beyond shelling his camp with the guns of two batteries, to which but feeble response was made. During the evening, the troops were placed in position and readiness for an assault at dawn of the following day (the 20th).

Crittenden's beaten army resembled a straggling mob when, early on the afternoon of the 19th, it re-entered its fortifications. The morale of the troops had been greatly impaired by the morning's experience, and, in this state, a renewal of the contest with a victorious enemy, even under the protection of good earth-works, was not to be thought of. Calling a council of war, the evacuation of Beech Grove was resolved upon by the Confederate commander, and carried into immediate effect under cover of night, the high banks helping to conceal the movement from the Federals. A small steamer and two flat-boats were the only means at hand for crossing the river. In consequence, the evacuation was but a continuance of the disorderly flight from the battle-field, and almost everything was left behind or sacrificed in the rush for the boats. At daylight, on the morning of the 20th, the Tenth Kentucky and Fourteenth Ohio Regiments, of Manson's brigade, forming the front line of the advancing Union army, marched up and into the intrenchments, which they were the first to enter, but found no enemy in the deserted camp, except a few sick and wounded men near the river's edge. The boats used in crossing to the south side of the Cumberland having been destroyed, further pursuit became for the time being impracticable.

Twelve pieces of artillery, with caissons full of ammunition, and several Confederate flags; a large number of small-arms; one hundred and fifty or one hundred and sixty wagons, and upwards of one thousand horses and mules; a large amount of ammunition and commissary supplies, intrenching tools, and camp equipage, were found abandoned in the camp and fell into the victor's hands.

After effecting its escape to the south side of the river (the camp at Mill Springs), the Confederate force did not stop there, but dispersed in all directions; a small portion under Crittenden, preserving a semblance of cohesion, retreated in hot haste to Gainesboro', Tennessee. The loss suffered by the Union army during the battle (taken from the published official reports) was as follows:

Lieutenant Andrew S. Burt, Eighteenth United States Infantry, aide-de-camp of Colonel McCook, who was also among the wounded, is not included in the fore

going.

The Confederate loss (taken from Crittenden's published report) was the following:

An incident of the battle was the death of General Zollikofer, at the head of one of his regiments, in the earlier part of the engagement. All the enemy's dead and most of his wounded were left on the field.

Reference to the preceding tables-the killed and wounded-will show with tolerable accuracy the extent to which the different organizations participated in the fight, their proportionate strength to be duly considered, of course.

Regarding the numbers engaged in the battle, those on the Union side were, surely, greatly inferior to the Confederate force. Virtually, only four Federal infantry regiments and one small cavalry battalion took such an active part in the conflict as to suffer casualties, and of the former, but two (Second Minnesota and Ninth Ohio) numbered about six hundred combatants each, while the other two (Tenth Indiana and Fourth Kentucky) fell below that figure; the cavalry battalion (of the First Kentucky Regiment) having no more than one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five men. Two thousand three hundred may, therefore, be accepted as an "outside" estimate of that force. In saying this, it is not intended to depreciate the services rendered by the First and Second East Tennessee and the Twelfth Kentucky Regiments; they acquitted themselves well, and their fine advance on the Union left doubtless contributed to the enemy's discomfiture; but they were in actual contact with him only a very short time, during which they experienced no loss. The strength of these three regiments did not, however, aggregate more than twelve hundred men, so that, even including them, the total of Thomas's available troops did not exceed three thousand five hundred.

On the Southern side, the Fifteenth Mississippi numbered at least seven hundred and fifty; the Nineteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-eighth, and Twenty-ninth Tennessee not less than six hundred each; and the Sixteenth Alabama and Seventeenth Tennessee three hundred and thirty and three hundred, respectively,-giving a total of

nearly four thousand five hundred infantry; and all the regiments specified were actually engaged, and suffered losses in the action. Crittenden's cavalry on the field amounted to seven hundred or eight hundred, at a low estimate, and his whole force may safely be put down as over five thousand.

