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gun-boats; and I caused the mill to be destroyed where the lumber had been sawed.

"Lieutenant-Commanding Gwin had, in our absence, enlisted some twenty-five Tennesseans, who gave information of the encampment of Colonel Drew's regiment at Savannah, Tennessee. A portion of the six or seven hundred men were known to be 'pressed' men, and all were badly armed. After consultation with Lieutenants - Commanding Gwin and Shirk, I determined to make a land attack upon the encampment. Lieutenant-Commanding Shirk, with thirty riflemen, came on board the Conestoga, leaving his vessel to guard the Eastport; and, accompanied by the Taylor, we proceeded up to that place, prepared to land 130 riflemen and a 12-pounder rifle howitzer. Lieutenant-Commanding Gwin took command of the force when landed, but had the mortification to find the camp deserted.

"The rebels had fled at one o'clock in the morning, leaving considerable quantities of arms, clothing, shoes, camp utensils, provisions, implements, etc., all of which were secured or destroyed, and their winter-quarters of log-huts were burned. I seized also a large mail-bag, to send you the letters giving military information. The gun-boats were then dropped down to a point where arms, gathered under the rebel 'press-law,' had been stored; and an armed party, under Second-Master Gondy, of the Taylor, succeeded in seizing about seventy rifles and fowling-pieces. Returning to Cerro Gordo, we took the Eastport, Sallie Wood, and Muscle in tow, and came down the river to the railroad crossing. The Muscle sprang aleak, and all efforts failing to prevent her sinking, we were forced to abandon her, and with her a considerable quantity of fine lumber. We are having trouble in getting through the draw of the bridge here.

"I now come to the, to me, most interesting part of this report-one which has already become too long; but I must trust you will find some excuse for this in the fact that it embraces a history of labor and movements, day and night, from the 6th to the 10th of the month, all of which details I deem it proper to give you. We have met with the most gratifying proofs of loyalty every where across Tennessee, and in the portions of Mississippi and Alabama which we visited. Most affecting instances greet us almost hourly. Men, women, and children several times gathered in crowds of hundreds, shouted their welcome, and hailed their national flag with an enthusiasm there was no mistaking-it was genuine and heartfelt. These people braved every thing to go to the river bank, where

Expedition up the Tennessee.

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a sight of their flag might once more be enjoyed; and they have experienced, as they related, every possible form of persecution. Tears flowed freely down the cheeks of men as well as of women; and there were those who had fought under the stars and stripes at Moultrie who in this manner testified their joy.

"This display of feeling and sense of gladness at our success, and the hopes it created in the breasts of so many people in the heart of the Confederacy, astonished us not a little; and I assure you, sir, I would not have failed to witness it under any consideration. I trust it has given us all a higher sense of the sacred character of our present duties. I was assured at Savannah that of the several hundred troops there, more than one half, had we gone to the attack in time, would have hailed us as deliverers, and gladly enlisted with the national force.

"In Tennessee the people generally, in their enthusiasm, braved Secessionists, and spoke their views freely; but in Mississippi and Alabama, what was said was guarded. 'If we dared to express ourselves freely, you would hear such a shout greeting your coming as you never heard.' We know there are many Unionists among us, but a reign of terror makes us afraid of our shadows.' We are told, too, ' Bring us a small organized force, with arms and ammunition for us, and we can maintain our position and put down rebellion in our midst.' There were, it is true, whole communities who, on our approach, fled to the woods; but these were where there was less of the loyal element, and where the fleeing steamers in advance had spread tales of our coming with firebrands, burning, destroying, ravishing, and plundering.

"The crews of these vessels have had a very laborious time, but have evinced a spirit in the work highly creditable to them. LieutenantsCommanding Gwin and Shirk have been untiring, and I owe to them and their officers many obligations for entire success.

"I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

"S. T. PHELPS, Lieutenant-Commanding U.S. N. "Flag-Officer A. H. Foote, commanding )

Naval Forces, Western Waters."

It is not surprising that special commendations should have been added to the report of this officer; and it might be said that no man was better supported by his officers than was Foote while at the West. Porter, Phelps, Walke, Gwin, Shirk, Sanford, Pennock, and others, called, as they were, from their

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business on broad ocean to do unaccustomed work, did the Navy great credit by their patient and courageous servicesin storm and fog, cold and heat-on those turbid rivers, in clumsy vessels that seemed, like mud-turtles, made to court sandbanks, snags, low water, rapid currents, to say nothing of torpedoes, ambuscades, and infernal machines.

"U. S. FLAG-STEAMER ST. LOUIS,' PADUCAH,

February 12, 1862.

