to the army and navy of the United States. With these terms Page was fain to comply, though he disgraced himself by destroying and injuring the property surrendered after he had accepted the terms. With Forts Morgan and Gaines eighty-six guns and fifteen hundred men fell into the possession of the Union troops, and Mobile was permanently sealed against blockade-runners.

On the return of the troops to New Orleans, after leaving sufficient garrisons in the Mobile forts, a number of expeditions were undertaken by General Canby's troops, of which the most important was one into West Florida, under command of General Asboth, which reached Marianna on the afternoon of the 27th of September, capturing that place after a stubborn resistance of several hours. The result was the capture of eighty-one prisoners of war (among them a brigadier-general and a colonel), ninety-five stand of arms, and large quantities of quartermaster's and commissary stores. Our loss in killed and wounded amounted to thirty-two, including General Asboth himself, who had his left cheek-bone broken and his left arm fractured in two places.

An expedition, sent by General Dana from Rodney, Mississippi, reached Fayette on the 2d of October, encountering no enemy. They captured some cattle, horses, mules, and several prisoners. Another expedition sent by General Dana attacked the enemy at Woodville at seven o'clock on October 7th, capturing three guns, one captain, one lieutenant, fifty-four enlisted men, and killing forty of the enemy.

A cavalry expedition, under General A. L. Lee, reached Clinton October 7th, at seven o'clock, capturing forty-seven prisoners, the mails, telegraph office, &c., and a considerable quantity of stores and ammunition. Among the prisoners captured was Lieutenant-Colonel Pinckney, provost-marshal-general of the district (installed in his office a few hours before the arrival of our troops), one captain and two lieutenants. From there the expedition moved to Greensburg, and, finding no enemy, destroyed a tannery and some stores, and returned with a number of blacks.

CHAPTER LXV.

Expedition to Florida.—Occupation of Jacksonville.-Advance of General Seymour.Battle of Olustee, and Retreat of the Union Army.-Demonstration against Newbern.-Capture of Plymouth.-The Albemarle.-Her Fight with Union Gunboats. -Her Destruction.-Rebel Privateers.-Combat between the Kearsarge and Alabama.-Capture of the Florida and Georgia.

THE early part of 1864 witnessed a series of disasters to the Union arms along the Atlantic coast, which, though involving the loss of no essential points, and having no direct influence upon the issue of the war, were yet, in the aggregate, so considerable as to cause a widespread uneasiness. The great aggressive campaigns of Grant and Sherman had not then commenced, and these temporary successes of the rebels, taken in connection with the practical failure of the joint

expedition into Southern Mississippi, with the Fort Pillow massacre and the unfortunate termination of the Red River expedition, perplexed and irritated the public mind, while they infused no little heart into the rebel cause.

In December, 1863, in accordance with his request, authority was given to General Gillmore, commanding the Department of the South, to undertake such operations, within his department, as he might deem best, on consultation with Admiral Dahlgren, then in command of the South Atlantic blockading squadron. He accordingly intimated to the War Department that in February, 1864, he proposed to occupy the west bank of the St. John's River, and establish small dépôts there, preparatory to an advance at an early day. Under date of June 13th, 1864, the President wrote to Gillmore that, understanding that certain persons were endeavoring to construct a legal government in Florida, which formed part of the Department of the South, and that Gillmore might possibly be there in person, he had dispatched Mr. Hay, one of his private secretaries, to aid in the proposed construction. sirable," he said, "for all to co-operate; but if irreconcilable differences of opinion shall frise, you are master. I wish the thing done in the most speedy way possible, so that when done it be within the range of the late proclamation on the subject. The detail labor will of course have to be done by others, but I shall be greatly obliged if you will give it such general supervision as you can find consistent with your more strictly military duties." By the close of January, Gillmore's plans seem to have been perfected, and in a letter to General Halleck, the general-in-chief, he stated that the objects to be attained by his proposed operations were:

1. To procure an outlet for cotton, lumber, timber, &c.

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2. To cut off one of the enemy's sources of commissary supplies, &c.

3. To obtain recruits for any colored regiment.

4. To inaugurate measures for the speedy restoration of Florida to her allegiance, in accordance with instructions received from the President by the hands of Major John H. Hay, assistant adjutantgeneral.

