were the people to such events, that a speedy close of the contest had been anticipated by them. War, in their minds, was to be begun, carried on, and closed up with the despatch of ordinary enterprises.

It was not only necessary to organize and discipline armies, but to provide food, munitions, and transportation, and to organize artillery reserves, the engineer corps, the pontoon trains, the telegraphs, and the hospitals; but also to manufacture or import from other countries cannon, carriage harness, cavalry equipments, small arms, artillery, camp equipage, bridge trains, &c. The time required to secure these objects, under the most favorable circumstances, was even longer than had been assigned for the duration of hostilities by the people of both the Northern and Southern States.

The Federal Government proposed to blockade the coast to cut off the Confederate States from all communication with other nations. The recovery of the Mississippi valley, by which the western States of the Confederacy would be separated, and the outlet of the Northwest to the ocean recovered, was also a part of the purpose of the Government. The recovery of the Border Slave States by actual military force, and their protection against invasion by the Confederate Government, which claimed them as a part of its Union, was the occasion of the most active and extensive military operations. It was anticipated that the signal success which would attend the execution of these purposes, would so emphatically convince the Southern people of the irresistible power of the North as to satisfy them that the attainment of their independence was hopeless. At the same time it was believed their efforts of resistance would so exhaust their limited resources as to make a return to the Union on their part a necessity. Such appear to have been the purposes of the Federal Government, and such were the views of the people. On the opposite side, the purposes of the Confederate Government were no less determined, and the views of the people no less sanguine and exalted. A defence was to be made to the last extremity, and if this was successful, an invasion of the enemy was to follow, when the smoking ruins of Philadelphia, New York, and Cincinnati would wring humiliating conditions from the North. The year which passed has thus witnessed most stupendous military operations conducted on a theatre which was almost the size of a continent, with a profusion of expenditure and a waste of resources sufficient to engulf most nations. The actors in these terrific scenes now stand forth to receive the judgment of mankind not only upon their skill, ability, and sincerity, but upon those higher and nobler qualities which are the jewels of humanity. The military operations in the interior of the country have been conducted chiefly with a reference to the lines of the railroads and the water courses. The facilities for the transportation of supplies and for the concentration of

men furnished by these railroads and the rivers, in a country so covered with woods, and so poorly supplied with common roads, has resulted in making some of them the base of all important movements.

At the beginning of the year preparations were vigorously pushed forward both at the West and with the Army of the Potomac. The forces of each side on the line between the Federal and Confederate States maintained their respective positions during the month of January, excepting in eastern Kentucky. There Col. Humphrey Marshall had a few months previous intrenched the Confederate forces under his command, consisting of a few regiments of infantry, one battery of artillery, and five or six companies of cavalry at a town called Paintville. It was expected in the Confederate States that he would be able to sweep the whole of eastern Kentucky, take possession of Frankfort, the seat of the State Government, and set up the authority of the Provisional Governor Johnson. Meanwhile Col. John A. Garfield, commanding a brigade of Union forces, having the 42d Ohio and 14th Kentucky infantry and a squadron of Ohio cavalry, advanced to encounter the Confederate force. Embarrassed by the difficulty of moving supplies at that low stage of the Big Sandy river, it was the 7th of January when his advance, consisting of five companies of the 42d Ohio, under Lieut.-Col. Sheldon, reached Paintville. The Confederate force had then evacuated its intrenchments two and a half miles south of the town, but a part of it was placed in ambush at Jennie Creek, two miles west. This body was driven out immediately by Col. Bolles, of the 1st Virginia cavalry, who had come up. At the same time Col. Garfield, with eight companies of the 42d Ohio and two companies of the 14th Kentucky, moved upon the main position of the enemy, who were found to have hastily retreated. On the next day the 40th Ohio, Col. Cranox, and six companies of the 1st Kentucky cavalry joined Col. Garfield; a part of the 22d Kentucky, under Lieut.-Col. Munroe, had also reached him. With a portion of this force, the pursuit of the enemy was immediately commenced up the road along the Big Sandy river.