"SIR,-I have the honor and high gratification to forward to the Department the official report of Lieutenant-Commanding Phelps, by which it will be seen that he has, with consummate skill, courage, and judgment, performed a highly beneficial service to the government, which, I doubt not, will appreciate it. I can not too highly commend the conduct of Lieutenant-Commanding Phelps for this his signal service in his long cruise to the head of navigation on the Tennessee River.

"I am now, with three iron-clad steamers, ascending the Cumberland River, to co-operate with General Grant in an attack on Fort Donelson. Lieutenant-Commanding Phelps, with his division, accompanies me. great haste. I have the honor to be your obedient servant,

A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer.

"The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy."

We give here a semi-official letter written by Lieutenant J. P. Sanford, ordnance officer of the flotilla, showing the efforts and needs of another branch of the gun-boat service, no less important than others, and, in fact, forming the striking arm of this formidable power:

"CINCINNATI, February 12, 1862.

"MY DEAR FLAG-OFFICER,-I have but a few moments in which to write. I am so busy that I have not had the leisure even to take my regular meals. You have my most hearty and cordial congratulations on your recent victory, and I have to regret at the same time that I was not with you.

"I am pushing up the work on the arks, and expect to leave here Saturday evening.

"I telegraphed to Pittsburg and Washington for 8-inch guns immedi

Letter respecting Ordnance.

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ately on receipt of your telegram, and have them, from Washington, ready to be expressed. One of the guns I intend for the St. Louis. She has but two.

"I have just got a telegram from Captain Pennock. About two hundred additional rounds to be put up at Pittsburg Arsenal, making in all five hundred for each gun. I pity the poor guns!

"The ammunition-boats have large and splendid shell-rooms and magazines. I trust that what I have done to these boats will meet with your approval. It is no small matter to fit up such things as these river boats for eight hundred men and magazines. Permit me to suggest the propriety of a guard of thirty soldiers being obtained from the Army to do duty as marines. The boats will, in my judgment, absolutely need them. I shall want about five sentries on mine to make all secure. A lieutenant could be placed over them.

"I wrote to General Ripley a few days since for three hundred more swords-two hundred of them to be distributed to gun-boats, additional to what they have, and fifty to each of the ammunition-boats. I am putting a stiff piece of timber on the guards on either side of forecastle, to receive bolts for breechings, side tackles, etc., for a 32-pounder. If you did not think it absolutely necessary for me to come down with the boats, I would go to Pittsburg about the ammunition; but I suppose it is proper I should come down with them.

"I can't get flat-boatmen. They have all gone into the Army. I propose sending a first-rate man to Pittsburg to drum up some. I am told my best chance is there.

"I shall have to leave nearly all my accounts here unsettled, as the moment I can get stores, etc., on board, I shall be off.

"I have had fifty mess cloths made by Haggerty on a venture for the ammunition-boats-not enough, but Captain Pennock might have some spare ones, as I would not load the government with unnecessary extras. "Yours sincerely, J. P. SANFORD, Ord. Officer of Flotilla."

In regard to the feeling developed at the South after the battle of Fort Henry, the Richmond Dispatch of February 13th says: "Our Tennessee exchanges give us gloomy prospects for the future in that part of the Confederacy. Several leading journals intimate plainly that there is really a threatening state of affairs in East Tennessee, growing out of the idolatrous love of many of these people for the old Union.

The correspondent of the Memphis Avalanche writes that the condition of the interior provinces is not improved, and the people apprehend an immediate advance of the Northmen."

While the flag-officer was at Cairo, the first Sunday after the capture of Fort Henry, the incident of his "preaching" took place, which caused much remark at the time, and has, indeed, become one of the stock anecdotes of the war. The matter excited no astonishment to those who knew him well; and to the readers of this volume, who have followed him from his youth up, and have become acquainted with his outspoken religious character and habits, it can cause no surprise. On this Sunday he went to attend divine worship at the Presbyterian Church, and found a full congregation assembled, but no preacher present. With his promptitude for business, seeing that no one else took the lead in the emergency, he went to the deacons, and endeavored to persuade them to conduct the service. Failing in this, he himself mounted the pulpit, read the Scriptures, made a prayer, and preached a short discourse from the words, "Let not your hearts be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me." When the sermon, which was listened to attentively by a delighted audience, was concluded, an Army chaplain, who had in the mean time entered the house, stepped up to the commodore and expressed himself greatly pleased with the discourse. The commodore replied pleasantly (in no sharp terms of rebuke, as it was represented by some) that the chaplain should have come forward and taken his place. These are the simple facts of the case as given by eye-witnesses; and with such "lay-preaching," by one who showed his faith by his works, we, on our part, are not disposed to find fault. He himself often declared, however, that this was the last time he should ever attempt lay-preaching.

We can not forbear adding one of the letters of his hearty old friend, Commodore (now Rear-Admiral) Joseph Smith:

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