226

THE ENEMY REPULSED.

moment he sprang to his feet again, and hastily bandaging up the wound with a white handkerchief, led his men fiercely forward. Colonel Taggart of the twelfth regiment, dismounted, and drawing his sword and flinging away his scabbard, strode at the head of his troops. The two regiments with an unbroken front moved straight on the woods, receiv ing without flinching the fire of the concealed enemy. The timber was thick with underbrush, which at once broke up the firmly set line, and they struggled forward as they best could, while the shells burst among the branches overhead, and the shot flew on every side. Every moment they expected to come face to face with the battery, but the unfaltering line swept irregularly onward, until at last they emerged into an open field of some ten or fifteen acres, from whence they caught sight of the enemy in full flight-the artillery bounding in a gallop along the turnpike. Loud hurrahs rent the air, and picking up the dead and wounded, they were about to start in pursuit, when the recall was sounded. McCall, who had arrived a short time before on the field, not deeming it prudent to push the victory, had ordered a halt. Bivouac fires were kindled around Drainsville, and the tired army was glad of a short repose.

The battle was over by three o'clock, and our loss all told was but sixty-seven. The rebels acknowledged a loss of two hundred and forty. It is a little singular that in this battle both sides complained of regiments being deceived, by their adversaries claiming to be friends, until they could deliver the first volley.

With the exception of some slight skirmishing on the upper Potomac, and a somewhat sharp affair at New Market Bridge, near Newport News, two days after the battle of Drainsville, the forces along the Potomac remained quiet the remainder of the month.

The "stone fleet," as it was called, which consisted of a

THE STONE FLEET.

227

number of old vessels loaded with stone, designed to obstruct Charleston harbor, so as to render the blockade more complete, reached its destination this month and was consigned to the deep. On the very day that the fields and woods around Drainsville were trembling under the roar of cannon, sixteen old whalers, loaded with stone, were quietly sinking one after another to the bottom, off Charleston harbor. The event created a great sensation at the time, and was the cause of much angry discussion here and abroad; for many supposed it was the intention of the government to destroy Charleston as a seaport forever. Some said that it was visiting on the next generation the sins of this, and that no administration had a right thus to ruin the commercial facilities of a state for all time.

Even England remonstrated against the act; but Mr. Seward assured the British minister that we had no intention of destroying the port of Charleston. It was done for temporary convenience alone, as there were so many channels leading into the harbor it was impossible to guard them all. In conclusion, the Secretary significantly remarked, that it was evident that the port was not destroyed, as English vessels with goods contraband of war had entered since the sinking of the ships.

But so bitter was the feeling at the north towards this city, which had begun the war, that it is questionable, if the news that an earthquake had sunk it with all its inhabitants would not have caused the profoundest gratification. A terrible conflagration that swept it about this time, turning crowds of families out of doors, awakened no commiseration. Our naval force during the month did but little except to maintain a rigid blockade. Steamers and gun boats were being rapidly built, all over the country, and we expected soon to be able to accomplish something worthy of the navy. Much indignation, was felt because the rebel Captain

228

THE ARMY IN WINTER QUARTERS.

Lynch succeeded in cutting out a schooner almost under the guns of fortress Monroe. It was humiliating enough to submit to the blockade of the Potomac, without being defied in this way in the presence of a powerful fleet.

South, Dupont's mission seemed to have ended with the taking of Port Royal, and he was left apparently to amuse himself in any way he thought proper. There was a strange want of definite purpose about this whole expedition, which succeeding events instead of clearing up obscured the more. He, however, had his instructions, and commenced a series of explorations along the Carolina and Georgia coast, during the month, which served to keep the inhabitants in a state of alarm. The bay of St. Helena, valuable as a harbor, and for its proximity to Charleston, was taken possession of by Drayton, as well as Tybee Roads. Another expedition, under Commander Rodgers, went up Warsaw Sound, to within ten miles of Savannah. A little later, on the eleventh, he with several gunboats started up the Vernon river and the Great Ogeechee to Ossabaw island.

On the sixteenth, Drayton made an exploration of the north and south Edisto rivers, but found little except deserted fortifications and plantations, denuded of every thing but slaves. Here and there a battery, placed where the gun boats could not operate, was discovered.

Nothing of importance occurred along the gulf, and affairs at fort Pickens seemed to have fallen back to their old state of quietness since the bombardment of the month previous.

Around Washington, the eventful year of 1861 went out quietly. The two great armies lay front to front, and seemed occupied chiefly in making themselves comfortable during the inclement season. Log cabins, tents banked with earth and supplied with every variety of heating apparatus that American ingenuity could devise, and sheltered by cedar bushes set in the earth to break the force of the wind, and

RELEASE OF MR. ELY.

229

stables built of evergreens, combined to make the vast encampment of the army of the Potomac a curious and interesting sight. Thus housed, the mighty host, composed of mechanics, farmers, clerks, lawyers, and men of every trade, accustomed to all the comforts of life, prepared itself to meet the biting gales and storms of sleet and snow that made up the dreary winter.

A little excitement was created in Washington by the return of Mr. Ely, member of Congress from Rochester, who was taken prisoner at Bull Run, and had ever since been confined in prison at Richmond. Mr. Faulkner of Virginia, our minister to France under Mr. Buchanan's administration, had been arrested on his return to this country, on the suspicion of treason, and confined in fort Warren. Being released on parole for the purpose of effecting an exchange for Mr. Ely, he succeeded, and the latter returned to Washington, where his description of his prison life, and that of the soldiers, awakened considerable interest. It was hoped that his release would be the means of some general system of exchange of prisoners being adopted, and movements to that end were set on foot, but failed to accomplish it.

Congress in the mean time was getting restive under the inaction of the army in front of the Capital. The impassable condition of the roads, it seemed to be admitted on all hands, rendered a winter campaign out of the question; but members were dissatisfied that no forward movement had been made before they became so, and the germs of a strong opposition to McClellan began to develop themselves. The country, however, was appeased by the assurance that a great plan was maturing, which required delay, but at the proper time would be developed and crush the rebellion at a blow. Unfortunately for McClellan, not only did the conservative part of the country uphold his course, but the opposition seized upon him to play off against the ardent re

230

THE BORDER STATES.

publicans, thus creating a party hostile to him, independent of military matters. The more considerate thought they saw the beginning of incalculable evil in this, for it was plain that the army was determined to stand by its young commander, and if the opposition party made an onslaught on him, and carried the administration with it, we might have serious trouble on our hands. But it soon became apparent that the President was firm on this point, and would, at least until further developments, stand by the Commanderin-Chief. His position was so decided and determined, that the party leaders saw that to press the matter would bring them in direct collision with the administration. McClellan's indifference to politicians, and his habit of reticence, deigning neither to excuse nor explain, made it certain, however, that the first mistake that he should be guilty of, would rouse an intensely active opposition. Whenever he should move, it must be to unqualified victory, or the storm that would burst on his head would be the severer from having been so long delayed.

This firmness of the Executive, however, was the great redeeming feature of the administration; for the conviction that the hand at the helm was steady gave the country confidence and courage.

In the mean time, the members from the border states were in a very uncomfortable position: they wished to stand by the Union and put down the rebellion, but differed toto cœlo from the republican party, respecting the manner in which it should be done. They wished to leave slavery alone, -to reduce the rebels by force of arms,-and let the Union men in the slave states, held down by tyrannical power, have a chance to speak and act, and thus bring back the old Union, with the Constitution unimpaired. But the former insisted that slavery was the cause of the rebellion, and it was absurd to suppose you could destroy an effect so long