The following despatches from Col. Garfield describe his movements:

PAINTSVILLE, January 8.

To Capt. J. B. Fry, Assistant Adjutant-General:

I entered this place yesterday with the 42d Ohio, the 4th Kentucky, and 300 of the 2d Virginia cavalry. On hearing of my approach, the main rebel force left their strongly intrenched camp and fled. I sent my cavalry to the mouth of Jennie Creek, where they attacked and drove the rebel cavalry, which had been left as a vanguard, a distance of five miles, killing three and wounding a considerable number.

Marshall's whole army is now flying in utter confusion. He had abandoned and burned a large amount of his stores. We have taken fifteen prisoners. Our loss is two killed and one wounded. I start in pursuit (Signed) J. A. GARFIELD,

to-morrow morning.

Col. commanding Brigade.

SECOND DESPATCH.

To Capt. J. B. Fry, Assistant Adjutant-General: I left Paintsville on Thursday noon with 1,100 men, and drove in the enemy's pickets two miles below Prestonburg. The men slept on their arms. At 4 o'clock yesterday morning we moved toward the main body of the enemy at the forks of Middle Creek, under command of Marshall. Skirmishing with his outposts began at 8 o'clock, and at 1 P. M. we engaged his force of 2,500 men and 3 cannon, posted on the hill-fought them until dark, having been reenforced by 700 men from Paintsville, and drove the enemy from all their positions. He carried off the majority of his dead and

all of his wounded.

This was a rapid and spirited movement on the part of Col. Garfield, and it resulted in forcing Col. Humphrey Marshall with his troops to retire from eastern Kentucky. On the 16th of January Col. Garfield issued the following address to the inhabitants :

HEADQUARTERS EIGHTEENTH Brigade,
PAINTSVILLE (KY.), January 16, 1862. [

Citizens of the Sandy Valley:
I have come among you to restore the honor of the
Union and to bring back the Old Banner, which you
all once loved, but which, by the machinations of evil
men and by mutual misunderstanding, has been dis-
honored among you. To those who are in arms against
the Federal Government I offer only the alternative of
battle or unconditional surrender. But to those who
have taken no part in this war, who are in no way
aiding or abetting the enemies of the Union-even to
those who hold sentiments averse to the Union, but
yet give no aid and comfort to its enemies-I offer the
full protection of the Government, both in their per-
sons and property.

Let those who have been seduced away from the love of their country to follow after and aid the destroyers of our peace lay down their arms, return to their homes, bear true allegiance to the Federal Government, and they shall also enjoy like protection. The army of the Union wages no war of plunder, but comes to bring back the prosperity of peace. Let all peace-loving citizens who have fled from their homes return and resume again the pursuits of peace and industry. If citizens have suffered from any outrages by the soldiers under my command, I invite them to make known their complaints to me, and their wrongs shall be redressed and the offenders punished. I expect the friends of the Union in this valley to banish from among them all private feuds, and let a liberalminded love of country direct their conduct toward those who have been so sadly estranged and misguided, hoping that these days of turbulence may soon be ended and the days of the Republic soon return.

J. A. GARFIELD, Col. commanding Brigade.

But the most important action of the month was fought at a place called Webb's Cross Roads on the 19th. It is known as the battle of Mill Springs, although this place is about five miles distant from the spot where the battle was fought. For three months previous the Federal General Schoepff had been stationed at Somerset, a small town in south-eastern Kentucky, with a force of about 8,000 men. The

object was to prevent the advance of the Confederate force any further north. At the same time the Confederate General Zollicoffer, with nearly the same force, was intrenched directly south on both banks of the Cumberland river, for the purpose of defending the approach to the Cumberland Gap and the road into east Tennessee against any Federal force. About two weeks previous to the action, Gen. Zollicoffer was reënforced by the division under Gen. Crittenden, which had been previously stationed at Knoxville, Tennessee. Gen. Crittenden took command, and issued the following proclamation:

DIVISION HEAdquarters, MILL SPRINGS. KY.,
January 6, 1862.
To the People of Kentucky:

When the present, war between the Confederate States and the United States commenced, the State of Kentucky determined to remain neutral. She regarded this as her highest interest, and, balancing between hope for the restoration of the Union and love for her Southern sisters, she declared and attempted to maintain a firm neutrality.

