given by Mr. Davis himself in his book, entitled "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government." From it we learn that Secretaries Benjamin and Breckinridge and General Vaughan, who had been accompanying him, were not with him when he reached Washington, Georgia. The quotation is as follows: The Secretary of State, Mr. Benjamin, being unaccustomed to traveling on horseback, parted from me at the house where we stopped to breakfast, to take another mode of conveyance and a different route from that which I was pursuing, with intent to rejoin me in the trans-Mississippi * * * * * * * Department. He had breakfasted at a farm-house near the Savannah River. At Washington, the Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Mallory, left me temporarily to attend to the needs of his family. The Secretary of War, Mr. Breckinridge, had remained with the cavalry at the crossing of the Savannah River, and I gave him authority to draw from the silver coin, under the protection of the troops, enough to make to them a partial payment. So we find that the account which Mr. Davis gives coincides in every particular with the events we have already mentioned as having occurred at Abbeville. CONFEDERATE RAM RAID OFF CHARLESTON, S. C. XANTHUS SMITH. N view of the vast amount of ingenuity and money which has been applied since the close of the Civil War to the planning and construction of armored ships, and the great losses that have resulted to both life and property by their peaceful collisions, it is strange to look back and see how little was really accomplished during that war by either the Federals or the Confederates with their ironclad vessels, in comparison with the amount expended upon them. The first day's exploit of the Merrimac was the one success of ironclad construction, as far as the Confederates were concerned. Whether she paid for herself in the destruction of the Cumberland and the Congress, and why she was finally blown up without taking any risk in further conflict with the Monitor and the fleet of wooden vessels at Fortress Monroe, are simply matters for discussion; but certain it is that the Monitor, in her one encounter with the Merrimac, earned very many times over all that was expended in her construction and equip ment. The career of the Merrimac was typical of that of all of the Confederate ironclads-one grand dash or sally, which in three or four instances only, resulted in inflicting any considerable amount of damage upon the enemy, and even in these cases not attaining the slightest advantage for the Confederate government. In the operations on the lower Mississippi little was accomplished, in comparison with what might have been supposed would be, by the rams brought into action there, though it is true that the most formidable were not sufficiently completed to be considered serviceable. The Albemarle, Palmetto State, Chicora, and Atlanta, though in an ample state of completion each, were brought but once regularly into action. The Atlanta, in encountering at the outset the Weehawken, of course met much more than her match in invulnerability and weight of metal, and necessarily succumbed at once. But why more was not accomplished with the Charleston and New Berne, ironclads, seems strange, considering the success of the first dashes made by them. Of the raid made by the Palmetto State and Chicora upon the blockading fleet off Charleston we would give some little account, for the engagement, though brief, was a gallant one on the part of the captains of the blockaders. The most favorable time possible was seized upon by the Confederates, namely, the only occasion upon which all of the regular men-ofwar, except one, were away from their station, and during the prevalence of a thick, hazy atmosphere. About four o'clock on the morning of the 31st of January, 1863, the dash was made. The first vessel encountered was the Mercedita, Commander Stelwagen. She was a light iron ship, presenting much freeboard, and, like all vessels of her kind, offering no security to her engines or boilers, and with a light spar-deck battery, incapable of making defence against a low-lying adversary at close quarters. She had been "A DESPERATE ENCOUNTER FOLLOWED, THE KEYSTONE STATE RAMMING THE IRONCLAD AGAIN AND AGAIN." called from her station some two hours before by an alarm in connection with a supposed blockade-runner, had returned and come to anchor, and those of her officers and crew not actually on watch had turned in. Suddenly the Palmetto State made her appearance upon her starboard quarter. When first seen from the Mercedita the enemy was but a few yards distant. The officer of the watch hailed and received an unintelligible reply. There was neither time nor chance for defence, for even had there been time the guns of the Mercedita could not have been sufficiently depressed to do injury to the ironclad, which immediately crashed her ram into the frail craft, at the same instant firing her bow-gun, charged with a shell, which, passing through to the opposite side of the ship, exploded in the gunner's room, blowing the side out of it and instantly