn and the National camp broken up, which document was submitted to the legislature of Kentucky, then in session, and on the following day, 18th, the Committee on Federal Relations reported substantially, as follows:

Whereas, The rebel troops have invaded Kentucky, and insolently dictate the terms upon which they will retire; therefore,

Resolved, That General Anderson be invited to take instant charge of this department, and call out a force sufficient to expel the invaders.

The resolution passed both houses, also a resolution placing the arms and ammunition of the State under the control of the commander of the National forces in Ken

tucky.

September 18. The Provost Marshal of Baltimore closed the legislative halls at Frederick, Md., by arresting the secession members of the legislature, nearly three-fourths of the house being "secesh." The legis

lature was to meet in extra session on the 18th, but as fast as the members arrived in Baltimore, on their way to Frederick, that portion of them who, it was known, favored secession, were arrested and sent to Fort McHenry. The Union members refused to meet, there being no quorum, consequently they left in the afternoon, each one for his own home, and over the capital of Maryland floated the "Stars and Stripes," with the motto, "The Union must be preserved." After twenty-four hours' confinement, the officers of the legislature were allowed their liberty on taking the oath of allegiance. All assented except John N. Brewer, the reading clerk, who refused, and was sent off from Frederick with nine members to Annapolis. At four o'clock in the afternoon there was not a member of the legislature in the city, all having left for home. On the same day, in the department of the West, Colonel Frank P. Blair, Jr., was arrested by order of General Fremont, on a charge of insubordination in communicating when attending superior officers, making complaints against, and using disrespectful language toward, General Fremont, with a view of effecting his removal; but on the 25th, General Fremont ordered his release, and sent the following note to Colonel Blair, which explains his reasons for so doing:

"In consequence of a telegram from your brother, Postmaster-General Blair, followed by a letter asking your release, from public reasons you are hereby released from arrest, and directed to resume your sword and join your regiment for duty."

September 20. Surrender of Colonel Mulligan at Lexington, Mo.

On the 21st of June, four days after the battle of Boonville, in which Price and Jackson were defeated by General Lyon, Governor Jackson despatched a special messenger to. Thomas A. Harris as the bearer of