three years of inilitary service; and that in case the quota or any part thereof of any town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or of a county not so subdivided, shall not be filled within the space of fifty days after such call, the President shall immediately order a draft for one year to fill such quota, or any part thereof which may be unfilled; and whereas by the credits allowed in accordance with act of Congress on the call for five hundred thousand men made July 18, 1864, the number of men to be obtained was reduced to two hundred and eighty thousand; and whereas the operations of the enemy in certain States have rendered it impracticable to procure from them their full quotas of troops under said call; and whereas, from the foregoing causes, but two hundred and fifty thousand men have been put into the army, navy, and marine corps under the said call of July 18, 1864, leaving a deficiency under the said call of two hundred and sixty thousand: Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, in order to supply the aforesaid deficiency, and to provide for casualties in the military and nával service of the United States, do issue this my call for three hundred thousand volunteers, to serve for one, two, or three

years.

The quotas of the States, districts, and sub-districts, under this call, will be assigned by the War Department through the Provost-Marshal General of the United States: and in case the quota, or any part thereof, of any town, township, ward of a city, precinct or election district, or of a county not so sub-divided, shall not be filled before the 15th day of February, 1865, then a draft shall be made to fill such quota, or any part thereof, under this call, which may be unfilled on the said 15th day of February, 1865.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this nineteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty[L. 8.] four, and of the independence of the United States the eightyninth. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President: WM. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

Operations in the field continued to meet with great success. General Sherman, after an almost unobstructed march across the State of Georgia, burst through to the sea by the capture, on December 13th, of Fort McAllister, on the Ogeechee River, whose fall opened communications for him with the fleet. Operations to assist him by an attack upon the line of railroad from Savannah to Charleston, had succeeded in retaining a heavy force of the rebels there, although there seems to have been little effort to

concentrate forces to check Sherman's march. It threatened so many and so diverse points that the rebels were bewildered and were not able to make any successful resistance. General Hardee, who commanded in Savannah, determined not to await a siege, but, as soon as Sherman began to get his guns in position, abandoned the city, crossing the Savannah River at night on a pontoon bridge and making his escape, with about fifteen thousand men, into South Carolina. Savannah, thus abandoned, surrendered at once on the 21st of December to General Sherman, who on the 22d sent a dispatch to the President, presenting to him "as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton."

The fall of Savannah was not the only success which made the month of December glorious. It was preceded by the three days' fight in front of Nashville, when Hood's army was crushed by the attack of General Thomas, and that northward campaign, for the purpose of entering upon which he had left the way open for Sherman to pierce the very vitals of the Confederacy, and by which he had hoped in some degree to neutralize the value of Sherman's progress, was turned at once into utter destruction. His losses during this brief campaign were estimated at more than twenty thousand men.

Several expeditions were also sent out by our generals into various parts of the rebel territory-into Mississippi, the southwest parts of Virginia and North Carolina-which met with success, and inflicted great loss upon the rebels. In front of Petersburg General Grant still maintained his position. A heavy force under General Warren was sent out during the early part of the month in the direction of Weldon. The Weldon Railroad was thoroughly destroyed nearly as far as Hicksford, and the expedition returned without serious loss. The weather, which was extremely inclement, was the principal obstacle which they encountered. A far more important movement, however, was the attack upon Fort Fisher, which commanded the main entrance to the port of Wilmington, the

great head-quarters of blockade running. This expedition sailed from Fortress Monroe on the 13th of December. It consisted of a strong fleet under Rear-Admiral D. D. Porter, assisted by a land force under command of General Butler. A prominent feature of it was a vessel loaded with several hundred tons of powder, which it was intended to run ashore as near as possible to the fort and there explode. It was supposed, from the terrible effects caused by the accidental firing some months before of a magazine in England containing about that amount, that the explosion of so large a quantity of powder would entirely destroy or greatly damage the fort and utterly demoralize the garrison. The vessels rendezvoused at Beaufort, North Carolina, and thence sailed for Fort Fisher. But there seems to have been a lack of concert of action

between the navy and the army. The powder boat was exploded before the army transports arrived, and whether the work was so imperfectly done that only a small portion of the powder was fired, or whether a difference of circumstances led to a different result, it produced little or no effect. A heavy bombardment by the fleet followed, lasting for a day and a half, under cover of which the troops were landed above the fort. outlying battery was captured by them, but on a reconnoissance of the main works they were reported to be but little injured by the fire of the fleet, and too strong to be attacked by the force under General Butler's command; and he accordingly re-embarked and returned with them to Fortress Monroe, and the attack was abandoned.

