from making war upon the Rebel chiefs, to protect the property and homes of citizens of New York. It had been the intention of the movers in the matter, to bring on the riot earlier; the 1st, and afterward the 4th of July, had been named, and letters written in Europe at that time referred to it as probably then in progress. The Secessionists in Paris and London were jubilant at the thought that the great commercial metropolis was being given up to pillage, arson, plunder, and rapine. On the 4th of July, prominent disloyalists addressed large bodies of men in New York city, and sought to rouse their passions to evil deeds. But the news of the great victory over Lee at Gettysburg was coming in, and it roused such a burst of patriotic feeling, that the leaders felt that they must delay. They could not delay long, however. With an alacrity which at the time surprised many of the Union citizens, but which was afterward remembered as evidently a part of the nefarious plot, the chief magistrate of the State, and others in his counsel, had sent from New York and Brooklyn every fully organized regiment of militia, under the plea of rendering prompt aid to Pennsylvania in her hour of need. These would soon return, and the riot must be hastened, in order to avoid a collision with them. Accordingly, the commencement of the draft was fixed upon as the time for rising; and the general features of the plot, the property to be destroyed, &c., were communicated by the leaders to their subordinate leaders in the mob, and by them to the masses. On Friday night, July 10th, Governor Seymour sent his adjutant-general to Washington, to urge upon the President the suspension of the pending draft, on the alleged ground that its enforcement would inevitably produce a riot. Having done this, the governor took no measures to guard against the outbreak which he had pronounced inevitable, but left the State, and did not return till Tuesday. The draft commenced on Saturday, and during that day, July 11th, and the next, there were no demonstrations of mob violence, but on Monday morning, the attempt to complete the draft in the ninth Congressional district, where it had been commenced on Saturday, was made the occasion of the outbreak. Meetings of the prominent rioters had been held on Sunday; and, at an early hour on Monday morning, organized parties of men, mainly, though not exclusively, of Irish birth, went from yard to yard, and from one workshop and manufactory to another, to compel the workmen to desist from their labor, and join the processions which were moving toward the enrollment offices. One of the deputy marshals in the ninth district was beaten and left for dead, and the furniture of the room destroyed. The building in which the enrollment office was situated, as well as the whole block, was burned, and the Superintendent of Palice set upon by the mob, and nearly killed. Other buildings in which there were enrollment offices, or which were known or supposed to be the residences of prominent Republicans, were fired, and their inhabitants robbed, beaten, or cruelly maltreated. The

THE GREAT RIOT IN NEW YORK.

609

mob went in this way from street to street, shouting their huzzahs for Jefferson Davis, the Southern Confederacy, General Lee, Fernando Wood, and others whom they supposed to be hostile to the United States Government. The authorities were at first panic-stricken. Only the police had manifested at first much presence of mind or resolution in endeavoring to put down the mob, and their superintendent and several other officers, had been nearly killed. The mayor was naturally timid, and though well disposed, had neither the courage nor the power to resist and subdue such a formidable riot. He could not call out a posse comitatus large enough for its suppression, and he contented himself with half measures; The major-general of the militia had but very few troops at call, and those but such as had seen no service; and he was like the mayor, nervous, hesitating, and alarmed; the commander of the United States. Military Department of the East, Major-General Wool. was in feeble health, and mentally unfit for such a responsibility, and had at his command but a mere handful of troops. For a time, then, it seemed that the mob would have its own way, and would inaugurate a reign of terror. They went to work with a system which showed that their rising was no momentary impulse, but a carefully planned plot. The railroad tracks were torn up, the telegraph wires cut, and they moved from one piece of mischief to another, at the direction of their leaders, with deliberation. The New York Tribune and the New York Times were both obnoxious to them, and the attempt was made to destroy both offices, and it would have been successful in the case of the former, but for the interposition of a small body of police. But while prominent Union men and their dwellings and offices were marked for destruction, the hapless negroes were the objects of their special malignity. If a negro man or woman was seen upon the street, they were instantly hunted down, beaten, stamped upon, hung to the lamp-post, or thrown into the river; their dwellings plundered, torn down, or burned, and helpless women and children beaten and murdered. The colored orphan asylum, a large and fine structure on Fifth Avenue, occupied by seven or eight hundred colored children, was, in accordance with their previously avowed determination, plundered and burned to the ground, and but brief time allowed to the teachers and children for escape. On Tuesday the reign of terror continued; a hotel, a block of buildings on Broadway, and numerous private residences, were burned, and thirty or forty persons murdered. The poor negroes were still pursued with the most relentless hostility, and men and women, mainly Irish and of the lowest classes, vented all the malignity of their natures upon that helpless, quiet, and unoffending race, who, as a class, had been for years the most peaceful and orderly inhabitants of the city. In the afternoon of Tuesday, the Governor of the State came into the city, and made a speech to the rioters, appealing to them as "his friends," to be quiet, and do no more mischief. This prov

