side's projected invasion of South-western Virginia, and by the detention of this force of the enemy in East Tennessee withheld it from Chickamauga and contributed to the great victory of the Confederates there; and he saved the invaluable Salt works and the Virginia and Tennessee railroad without forcing Gen. Lee to the necessity of making large detachments from his army to confront the enemy in this part of the State. For fifteen months he encountered and overcame every effort of the enemy within the limits of his department, and when he relinquished the command to Gen. Breckenridge, in March, 1864, his troops held all the territory they occupied when he assumed it.

On the 19th April, 1864, Gen. Jones reached Charleston, and relieved Gen. Beauregard in command of that department, the latter having been ordered to Virginia. He commanded this department six months, under very disadvantageous circumstances, during a critical period of the war; and, when Sherman marched upon Savannah, it was mainly by Gen. Jones' exertions that Gen. Hardee's line of retreat was kept open to Charleston. The fall of Savannah having involved Florida and South Georgia, cutting them off from the Department headquarters at Charleston, Gen. Jones was assigned to command in the isolated district. He defended the town of Tallahassee against an attack of the enemy on the 6th March, 1865. A Confederate officer who took part in the defence, says: "The straits to which the South was driven for troops was strikingly exemplified in this affair. Side by side, in the Confederate line, were two companies in curious contrast. One was known as the old men's' company, from Quincy, commanded by a distinguished Judge of the State, into the ranks of which no man under fifty years of age was admitted. The other was a company of Cadets,' mere boys, many of them not over fourteen years of age. Both did their duty well." On the 10th May, 1865, Gen. Jones surrendered his command under instructions from Gen. Johnston.

The military career of Gen. Jones extended to all parts of the Southern Confederacy, east of the Mississippi River. He had been entrusted with independent commands of great extent and responsibility. That in so large a military experience he suf fered no considerable disaster is, indeed, remarkable. The disparity of the two belligerent forces made it impracticable to

retain in large departments forces adequate to their defence; they were drained to supply the chief armies in the field. This taxed, to the utmost, the energy and capacity of Department commanders! Gen. Jones felt this keenly. In one of his last official letters, recommending certain changes in the military districts of Georgia and Florida, he says: "It will hardly be supposed that I make these suggestions simply to enlarge the area of my authority. I have known for the greater part of three years now the anxious, harrassing and thankless duty of commanding in a large area of country without anything approaching the adequate means of defending it. I make the suggestions because I think that if adopted they will tend to promote the interest of our country and cause." He had, however, so administered the trust confided to him, that no territory had ever been won from him by the enemy, and the Confederate cause had never suffered a serious reverse within the limits of his command.

MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. GORDON.

CHAPTER L.

Appearance of a new hero in the last year of the war.-Ancestral stock of John B. Gordon.-"The Raccoon Roughs."—The 6th Alabama at Seven Pines.-Personal heroism of Col. Gordon.-At South Mountain.-His bloody and picturesque figure on the field of Sharpsburg.-Gen. Gordon as an orator.-A soldier's commentary on his eloquence.-His part in the Pennsylvania campaign.-A telling speech to Yankee women.-His counsels at Gettysburg.-His splendid action in the Wilderness. A night attack upon the enemy.-Gen. Gordon rides through the enemy's lines. His glorious counter-charge at Spottsylvania Court-House.-His part in the Valley campaign of 1864.-A novel and interesting version of the battle of Cedar Creek.-Gen. Gordon's plan of attack rejected or not executed by Gen. Early.His position and figure in the last scene at Appomattox Court-House.-Review of his military services.-A representative of the "Young South."-His admirable sentiment and advice since the surrender.