Contrivances to cross the river were soon after provided by the troops, and, on January 21, General Thomas also occupied Mill Springs, and pushed General Schoepf's brigade southward to Monticello, Kentucky. No traces of the enemy were discovered, except abundant indications that his army had dispersed in all directions, and that many men had left it and returned to their homes.

Under instructions from General Buell, Thomas's entire division was a few days later concentrated at Somerset, preparatory to other operations.

The task of opening the route to East Tennessee had been accomplished in a masterly manner; the enemy was literally scattered to the winds, and no vestige of armed opposition remained anywhere within the reach of Thomas's command. That the brilliant issue and complete results of the campaign were due, in great part, to the general's superior military ability and judgment, and a character that enabled him to overcome almost insuperable difficulties, was duly recognized by the nation and government. In complimentary general orders, published to the whole army on January 22, 1862, the President formally thanked the officers and soldiers who had fought in the battle of Mill Springs, promising special acknowledgment and suitable rewards to those who had deserved them, on receipt of the detailed reports.

General Thomas's efforts, it is true, were throughout his operations nobly sustained by the magnificent conduct of the troops under his command, as fine a body as were to be found in the army. All had experienced the excellent training and discipline, and acquired that steadiness and cohesion which distinguished the whole of Buell's army, and for imparting which that general is entitled to so great credit.

Crittenden's ignorance or improper estimate of the quality of Thomas's troops may, in a measure, account for the grave mistake he made in venturing to attack them in their own camp.

But it was Thomas's indomitable energy, careful disposition, and foresight that rendered his march, undertaken in the midst of winter, and progressing in the worst possible weather, a success; that enabled him to surmount the greatest obstacles, and to concentrate at the right time a sufficient number of troops to thwart the enemy, at the very point where the latter expected to strike him off his guard and unprepared.

With clear mind and unerring judgment Thomas grasped the whole situation the moment he reached the scene of action, on the 19th of January; quickly took his measures, and made such disposition of

his force, as not only to meet the enemy at every point, but to completely turn the tables, and to deal out defeat instead of suffering it.

His remarkable "staying" qualities, the power to "hold his own" in a fight, in the position of defense, as well as the vigor and persistence of his attack in the offensive, were as conspicuous on the field of Mill Springs as in his subsequent glorious achievements at Chickamauga and elsewhere; while the promptness with which he followed up routed army of Crittenden bears a close resemblance to the relentless pursuit of Hood's fleeing masses from the battle-ground of Nashville.

LEWIS JOHNSON,

Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel U. S. Army.

the

THE summer of 1874 found the Fourth United States Cavalry divided among several of the posts in Texas, the headquarters and several troops of the regiment being stationed at Fort Clark, which was commanded by General R. S. Mackenzie, colonel of the Fourth Cavalry. Troops A and H formed a portion of the garrison of Fort McKavett, the rest of the garrison being composed of the Tenth United States Infantry, all under the command of General Henry B. Clitz, the genial and whole-souled colonel of the Tenth Infantry. McKavett is located about one week's march from Fort Clark, and about fifty miles from Fort Concho.

During the early summer, rumors reached McKavett that the wild tribes of Indians in the Indian Territory were growing uneasy and restless, and that an outbreak might be expected at any time, which would surely take the cavalry portion of the command into the field, with a strong probability that some of our friends of the Tenth Infantry would accompany us.

On the 15th of August, our expectations were verified by the arrival at McKavett of General Augur, who commanded the Department of Texas, accompanied by General Mackenzie and several troops of the Fourth Cavalry, when orders were at once issued for Troops A and H, Fourth Cavalry, to make ready and join the command from Fort Clark. Companies C, I, and K, Tenth Infantry, were included in the order. All at once our usually quiet post became a scene of hurry and bustle, which reminded one of the days of '61-'65, on a small scale-officers hastening from their quarters to the office of the post-adjutant, and from thence to the barracks of the different companies; details of the men moving hither and thither, drawing supplies of various kinds from commissary and quartermasters' store-houses; first sergeants taxed to their utmost to carry out and superintend the innumerable orders that poured in upon them.

From early morning till late at night for the next two days, the post was, in a measure, in what might be called a fever of excitement, pre