ing in vain, he soon after issued a proclamation, declaring that the riot must be stopped, and promising if they would disperse, to have że constitutionality of the conscription act tested in the courts. This produced as little effect as his speech, the mob having got beyond his control. He finally issued a second proclamation, declaring the city in a state of insurrection, and warning the citizens against resisting the officers of the law. General Harvey Brown, who had command of the forts in the harbor under General Wool, marched a small force of regular troops into the city during the day, and they had two or three collisions with the mob, and dispersed them from several points. The ostensible leader of the mob, a Virginian, and an openly avowed Rebel, meantime led them on from one crime to another. On Wednesday morning, several of the militia regiments, and among them the favorite Seventh, returned, and immediately undertook the work of effectually putting down the mob. The ringleaders were arrested, and in the several collisions which occurred several hundred of the rioters were killed or severely wounded, and the remainder began to seek concealment or flight. During the day, however, they murdered, under circumstances of peculiar atrocity, Colonel O'Brien, an Irish officer who had volunteered to aid in putting down the riot. On Thursday, Archbishop Hughes caused a placard to be posted throughout the city, addressed "to the men of New York, who are now called in many of the papers, rioters," inviting them to his house, where he would address them. Very few of the rioters came, but a considerable crowd assembled, whom the Archbishop, in a shrewd speech, advised against resistance to the authorities. But the mob was now effectually subdued. Over one thousand had been killed or severely wounded by the military and police, and many others arrested, and the remainder made their escape to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and the eastern cities and towns, where they either volunteered, or offered themselves as substitutes for those who were drafted, and became the opprobrium and disgrace of the army for the next year. About twenty-five of the police were killed, and perhaps one hundred wounded, and about thirty negroes were murdered, and sixty or seventy injured. Property to the amount of nearly two millions of dollar was destroyed.

CAPTURE OF THE REBEL IRON-CLAD ATLANTA.

611

CHAPTER LI.

DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH-CAPTURE OF THE ATLANTA-GENERAL GILLMORE SUCCEEDS Hunter, and DAHLGREN, DU PONT-GILLMORE'S STRATEGIC PLAN-REASONS FOR believING IT AN ERROR-FOLLY ISLAND-GILLMORE'S BATTERIES THERE-CAPTURE OF THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF MORRIS ISLAND-FEINTS IN OTHER DIRECTIONS-THE FIRST ASSAULT ON WAGNER-REPULSE-ERECTION OF BATTERIES-BOMBARDMENT AND SECOND ASSAULT A COSTLY FAILURE-THE SIEGE PRESSED-OTHER BATTERIES ERECTED THE 66 SWAMP ANGEL" LOCATED-BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMTER-ITS SUBSTANTIAL REDUCTION -GILLMORE DEMANDS THE SURRENDER OF FORT SUMTER AND THE FORTS ON MORRIS ISLAND, AND THREATENS TO BOMBARD CHARLESTON IN CASE OF REFUSAL-BEAUREGARD REPLIES HAUGHTILY AND INSOLENTLY-GILLMORE'S REJOINDER-THE APPROACHES TO FORT WAGNER COMPLETED-THE GARRISONS OF FORT WAGNER AND BATTERY GREGG EVACUATE THOSE WORKS GILLMORE'S DESPATCH ANNOUNCING THE CAPTURE-OTHER EVENTS IN THE DEPARTMENT-SKETCH OF GENERAL GILLMORE-SKETCH OF ADMIRAL DAHLGREN.

