enemy's works, their commander, General S. B. Buckner, sending a note to General Grant proposing to surrender. During the night the two senior rebel generals, Floyd and Pillow, had deserted their command and crossed the river on boats, taking with them some three thousand men. The following correspondence then passed between the commanding generals of the contending armies:

HEADQUARTERS FORT DONELSON, Feb. 16, 1862.

SIR: In consideration of all the circumstances governing the present situation of affairs at this station, I propose to the commanding officer of the Federal forces the appointment of commissioners to agree upon terms of capitulation of the forces I hold under my command; and, in that view, suggest an armistice until twelve o'clock to-day.

S. B. BUCKNER, Brig.-Gen. C. S. A. To Brig. Gen. GRANT, commanding U. S. Forces, Fort Donelson. To which General Grant replied as follows:

HEADQUARTERS ARMY IN THE FIELD,
CAMP NEAR DONELSON, Feb. 16, 1862.

To General S. B. BUCKNER, Confederate Army:

Yours of this date, proposing an armistice and appointment of commissioners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received. No terms other than an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.

I am, sir, very respectfully your obedient servant,

U. S. GRANT, Brig. Gen. U. S. A., Commanding.

General Grant's terms were accepted and the surrender was immediate and unconditional-the forces surrendered were thirteen thousand five hundred men, three thousand horses, forty-eight field-pieces, seventeen heavy guns, twenty thousand stand of arms, and a large quantity of commissary stores, the Confederates having lost in their attack 1,228 men; the Union loss being 446 killed, 1,735 wounded and 150 prisoners. The following day two regi.

ments of rebel Tennesseeans, not having heard of the surrender, marched into the fort, and the whole force, 1,475 officers and men, were at once captured.

The capture of Forts Donelson and Henry broke the outer line of the defence of the Confederacy. In a few days after Bowling Green and Columbus were evacuated and taken possession of by the Union forces.

February he captured Clarksville and occupied Nashville on the 23d. About this time the enemy began collecting a large force under the able command of Albert Sidney Johnston, with headquarters at Corinth, Mississippi, with the intention of holding the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad and preventing any advance of the Union forces below the line of the Tennessee River, and also to have at easy command an available force to make an aggressive movement into Kentucky, should an opportunity occur. They at the same time blockaded the, Mississippi River by fortified positions at several points, above Memphis, and at Vicksburg and below New Orleans.

General Grant's army passed up the river, encamping at Savannah and Pittsburg Landing, twenty miles distant from Corinth.

General C. F. Smith had been placed in command of the troops in the field, General Grant being detained at Fort Henry, organizing and fitting out the forces with which he was about to make his aggressive movement. The selection of Pittsburg Landing as a point of rendezvous and disembarkation was made by General Smith, and not by General Grant.

A Confederate paper, published at Florence, Alabama, on the morning of March 12, 1882, contains the following significant article:

"We learned yesterday that the Unionists had landed a very large force at Savannah, Tenn. We suppose they are making preparations to get possession of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad. They must never be allowed to get this great thoroughfare in their possession, for then we would indeed be crippled. The labor and untiring industry of too many faithful and energetic men have been expended on this road to bring it up to its present state of usefulness, to let it fall into the hands of the enemy to be used against us. It must be protected. We, as a people, are able to protect and save it. If unavoidable, let them have our river; but we hope it is the united sentiment of our people, that we will have our railroad."

CHAPTER VI.

PITTSBURG LANDING, SHILOH, IUKA AND CORINTH.

The Confederate forces at Corinth were said to number forty-five thousand men on the 1st of April, 1862, under command of General Albert Sydney Johnston, with General P. G. T. Beauregard second in command, and General Bragg with his corps, which had been brought up from Mobile and Pensacola; General Polk, with forces from Columbus and points evacuated in Kentucky and Tennessee; Generals Hardee and Breckenridge were also in command of divisions. General Grant's forces consisted of five divisions, commanded respectively by Generals Sherman, Hurlburt, McClernand, Lew Wallace and W. H. L. Wallace, thirty-five thousand strong, spread over a space of several square miles from Pittsburg Landing to Savannah. The country is here rolling, cut up with ravines and intertwined with an inextricable maze of wood-paths. General Grant was resting at this point awaiting the arrival of General Buell, who was marching from Nashville to join him with forty thousand men. Owing to heavy rains and bad roads General Buell had been somewhat delayed, and had not been able to join the army of Grant as was expected.

On the morning of April 2, the Union videttes of General Wallace's division, who were stationed at Crump's Landing, had a sharp skirmish with the Confederates. On the 4th the Confederates made a reconnoissance in force,

but finding the Federals alert and ready to receive them, retired, General Johnston carefully avoiding a general engagement, as he was daily expecting large reinforcements from Generals Van Dorn

and Price. On the 5th
the Confederate forces ar-
rived in position in front
of the Union lines; the
more advanced were al-
lowed no fires, nor were
any noises such as are
usual to camps permitted.
On the 3d of April the
Confederate commander
had issued the following
proclamation
troops:

to his

SOLDIERS OF THE ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI:-I have put you in motion to offer battle to the invaders of your country, with the resolution, and discipline and valor becoming men fighting as you are, for all worth living or dying for. You can but march to a decisive victory over agragian mercenaries, sent to subjugate and despoil you of your liberies, property and honor.

Remember the precious stake involved; remember the depend. ence of your mothers, your wives, your sisters, and your children, on the result. Remember the fair, broad, abounding lands, the happy hom s that will be desolated by your defeat. The eyes and hopes of eight millions of people rest upon you. You are expected to show yourselves worthy of your valor and courage, worthy of the women of the South, whose noble devotion in this war has never been ex. ceeded in any time. With such incentives to brave deeds, and with trust that God is with us, your General will lead you confidently to the combat, assured of success.

By order of

GENERAL A. S. JOHNSTON, Commanding.