killing the gunner, who was just turning out in answer to the summons to quarters. Other shots followed in rapid succession, one of which played sad havoc by cutting away steam-pipes, thereby scalding the engineers and firemen, and causing such a rush of steam that, together with the inpouring of water from the effects of the ramming, the impression was that the ship was sinking, and all on board were thrown into con fusion. And what crew would not have been thrown out of discipline, taken thus abruptly, in a vessel in no wise suited to cope with an ironclad? There was no alternative but to surrender at demand. demand. A boat was hurriedly sent to the victor, when parole was given the vanquished. There was no time for better disposition to be made of the prize, for the firing had roused the other vessels near at hand on blockade, and more work was to be done, and quickly done. The next vessel encountered was the Keystone State, commanded by the gallant Le Roy. Le Roy was quick and bold. He was not the man to pause to consider the odds against him. But the light having now somewhat increased and the haze lifted, he took in the situation at once, and dashed with his frail wooden ship headlong at the enemy, receiving shell after shell as he approached. A desperate encounter followed, the Keystone State ramming the ironclad again and again, hoping to run her down. Shots were rapidly exchanged. Around about each other the vessels flew, but the high wooden sides and in every way exposed engines and boilers of the Keystone State were as mere paper against the shells of the enemy, which, exploding one after another within her, soon set her on fire. A halt was now necessary on the part of the brave Union commander. He found it necessary to haul off and extinguish the fire. This done, the attack was renewed, the smaller ram, the Chicora, also taking part. But the second encounter was brief, for a shell coming in almost fore and aft, pierced the steam-chest of the Keystone State, a disastrous scalding followed, and the water pouring out of the port boiler the ship heeled to starboard and the engines stopped. By this time the steamers Augusta and Quaker City, also high, light, elegant vessels like the Keystone State, being attracted by the firing, had approached sufficiently close to exchange shots; and now comes the strange part of the story, for the Confederates, instead of holding some delicacy about coming in close contact with her, but she was, after all, but a wooden ship, unprotected in any way with iron, and there were two ironclads to cope with her, and considering the complete devastation which they were making with the improvised men-of-war, it seems very strange, as a writer says, if " they did not remain outside of the bar during the day at least," that they did not venture an hour or two more of a conflict in which they were having it all their own way. Indeed, in such haste were they to get back to Charleston, that they did not tarry to make any disposition of their prize, the Keystone State; and why well-constructed ironclads, covered with four inches of iron plating and armed with two eighty-pound Brooke rifles, MERCEDITA AFTER THE FIGHT. their ground, made a grand sort of circuit, and put back to a position safe and snug, under the guns of Forts Sumter and Moultrie, being followed, as far as prudence permitted, by the United States sloop-of-war Housatonic, whose captain, William Rogers Taylor, was stationed with his vessel on the extreme northeasternmost point of the line of blockaders, and who, hearing the firing and seeing black smoke, had slipped his anchor and hurried to the scene of action, only arriving in time, however, to give chase to the ironclads and exchange shots with them at long range. True it is that the Housatonic was a regular man-of-war, and the Confederates may have felt besides shell guns, should have been in such a hurry to make off from frail wooden structures, made solely for carrying freight and passengers, seems really unaccountable, and especially in view of the testimony of those of the Keystone State, that the shots fired by her, which struck, even at comparatively close quarters, did no apparent injury, and the Confederate flag-officer, Ingraham's, statement in his official report of the affair, that they were not struck by a projectile during the raid. This ironclad episode certainly did not in any way redound to the credit of the Confederates. They made a dash under the most favorable conditions, disabled two vessels, and just as their work had really only fairly begun, took fright and put back under cover, never to make their appearance again outside Charleston bar. It would perhaps be unkind to refer at this late date to the farcical manifesto issued by General Beauregard and Flag-Officer Ingraham, on that same day, declaring "the blockade by the United States of the said city of Charleston, South Carolina, to be raised by a superior force of the Confederate States, from and after this 31st day of January, A. D. 1863." The fact is that all the blockading squadron save two remained in their places and held in their possession one of