The conduct of the United States Government toward her has been marked with duplicity, falsehood, and wrong. From the very beginning, the President of the United States, in his Messages, spoke of the chosen attitude of Kentucky with open denunciation, and on the one hand treated it with contempt and derision, while on the other hand he privately promised the people of Kentucky that it should be respected. In violation of this pledge, but in keeping with his first and true intention, he introduced into the State arms which were placed exclusively in the hands of persons known or believed to be in favor of coercion, thus designing to control the people of Kentucky, and to threaten the Confederate States. Then the Government of the Confederate States, in self defence, advanced its arms into your midst, and offer you their assistance to protect you from the calamity of Northern military occupation.

By the administration of your State Government, Kentucky was being held to the United States, and bound at the feet of Northern tyranny. That Government did not rest upon the consent of your people. And now, having thrown it off, a new Government has been established and Kentucky admitted into the Southern Confederacy. Can Kentuckians doubt which Government to sustain? To the South you are allied by interest, by trade, by geography, by similarity of institutions, by the ties of blood, and by kindred courage. The markets of the North do not invite your products—your State is, to the centre of its trade, society, and laws, but a distant province, despised for its customs and institutions-your heroic lineage forbids association in arms with their warriors of Manassas, of Leesburg, and of Belmont; and your for mer devotion to the Union must intensify your hatred toward that section which has, in its Abolition crusade, broken to pieces the Constitution, and which is now vainly endeavoring to destroy the liberty of the Southern States!

At first you may have been deceived as to the purposes of the North. They talked of restoring the Union. Do you not see that it is hopelessly lost in the storm of war, and that, while the rotten Government of the North is shaking over its ruins, the South has erected out of them a new, powerful, and free constituoff, and you find the North, through its President, and tional republic! And now, indeed, the mask is thrown Secretary of War, and public journals, and party leaders, giving up the claim of Urion, and proclaiming the extinction of slavery and the subjugation of the South. Can you join in this enterprise? The South would never in any event consent to a reconstruction. She is contending with unconquerable spirit, with great

military power, with unbroken success, for constitutional freedom, and for her own national government. Where is your spirit of other days, that you do not rush to her victorious standard? Shall the sons of Tennessee, Virginia, Mississippi, and other Southern States, with whom you have gathered the laurels on other battle fields, win them all in this war of independence, while you are inactive and lost in slothful indolence? May the proud genius of my native Kentucky forbid it.

In these mountains, where freedom and patriotism stir the human heart, can you sleep with the clarion of a glorious war ringing in your ears? True, you have refused to bear the arms and wear the livery of Northern despotism. Their base hirelings have been among you, but have not seduced you into their ranks. Will you stay at home and let noble bands of soldiers, armed in your cause as in their own, pass on to battle fields, on your own soil, consecrated by no deed of your valor? Having assumed command of the forces of the Confederate States on Cumberland river, in south-eastern Kentucky, I make this appeal to you. You are already assured that we come among you as friends and brothers, to protect you in your personal liberties and property, and only to make war against the invaders of your home and our common enemies. I invoke you to receive us as brothers, and to come to our camp and share with us the dangers and the honor of this strug gle. Come to these headquarters, as individuals or in companies, and you will be at once accepted and mustered in with pay and arms from the Government of the Confederate States. At first many Kentuckians entered the army of the South for the great cause it supports; now this has become the cause of Kentucky, and it is your duty to espouse it. Duty and honor unite in this call upon you. Will you join in the moving columns of the South, or is the spirit of Kentucky dead? GEO. B. CRITTENDEN, Major-General.