In the last periods and declining fortunes of the war, a new and lustrous name appeared in the army of Virginia, kindling the admiration and hopes of the people. It is well remembered how repeated, towards the last scenes of the war, was the name "Gordon"; and men who had watched for the successor to Jackson and prayed for "a day of their lost Dundee," declared that he had at last appeared in the fiery Georgian. The bright and growing light however was soon extinguished in the swift sequence of disaster, surrender and submission; and the last sad story of the war, at Appomattax Court-House, was ended with Gordon in the front-Gordon and his 2,000 men prepared to cut through the enemy, arming to die, willing to give to the Army of Northern Virginia its last example of desperate courage, its dying testimony of devotion. It was not permitted. And it was not necessary. In these last days, Gordon was the thunderbolt of the

Army of Northern Virginia; his name was familiar in every circle of admiration; and yet it was a novel name to those who used it most familiarly, and men, regarding the new hero as a sort of apparition, scarcely knew his former military life, or remembered the slow and painful steps of the young officer commencing at the early part of the war the ladder of fame, and climbing it almost unnoticed, until the popular shout hailed him in the last stages of his adventure.

It is our task to go back to the commencement of this career, and to present, in a summary sketch, the military life of this remarkable man. John B. Gordon was born in Upson County, Georgia, February 6, 1832. The family is descended from the Gordons of Scotland; came to America shortly before the Revolution of 1776, and made its mark in the eight years' war. The grandfather of the subject of our sketch volunteered in the Continental army at fourteen years of age, and served through the entire war. One of his brothers distinguished himself by a singular feat in the battle of King's Mountain-rushing in charge upon the British lines, seizing one of the officers by his queue, and running down the side of the mountain with him!

At the time the South was aroused for war, John B. Gordon was engaged in some mining enterprises, and was living in Jackson county, Alabama. When it was ascertained that Abraham Lincoln was elected President, he raised a company of cavalry and offered it to Governor Moore; but it was declined, as cavalry was not then needed. He then raised an infantry company, styled "Raccoon Roughs," the men having been raised around Raccoon Mountain. This company was accepted as one of the ten to compose the 6th Alabama regiment, and Gordon was elected Major. The regiment was sent to Manassas, and put in Ewell's brigade, where it had no opportunity of action in the first great battle of the war, in July, 1861. Gordon was afterwards elected Lieutenant-Colonel, and when the regiment re-organized at Yorktown, in April, 1862, he was by a unanimous vote of the men elevated to the position of Colonel.

"Seven Pines" was the first serious engagement of the 6th Alabama. But in this single battle it made a record of glory sufficient for all time, and achieved the bloodiest and most brilliant success of the day. More than two-thirds of Gordon's entire

command were killed or wounded. The Lieut.-Colonel, the Major, and the Adjutant were all killed. Every horse ridden into the fight was killed, the one on which Gordon was mounted being the last to fall under his rider. The terrible scene of death occurred when the brave Alabamians, having taken the Federal breastworks, were ordered to drive the enemy from a dense swamp, in and around which the timber had been felled, making an almost impassible abattis. In this charge, through a galling fire, Col. Gordon felt it his duty to ride at the head of his regiment; although the fact, that he was left as the only mounted officer, drew the fire of the enemy's sharpshooters upon him. His horse had been shot in the breast, but was still able to carry him. He rode so near the enemy's lines that officers and men distinctly heard the Federal command, "Bring down that man on horseback," "Shoot that dd Colonel," etc. His noble animal at last fell under him, his clothing was pierced by three bullets, but, yet unhurt, he stood at the post of danger, and the men held the ground they had won, without a sign of wavering, until they were ordered to retire. His escape was almost miraculous, and he had survived in the midst of a great carnage. Out of 600 men, 396 were killed or wounded, and in one company of forty there were only ten survivors. The men had fallen so rapidly that it was impossible to carry them to the rear, and, as they fought mostly in water several feet deep, men had to be detailed to raise the heads of the badly wounded to prevent them from drowning.

In this fight, Gen. Rodes, commander of the brigade in which was the 6th Alabama, was wounded, and, although Col. Gordon was not the senior officer present, he was placed in command during the absence of Rodes. He participated in the seven days battles around Richmond, and at Malvern Hill was in command of Rodes' brigade, and led the desperate charge upon the Federal batteries for half a mile through an open field. His brigade was first in the charge and left its dead nearer the enemy's guns than did any other Confederate troops. Nearly one half the command were killed or wounded in the terrible onset; and the Colonel. had the butt of his pistol carried away by a ball, the breast of his coat torn open by another, and his canteen at his side shot through by a third. So greatly did he expose himself, and so wonderful had been his escapes, that his men began to think, and