his retreat he had left behind him more than a fourth of his men and almost everything else.

This unlucky attempt was followed by another expedition, under General Smith, in July, which met and repulsed the Confederates. Smith advanced again in August and spent two weeks in his march into Mississippi, but was perplexed in finding only small bodies of cavalry to oppose him. What had become of Forrest and his men?

He was soon to learn. At dawn on the 21st of August, Forrest dashed boldly into Memphis with three thousand men, the bulk of its defenders being then far down in Mississippi. He made directly for the Gayoso House, the head-quarters of Generals Hurlbut, Washburne, and Buckland, whom he hoped to capture. He failed to find them, but carried away several of their staff officers and about three hundred soldiers. He proposed also to open the prisons and release the Confederate captives, but the soldiers around Memphis were now rapidly gathering in arms and the shrewd leader felt it necessary to leave in haste, after having spent about an hour in the town. The exploit was a bold and brilliant one, of the type of the romantic deeds of the knights of old.

Forrest's final exploit was in September, 1864, in connection with Hood's march to cut Sherman's communications. He dashed, as so often before, into Tennessee, did damage wherever he could, captured a thousand prisoners, and made himself so troublesome generally that thousands of pursuers gathered on all sides around him, hoping to catch him in a net. But the wily raider saw his peril, and at once paroled his prisoners, destroyed five miles more of railroad, and

rode away with little loss, leaving his pursuers to draw their net after the fish had foiled them again.

This was the last important exploit of this dashing cavalier of the South. He was made a lieutenantgeneral in February, 1865, and surrendered in May, at the end of the war. In his later life he engaged in business and for a time was president of the Selma and Memphis Railroad. He died October 29, 1877. Though one dark deed blackened his fame, the Civil War hardly produced his peer as a cavalry leader, and he and his daring troop of hard riders were of inestimable advantage to the Confederate forces in the Southwestern area of the war.

JOSEPH HOOKER, THE HERO OF THE

BATTLE ABOVE THE CLOUDS

A RETIRED army officer, running a plantation in California, Joseph Hooker lost no time when news of the outbreak of war reached him in hastening to Washington and offering his services to the Government. He met with a disappointment. General Scott gave him no hopes of a place. He already had more officers than he could use. Hooker turned away in disgust, but before leaving Washington he called on the President and told who he was and how his offer had been received. He was, he said, a brevet lieutenant-colonel and had served in the Mexican War, and went on to say that he had seen the battle of Bull Run, and that, without wishing to boast, he considered himself a better general than there was on that field.

There was something in his visitor's tone and manner that pleased Lincoln, who rose from his chair, slapped him in a friendly way on the shoulder, and said:

"Colonel, not lieutenant-colonel, Hooker, I like you. Don't leave Washington; I have a regiment for you."

When it came it proved to be a brigade instead of a regiment, and instead of colonel, Hooker was made brigadier-general of volunteers, his commission being dated back to May 17. His troops were raw New Englanders whom he at once began to drill into shape. Joseph Hooker was himself from New England, his place of birth being Old Hadley, Massachusetts,

the date November 13, 1814. He entered West Point as a cadet in 1833 and graduated in 1837, being then appointed second lieutenant in the artillery and sent to Florida, where the war with the Seminole Indians was going on. He afterwards served on the northern frontier, where he was promoted first lieutenant, and when the Mexican War broke out was there at the start, taking a distinguished part under General Taylor in the siege and capture of Monterey.

His later service in Mexico was under General Scott, in whose army he fought gallantly in the several battles near the capital, including the storming of Chapultepec. His excellent conduct in these engagements was rewarded with the brevet ranks of captain, major and lieutenant-colonel, and the commission of captain. He was Captain Hooker in 1853 when, tired of a military life, he resigned his command and engaged in agricultural occupations near Sonoma, California, where he bought a large estate which he managed successfully for five years.

In 1858 he was appointed superintendent of military roads in Oregon and when war broke out in 1861 he was a colonel in the California militia. We have told above how he hastened to Washington and through the President's favor got a brigade. During the autumn of 1861 he had charge of the defences of Washington and in 1862 took part in McClellan's invasion of the Peninsula.

We first hear of him as a fighter after the fall of Yorktown and during the stand of the retreating Confederates at Williamsburg. Hooker was in advance in the attack on this place, where he sharply assailed a strong Confederate position, and for nine long hours kept up the fight alone, the dreadful state of the roads,

turned into deep mud by heavy rains, preventing reinforcements from reaching him. It was late in the afternoon when General Phil Kearney came up and relieved him, allowing him to withdraw his fearfully thinned regiments. The stubborn fight here won from his men the complimentary title of "Fighting Joe Hooker," while his promotion to major-general of volunteers was dated May 5, the day of this fight.

Hooker saw his next fighting in the fierce battle of Fair Oaks, and had daringly advanced to a point within four miles of Richmond when General McClellan ordered him back from his perilous reconnoissance, saying that he could not afford to lose Hooker and his men. As may be presumed, Hooker played his part bravely in the Seven Days' battle, doing signal service at Charles City Cross-Roads on June 29, where his division helped to hold a vital position on the flank of the army in its noted "change of base." He fought gallantly also in the battle of Malvern Hill, on July 1.

All readers of history know the events that followed McClellan's repulse-Jackson's advance against General Pope, the hasty recall of McClellan to Washington, the march northward of Lee, the great Confederate victory on the old battle-field of Bull Run, Lee's subsequent invasion of Maryland, and the climax of this active series of events on the bloody field of Antietam. In all these movements Hooker was prominent. In the Bull Run battle his division did good service at Bristow Station, Manassas, and Chantilly, and it was especially active in the campaign in Maryland.

Again under McClellan, he commanded the first corps and with it gallantly carried the Confederate positions in the north pass of South Mountain, opening a way for the advance of the main army. At Antietam