Previous to the junction of the force of Gen. Crittenden with that of Gen. Zollicoffer, Gen. Buell, in command of the Federal department, with his headquarters at Louisville, had detached from his main body a division under Gen. Geo. H. Thomas to attack the rear of Gen. Zollicoffer, whose position was a strong one. It was about fifteen miles south-west of

Somerset, forty miles south-east of Columbia, and six miles below the head of steamboat navigation. It was considered to be one of the three Confederate strongholds in Kentuckythe first being Columbus, in the extreme West; the second, Bowling Green in central Kentucky; and the third, this one in the southeast, commanding the coal mines and many of the salts wells south of the Cumberland, and suitable to check any Federal advance into east Tennessee. The hills on the immediate bank of the river are between three and four hundred feet in height and their summits were fortified. The actual situation of the Confederate force has been variously represented. It was nearly destitute of supplies, and upon hearing of the approach of the Federal force, the choice was presented to Gen. Crittenden, either to retreat without striking a blow, or to remain in his position and be stormed out, or to surrender upon the approach of starvation, or to make an advance. The latter measure was chosen, and for this reason the Confederate general was found without his intrenchments and making an attack upon the approaching

force. It is probable, however, that the Federal force was supposed to be much smaller than it in truth was, and hence the Confederate general was tempted to advance and make an attack. That day (Sunday) he was defeated and retired to his intrenchments. During the night he abandoned his camp, and by the aid

of a small steamboat crossed the Cumberland with his entire force. The Federal forces most actively engaged were: the 9th Ohio, Col. McCook; 2d Minnesota, Col. Van Cleve; 4th Kentucky, Col. Fry; 10th Indiana, Col. Munson; with the batteries of Capts. Stanhart and Wetmore. These were supported by the 14th Ohio, Col. Steadman; and the 10th Kentucky, Col. Haskin. The force of Gen. Schoepff came up and joined in the pursuit. The Confederate force consisted of the 15th Mississippi, Col. Walthal; 19th Tennessee, Col. Cummings; 20th Tennessee, Capt. Battle; 25th Tennessee, Capt. Stouton; 17th Tennessee, Col. Newman; 28th Tennessee, Col. Murray; 29th Tennessee, Col. Powell; 16th Alabama, Col. Wood, with two batteries. The Federal loss was 38 killed and 194 wounded; the Confederate loss was 190 killed (among whom was Gen. Zollicoffer), 60 wounded, and 89 prisoners. The forces of Gen. Thomas and Gen. Crittenden however, was equal to a reserve for Gen. Thowere about equal. The force of Gen. Schopff, mas. The artillery of Gen. Thomas was of longer range than the Confederate guns.

The following order of thanks was issued by President Lincoln in consequence of this victory:

WAR DEPARTMENT, January 22, 1862.

The President, commander-in-chief of the army and navy, has received information of a brilliant victory achieved by the United States forces over a large body of armed traitors and rebels at Mill Springs, in the State of Kentucky.

who won that victory; and when the official reports He returns thanks to the gallant officers and soldiers shall be received, the military skill and personal valor displayed in battle will be acknowledged and rewarded in a fitting manner.

The courage that encountered and vanquished the and attacked them in their intrenchments, and paused greatly superior numbers of the rebel force, pursued not until the enemy was completely routed, merits and receives commendation.

The purpose of this war is to attack, pursue, and from danger menaced by traitors. Alacrity, daring, destroy a rebellious enemy, and to deliver the country courageous spirit, and patriotic zeal, on all occasions and under every circumstance, are expected from the army of the United States.

battle of Mill Springs, the nation will realize its hopes, In the prompt and spirited movements and daring and the people of the United States will rejoice to honor every soldier and officer who proves his courage by charging with the bayonet and storming intrenchments, or in the blaze of the enemy's fire. By order of the President.

EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.

This victory opened the path into east Tennessee, but no advantage was taken of it by the Federal Government. It also produced an exhilaration in the North far above its importance.