Orders were issued by Gillmore to General Truman Seymour, on February 5th, to proceed with a force of six thousand men to Jacksonyille, and, after effecting a landing, to push on to Baldwin, twenty miles further, with his mounted troops. The command of Seymour, convoyed by the gunboat Norwich, Captain Merriam, ascended the St. John's River on the 7th, and landed at Jacksonville on the afternoon of the same day. The advance, under Colonel Guy V. Henry, pushed forward into the interior on the night of the 8th, passed by the enemy, drawn up in line of battle at Camp Vinegar, seven miles from Jacksonville, surprised and captured a battery three miles in the rear of the camp about midnight, and reached Baldwin about sunrise. At the approach of the Union troops, the enemy fled, sunk the steamer St. Mary's, and burned two hundred and seventy bales of cotton, a few miles above Jacksonville. Our forces captured, without the loss of a man, about one hundred prisoners, eight pieces of artillery in service

able condition, and a large amount of other valuable property. On the 9th, Gillmore reached Baldwin. At that time, the enemy had no force in East Florida, except the scattered fragments of General Finnegan's command; we had taken all his artillery. On the 10th, a portion of our force was sent towards Sanderson, and Gillmore returned to Jacksonville. Telegraphic communication was established between Baldwin and Jacksonville on the 11th, and Seymour was directed by Gillmore not to risk a repulse by advancing on Lake City, but to hold Sanderson, unless there were reasons for falling back; and also, in ease his advance met with any serious opposition, to concentrate at Sanderson and the south fork of the St. Mary's, and, if necessary, to bring back Colonel Henry to the latter place. Having subsequently directed Seymour to make no further advance, without instructions, but to put Jacksonville in a complete state of defence, Gillmore returned on the 16th to Hilton Head.

On Thursday, February 18th, Seymour left his camp at Jacksonville, with ten days' rations, for the purpose of destroying the railroad near the Suwannee River, one hundred miles distant from Jacksonville. He had received no directions from Gillmore to undertake this movement, and the latter immediately sent positive orders to him to remain where he was; but these, unfortunately, arrived too late to avert the disaster which subsequently occurred. On the 19th, the column, numbering about five thousand men, reached Barber's Station, on the Florida Central Railroad, about thirty miles from Jacksonville. Here it was the intention of Seymour to remain several days; but during the night of the 19th, he received information of the enemy's whereabouts and plans, which led him to believe that by pushing rapidly forward his column, he would be able to defeat the enemy's designs, and secure important military advantages. At seven A. M. on the 20th, the march was resumed along the line of the railroad, in the direction of Lake City, and at noon the troops passed through Sanderson. At this place they did not halt, but pushed forward towards Olustee, nine miles distant, the point at which Seymour believed he should meet the enemy. But instead of coming in contact with the enemy at Olustee, the meeting took place three miles east of that place, and six miles west of Sanderson, so that the troops were not so well prepared for battle as they would have been if Olustee had been the battle-field. The column moved forward in regular order, the cavalry in the advance, and the artillery distributed along the line of infantry; but with singular negligence, considering the march was through an enemy's country, no flanking parties had been thrown out.

At two P. M., as the head of the column reached a point where a country road crosses the railroad, the enemy's skirmishers were encountered. After some brisk firing, the rebels fell back on a second line of skirmishers, and ultimately upon their main forces, which were strongly posted between swamps, about six miles beyond Sanderson. The rebel position was admirably chosen. On the right, their line rested upon a low and rather slight earthwork, protected by rifle-pits, their centre was defended by an impassable swamp, while on the left their cavalry was drawn up on a small elevation behind the shelter of

a grove of pines. Their camp was intersected by the railroad, on which was placed a battery capable of operating against our left or our centre, while a rifled gun, mounted on a truck, commanded the road. In order to attack this strong position, our troops were compelled to take a stand between two swamps, one in the front, the other in the rear. The artillery was posted within one hundred yards of the enemy's line of battle, a position in which they were exposed to the deadly fire of the rebel sharpshooters.