THE Department of the South again demands our attention. Though the army stationed there was not large, yet it made for itself, in the summer of 1863, a lasting record for patience, endurance under the most trying circumstances, and that unflinching courage which is not appalled by the imminent perils of the deadly breach, or the terrors of the assault. No army of the Republic has a nobler or more gallant history, and none, through greater perils, has won more brilliant victories, or sustained with equal honor and firmness, inevitable repulses. The sudden death of RearAdmiral Foote, while preparing to take command of the South Atlantic blockading squadron, led to the appointment of Rear-Admiral John A. Dahlgren to the command of the squadron; while General Hunter was superseded by Brigadier-General Q. A. Gillmore, who had distinguished himself by the reduction of Fort Pulaski, the preceding winter.

Before these changes took place, or rather while they were pending, a naval conflict took place within the limits of the department, which resulted in the surrender to the Union commander of a Rebel armored vessel of great power, and from whose strength and fleetness they had expected extraordinary results. The Fingal, an iron merchant steamer, built in Glasgow, had run the blockade in December 1861, and entered the port of Savannah. The vigilant watchfulness of the blockading squadron had prevented her escape, and she had been finally sold to the Rebel Government at a low figure, and fitted up as an armored ship, the contributions of the Rebel women of Savannah, it was said, furnishing the means for the conversion. The work of covering her with armor, and effecting such changes as were necessary in her build, armament, and appliances, progressed slowly in a city like Savannah, but poorly supplied either with skilled machinists or the necessary material for the work, but

in the spring of 1863 every thing was completed, and the Rebels vaunted loudly of what they would accomplish with this wonderful iron-clad skip. The blockading squadron were to be driven from the waters of the Geot gia coast, the iron-clads captured and sent back to Savannah to amuse the women and children, and then, the Atlanta (for that was the new name bestowed upon the armored ship) would visit the great cities of the North, and either bombard them, or exact a prince's ransom for its forbearance. It encountered difficulties, however, from the very day of its launch. Its draught was too great for the shallow river, and after long digging and improving the navigation, it was found necessary to unload its cannon and stores, and send it down to Warsaw Sound light, putting in its cargo again when it had reached deeper water. At length all was ready; stores, instruments, &c., for a voyage of several months had been put on board, and accompanied by steamers crowded with male and female spectators, who were to witness her prowess, the Atlanta came down the sound. Admiral Du Pont had sent the Weehawken and the Nahant, two monitors, to Warsaw Sound to await her coming, and Captain John Rodgers, of the Weehawken, having descried her approach near the mouth of Wilming ton river, ordered his ship to be cleared for action, and commenced steaming toward her, the Nahant following, as soon as she discovered her approach. The Atlanta commenced firing at the Nahant, then a mile and a half distant, but did not reach her; while the Weehawken reserved her fire till she was within three hundred yards of the enemy, when, at .5.15 A. M., she discharged her first shot. She fired but five times (the Atlanta having grounded at the very commencement of the action), but four out of the five told; the first, a fifteen inch shot, breaking through the Atlanta's armor, prostrating about forty men by the concussion, and wounding a number by the splinters; the second breaking her plates; the third knocking off the top of the pilot-house, wounding two pilots, and stunning the men at the wheel, and the fourth striking and breaking a port-shutter, and scattering the fragments among the men. In fifteen minutes after the commencement of the action, the Atlanta hauled down her colors and hoisted the white flag, and the steamboats which had accompanied her, made all speed back to Savannah, bearing very different intelligence from that which they had expected to carry to the citizens of that city. The vessel proved a valuable prize, and after some repairs, and such changes as were necessary to improve her ventilation, she was put upon the North Atlantic blockading squadron, where she did good service, though less efficient for the work required of an iron-clad than the monitors, her armament being six and four tenths and seven inch guns, instead of eleven and fifteen inch.

The assumption of the command of the department by General Gillmore, and of the South Atlantic blockading squadron by Rear-Admiral Dahlgren, was the signal for new efforts for the reduction of Fort Suniter