back to Rolla, the confederates advancing as it receded. On the 12th Gen. Halleck took command of the department, and by the end of December Price was again in full retreat toward Arkansas, losing within a few days 2,500 prisoners and a large amount of stores. A conspicuous incident of the struggle in Missouri was the defence of Lexington, on the Missouri river, against a greatly superior force, by 2,780 men under Col. Mulligan, who surrendered (Sept. 21) only after being three days cut off from water. About Oct. 1 the confederate army before Washington began to fall back, and the national lines to be pushed forward. On the 21st a portion of Gen. Stone's command, having crossed the Potomac at Ball's bluff, about midway between Harper's Ferry and Washington, was disastrously defeated by the confederate general Evans, with a loss of 1,000 out of 1,900 men. Col. Baker, United States senator from Oregon, was among the killed. On Oct. 31 Winfield Scott, general-in-chief of the armies of the United States, retired from active service, and was succeeded by Gen. McClellan. On Nov. 8 Capt. Wilkes, in command of the frigate San Jacinto, intercepted the British mail steamer Trent, from Havana for Southampton, and forcibly took from on board Messrs. Mason and Slidell, commissioners from the southern confederacy to England and France. The action was resented by the British government, and produced a great display of feeling against the United States. A war with England seemed imminent, when the president decided to surrender the commissioners to the British minister. On Dec. 20 Brig. Gen. Ord routed the confederates with heavy loss at Dranesville, on the road from Washington to Leesburg. In the west, Bishop Polk of Louisiana, serving as major general in the confederate army, had occupied Hickman and Columbus, Ky., on the Mississippi, and begun to fortify them. Gen. Grant, commander of the federal forces at Cairo, Ill., consequently took possession (Sept. 6) of Paducah, on the Ohio just below the mouth of the Tennessee. About the same time Gen. Zollicoffer led a confederate force from Tennessee into S. E. Kentucky. This was subsequently placed under Gen. G. B. Crittenden, and was defeated on Jan. 19, 1862, by Gen. G. H. Thomas at Mill Spring, Zollicoffer himself being killed. On Feb. 6 the federal commodore Foote, with a fleet of gunboats from Cairo, reduced Fort Henry on the E. bank of the Tennessee river in Tennessee; and on the 16th Fort Donelson, on the W. bank of the Cumberland, surrendered with about 13,000 men after some severe fighting to Gen. Grant. (See Fort Donelson and Fort Henry.) On the 15th Gen. Mitchel, advancing from Louisville, had occupied Bowling Green, Ky., a place of great natural strength, the confederate forces under Gen. A. S. Johnston retiring to Nashville, Tenn. That city was occupied by the federal forces on the 26th, Gen. Johnston retreating as far as Corinth, Miss.; and on March 2 Columbus, Ky., was evacuated by the confederates. The whole of Kentucky and a part of Tennessee were thus secured by the federal arms. To command the Mississippi, the confederates had fortified island No. Ten in a sharp bend of that river, a few miles above New Madrid, Mo., which was also fortified and defended by a confederate force. On March 3 Gen. Pope invested the town, which he took possession of on the 14th, the confederates having abandoned it during the preceding night, leaving 33 guns and a large quantity of small arms, ammunition, &c. Com. Foote, having in the mean time moved a fleet of gunboats down the river, opened on the island on the 15th. Two of the gunboats succeeded in running past it; and a canal 12 m. long having been cut through a peninsula on the Missouri side, enabling the fleet to get below it, Gen. Pope on April 7 crossed a portion of his troops to the E. side. The confederates, thus cut off from retreat, surrendered during the following night, and nearly 7,000 prisoners, 123 cannon, 7,000 stand of small arms, and an immense quantity of stores fell into the hands of the federals. The federal fleet proceeded down the river, and after some opposition from forts and gunboats received the surrender of Memphis on June 6. The command was now devolved on Com. Davis, Com. Foote having been disabled by a wound. The fleet continued its course down the river, reaching Vicksburg, Miss., before the end of June, where the first serious obstacle was encountered. In the mean time the federal forces under Gen. Grant had advanced from Fort Donelson up the Tennessee river, and when encamped in the vicinity of Shiloh church, Tenn., near Pittsburgh Landing on the river, were attacked by the confederates under Gens. A. S. Johnston and Beauregard, who had advanced from Corinth, about 20 m. distant. The battle, which at first threatened to overwhelm the federals, raged two days (April 6 and 7), when the confederates fell back to Corinth, leaving the field in the possession of the Union army. (See Shiloh.) After the battle Gen. Halleck assumed command of the Union army, and with augmented forces operated against Corinth, which the confederates evacuated on May 29. About the same time Gen. Mitchel entered N. Alabama, capturing Huntsville and other points, and destroying much confederate property. A confederate force had entered New Mexico from Texas early in 1862, but they were driven out before the close of the spring, and subsequently that territory was unmolested. A victory was gained by the national forces under Gen. Curtis at Pea Ridge, Ark., March 7 and 8, over the armies of Van Dorn, Price, and McCulloch, which had just been driven out of Missouri. Gen. Curtis subsequently met with little resistance, and in July occupied Helena on the Mississippi. During the latter half of the year there were numerous conflicts in Missouri and Arkansas between