The Seventh New Hampshire Regiment, in connection with the Serenth Connecticut, was sent forward to the right, to break through the enemy's line. This movement brought on hot firing, and it was evident that an engagement was near at hand. At this time, the Union force on the field consisted of the Seventh New Hampshire, the Seventh Connecticut, the Independent Battalion of Massachusetts Cavalry, the Fortieth Massachusetts Mounted Infantry, the Eighth United States Colored, Elder's Battery of four and Hamilton's of six pieces. The remainder of the column was halted on the road. While the movement on the right was in progress, Colonel Henry, in person, went over to the left to reconnoitre, and discovered that the enemy's right lapped on our left. This was reported to General Seymour, who immediately gave orders for the advance troops and batteries to come into position. The fact that the enemy had a force far superior in point of numbers to our own was now beyond all dispute; but to retreat at that time was impossible, as the road was filled with troops coming up, and the woods on either side would not admit of passage on the flank. Soon Langdon, on the extreme left, and Hamilton on the right, succeeded in getting their batteries at work, but the gans being within one hundred yards of the enemy's front, the loss of life among the artillerists was too great to enable them to maintain an efficient fire. In twenty minutes' time, Hamilton lost forty-four men and forty horses. The Eighth Colored Regiment, which formed his support, also suffered considerably, and, after the death of the commander, Colonel Fribley, retired in disorder. Nevertheless, Hamilton kept his pieces at work until it was evident it would be sure loss to fire another round, and then gave orders to withdraw them. Horses were attached to only four pieces-the horses to the other two had been shot; consequently two guns fell into possession of the enemy. On the right of Hamilton, the Seventh Connecticut and the Seventh New Hampshire were doing fearful execution. The Seventh Connecticut especially were standing their ground with marked valor, and every volley from their guns told on the rebel line. But the rebels outnumbered them five to one, and, after losing one-fourth of their number, the two regiments were compelled to retire to the rear. At the same moment, Colonel Barton's Brigade, the Forty-seventh, Forty-eighth, and One Hundred and Fifteenth New York regiments, took the field, coming up in line en echelon. They fought with great resolution, but, like the other troops, could not make head against the overwhelming force opposed to them.

The unequal contest was sustained until it became evident that the numerical superiority of the enemy was too great to be successfully

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opposed. Our line was gradually drawn back, leaving the dead and many of the seriously wounded in the hands of the enemy. movement was covered by Colonel Montgomery's Brigade, the Fiftyfourth Massachusetts and the First North Carolina. When Barton's Brigade began to waver, in consequence of their ammunition running low, the First North Carolina was sent into line in front, and succeeded in holding the enemy in check. As our troops retired, the rebels attempted to flank us on both sides, a movement which was checked by the judicious dispositions of Colonel Henry. The centre held its ground under a heavy fire from front and flank, until the formation of a new position about a hundred yards to the rear. Soon after the changes of line, the enemy made a desperate charge on the centre, but were driven back by Elder's Battery.

At sunset the firing slackened on both sides, and the Union troops, though exhausted by a fatiguing march and three hours' severe fighting, retired, without confusion, from the field. Seymour was by this time satisfied that the odds against him were too great to risk a repetition of the day's fighting. He was moreover out of ammunition, and was fifty miles distant from his base. Every consideration prompted him to march his shattered force back to Jacksonville before the enemy should encompass it. The order to retreat was given, and, with hardly a pause, the troops commenced to retrace their weary route to Barber's. The retreat was conducted with perfect order, Colonel Henry, with his cavalry, bringing up the rear. At three o'clock, Sunday morning, the troops were at Barber's. The enemy followed closely, but did not press. A few of their cavalry only kept well up to the rear of Henry's column. At Barber's, the column rested until nine A. M., and then took up the line of retreat, reaching Baldwin at about three P. M. They halted here a short time, and then went on towards Jacksonville, arriving at the camping-ground, six miles out, Monday afternoon, the 22d.

The Union loss in this battle was not far from twelve hundred, or about a fourth part of the force engaged. Five guns were also abandoned upon the field, two of Hamilton's and three of Langdon's Battery, from want of horses to drag them away. The enemy's loss must have been quite as severe, as he was inferior in artillery, and the Union batteries were for the most part fired at very short range. That he was considerably crippled was evident from the fact that he made no effort at vigorous pursuit. When finally he approached the neighborhood of Jackson, he found the Union army protected by strong works, with gunboats to support it in case of need. No further attempt was made to penetrate into Florida, and no movement was initiated for reorganizing the State. The troops on both sides were a few months later called away for more important work in Virginia.

For two years subsequent to the landing of Burnside on the North Carolina coast, the Union troops had retained uninterrupted possession of those places on the inland waters which were then occupied and fortified, and of which the most important were Plymouth, on the south bank of the Roanoke River, near its entrance into Albemarle, Sound; Washington, on the Pamlico River, and Newbern, on the Neuse.