An

The persistency of General Grant showed itself here, however, as it had done so many times before. He immediately sent a somewhat larger force, under the command of General Terry, to renew the attack. The fleet, which had replenished its magazines, renewed the bombardment more terribly than before, this time causing great injury to the works, and the troops were again landed for a second assault upon the fort, whose garrison had been in the mean time greatly strengthened.

The failure of the former assault had caused great vexation and disgust throughout the country. It was thought that even if the forces were not heavy enough to make a successful assault, they might at least have maintained their ground on shore until a stronger force could be sent, and it was intimated pretty broadly that the assault should have been ordered.

General Butler was removed from the command of the Army of the James on the 8th of January. In his farewell order he, on his part, assumed and asserted that his removal was because he had been too chary of the lives of his men.

Great controversy arose on this point, and assumed at once a political aspect. General Butler was called before the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War, and was in the very act of giving his testimony as to the facts and his reasons for judging an assault impracticable, when the news arrived of the capture of the fort on the night of the 15th of January, after the most desperate assault of the war. This result put a stop to the controversy which was rising, and spread the greatest joy through the country, as it was at once seen that the result must be the closing of the only port which had remained open to the blockade runners, and the capture of Wilmington itself. The Richmond papers endeavored to make light of it, and spoke of it as a "blessing in disguise;" but this deceived no one. It was felt that the last breathinghole of the rebellion was closed, and that its power must speedily succumb between the mighty forces of the army which Grant held immovable before Petersburg and General Lee, and that other army which General Sherman was already moving forward on its destructive march through South Carolina towards the rear of Richmond.

The death of Edward Everett, which occurred on the day of the fall of Fort Fisher, was felt to be a great loss to the country. The patriotic position which he had taken at the beginning of the rebellion and steadily maintained, the uniform support which he had given to the Administration, lending even the weight of

his name to the electoral ticket in Massachusetts, and his constant and valuable labors for the cause, fully justified the following order, issued at Washington on the receipt of the news of his death :

Department of State, WasHINGTON, Sunday, January 15. The President directs the undersigned to perform the painful duty of announcing to the people of the United States, that EDWARD Everett, distinguished not more by learning and eloquence than by unsurpassed and disinterested labors of patriotism at a period of political disorder, departed this life at four o'clock this morning. The several Executive Departments of the Government will cause appropriate honors to be rendered to the memory of the deceased, at home and abroad, wherever the national name and authority are recognized.

(Signed)

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

The President referred.to this death in some remarks which he made on the 24th of January, on the occasion of the presentation to him of a vase of skeleton leaves gathered on the battle-field of Gettysburg, which had been one of the ornaments of the Sanitary Fair at Philadelphia. The chairman of the committee having presented the gift, the President acknowledged its receipt as follows:

REVEREND SIR, AND LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:-I accept with emotions of profoundest gratitude, the beautiful gift you have been pleased to present to me. You will, of course, expect that I acknowledge it. So much has been said about Gettysburg, and so well, that for me to attempt to say more may perhaps only serve to weaken the force of that which has already been said. A most graceful and eloquent tribute was paid to the patriotism and self-denying labors of the American ladies, on the occasion of the consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, by our illustrious friend, Edward Everett, now, alas! departed from earth. His life was a truly great one, and I think the greatest part of it was that which crowned its closing years. I wish you to read, if you have not already done so, the eloquent and truthful words which he then spoke of the women of America. Truly, the services they have rendered to the defenders of our country in this perilous time, and are yet rendering, can never be estimated as they ought to be. For your kind wishes to me personally, I beg leave to render you likewise my sincerest thanks. I assure you they are reciprocated. And now, gentlemen and ladies, may God bless you all.

Several important matters were brought before Congress during January.