the most valuable prizes of the war, the Princess Royal, which had just been captured. who had not yet turned out. It cut the heads J LEADERS OF THE CIVIL WAR. AMES BIRDSEYE MCPHERSON, one of the most efficient general officers of the Federal army during the Civil War, was born in Sandusky County, Ohio, November 14, 1828. He entered the West Point Military Academy in 1849, and graduated with high honors and at the head of his class, June 30, 1853; received the rank of brevet second lieutenant of engineers and assistant instructor of practical engineering at the academy. This position he maintained until 1854, when he was appointed assistant engineer on the defences of New York harbor. After devoting three years to this important work, Lieutenant McPherson was transferred, in 1857, to Fort Delaware, where he was placed in charge of the construction of that fortification, and subsequently he superintended the erection of the works on Alcaltras Island, in San Francisco Bay. Early in 1861, he was transferred to Boston and placed in charge of the harbor fortifications there. About this time he was made captain, and in November, 1861, became aide-de-camp to General H. W. Halleck, in the Department of the West, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. From this time on, his promotion was rapid and his skill in practical engineering was of profound value to the Federal armies of the West, especially during the expeditions against Forts Henry and Donelson, during which period Colonel McPherson was chief engineer of the Army of the Tennessee. In May, 1862, he was commissioned brigadiergeneral of volunteers, and the following month became superintendent of the military roads in western Tennessee. In September, 1862, General McPherson was on the staff of General Grant, whom he accompanied throughout the Vicksburg campaign, and he commanded the 17th Army Corps from December 18, 1862, until promoted to the command of the Army of the Tennessee, early in 1864. Tennessee, early in 1864. He was placed in charge of Vicksburg after its capitulation, and, as an acknowledgment of his valuable services in that campaign, was given the rank of brigadier-general of the regular army, this rank dating from August 1, 1863. During Sherman's march to the sea, McPherson was one of his chief lieutenants, commanding, as we have seen, one of the three grand divisions of the former's forces, the Army of the Tennessee, composed of the 15th, 16th, and 17th corps. It was at the battle of Atlanta that this gallant soldier met his fate. During a lull in the engagement, and while the lines of the contending armies were being somewhat shifted, General McPherson, al most unattended, and with the lack of precaution as to personal safety that ever distinguished him, attempted to ride through a piece of woods to ascertain the position and disposition of a portion of the 17th corps. In a few moments after he had disappeared in the woods his horse came galloping back, riderless and wounded, while the brave McPherson lay dead under the trees-killed by a volley from the Confederate skirmish line, which had been rapidly advanced under cover of the forest. arrow, and soldierly in bearing; honest, frank, and winning in manner; bold and resolute in action-these were characteristics of the Ohio boy who commanded the Army of the Tennessee, and closed a brilliant military career before he had reached the age of thirty-six years. C LEMENT A. EVANS was one of the fighting generals of the Confederate army. He is a native of Georgia and received his first military training through the militia companies of which he was a member in early life. In 1861 he enlisted in the 31st Georgia regiment, and shortly became its major. Later he rose to the rank of colonel, and at the close of the conflict was in command of one of General Gordon's divisions, with the rank of brigadiergeneral. He was wounded several times, and earned an enviable reputation for dash and courage. MAJOR-GENERAL JAMES B. MC PHERSON. McPherson's death was a great blow to Sherman, and was deeply regretted not only by the men under his command, but also by the rank and file of the opposing army, who knew and admired his sterling soldierly qualities. By direction of General Sherman, the body of the fallen officer was taken to his old home in Clyde, Ohio, where it now reposes. In personal appearance, General McPherson was a striking figure. More than six feet in height, and well proportioned; straight as an General Evans's life has been less eventful but not less distinguished since than before the war. Abandoning law and politics, in which a brilliant future awaited him, he carried into effect a purpose which he had cherished for some time, to enter the Methodist ministry at the close of the war. He was received into the Georgia conference and served three years on a country circuit. Since that time he has served the principal churches of Augusta, Rome, Athens, and Atlanta. At the present time, General Evans is Commander-in-Chief of the Georgia division of the United Confederate Veterans, with headquarters at Atlanta, Georgia. His division is a part of an |