and arms of the United States at San Antonio. There were at this time about 2,500 United States troops within the boundaries of Texas, and the enterprise of conquering the State from such a force looked serious, and demanded dispatch in its execution. "But," said McCulloch," to Texans a moment's notice is sufficient, when their State demands their services." On the 16th February, he stood before San Antonio with 400 men, and demanded the surrender of its garrison. It was conceded without bloodshed, and with the ultimate result of an agreement, on the part of Gen. Twiggs, that all the forts in Texas should be forthwith delivered up, the United States troops to march from the State by way of the coast. By this measure there was obtained for the State more than $1,000,000 worth of property; its soil was freed, without bloodshed or trouble, from the presence of the Federal troops; and all opportunities were closed for the hostile force to go to New Mexico or Kansas, and possibly there organize a new army, or menace the Texan frontier in future.

Subsequently McCulloch accepted a mission to go abroad to procure arms for the State of Texas. But before he had arranged for this, President Davis appointed him Brigadier-General, and assigned him to the command of the Indian Territory. He was soon on a larger and more active field than he had anticipated, and his first important services in the war were rendered in coöperating with Gen. Price in his famous Missouri campaign.

The events of this campaign are given elsewhere in this work with more detail than is necessary here in associating them with the name of Gen. McCulloch. Although he claimed to be the superiour officer in the operations in Missouri, and the claim was generally allowed by the State officers, yet the honours of the campaign belong peculiarly to Gen. Price, and it was his inspiration that achieved the most of its wonders and glories. Indeed, candour compels the statement that the conduct and figure of Gen. McCulloch, in the first campaign of Missouri, were not very creditable; that he was unnecessarily harsh in compelling Price to serve as a division commander under him; and that he did some acts of very questionable generalship. He had the misfortune of a high and domineering temper; he repelled advice; and his contempt and disdain of the enemy were such that he was apt to treat the counsels of prudence as the suggestions of timidity.

His

experiences of Indian and Mexican warfare had made him a sagacious partizan and a desperately brave man; his activity was wonderful, his senses keen, his personal courage marked, even in the company of the most famous adventurers; but it is not this school of prowess which makes great Generals and qualifies men to lead large armies against equal and well-organized foes. Gen. McCulloch, bravest of the brave, was not above those errours which, while they may not actually disfigure courage, yet rob it of much of the utility which elevates and ennobles it. He was headstrong, over-confident and imperious. At the battle of Oak Hill, he was virtually surprised by the enemy, and disdained his attack until the last moment; and he was saved only by that steady valour of Southern troops, which so often in the war redeemed the errours of the commander. A great victory was obtained, and Gen. McCulloch himself announced: "The General-in-chief of the enemy is slain, and many of their other general officers wounded; their army is in full flight; and now, if the true men of Missouri will rise up and rally around our standard, the State will be redeemed." But, so far from realizing these anticipations, Gen. McCulloch withdrew from the campaign which was directed by Price towards Lexington, and aimed to destroy the enemy's power on the Missouri River. Retiring to Arkansas, he committed the errour of dividing the forces which should have contained the enemy in Missouri, and discouraging its population by withdrawing in their face at the very time he was calling them to arms.

Perhaps Gen. McCulloch might have retrieved these early errours, contracted in a narrow though active school of military experience, and developed better generalship as the war extended, and called for large and comprehensive purposes. But Providence did not permit it, and death terminated his career in the first year of the war. He fell in the battle of Elk Horn, which was fought under the direction of Gen. Van Dorn, and where he commanded one of the wings. of the Confederate army. It was a weary and bloody contest; an engagement of fifteen hours, extending through the larger portion of two consecutive days. The field exhibited sterner features of war than had yet been seen. Some of the Texan soldiers had used their large, heavy knives, and there were cleft skulls lying in pools of blood. A remarkable feature of the battle, and one adding strange horrours to it, was the employment of

several thousand Indian warriours on the Confederate side. An actor in this extraordinary drama of arms says: "As the sound of cannon came the third or fourth time, like the noise in spring-time on the marshy margin of a lake, only more shrill, loud, and apparently more numerous than even the frogs, came the war-whoop and hideous yell of the Indians." The battle was at its height, and Gen. McCulloch was leading the victorious advance on the enemy's left, when a fatal bullet arrested his career. He fell within the vortex of fire. He was struck by a minie rifle ball in his left breast, and died of the wound about eleven o'clock in the night. He insisted that he would recover; and turned his head incredulously from the physician when told that he had but brief time to live. His remains were taken to Texas, and buried at Austin. His untimely end was greatly lamented, and there was not a pulse among the thousands of brave hearts, who called the flag of the "Lone Star" their own, that did not beat with emotion for the loss of the commander who, whatever his faults, had defended that flag with the devotion of many years, and a courage of immortal

memory.

MAJ.-GEN. JOHN H. MORGAN.

CHAPTER LIX.

Morgan raises a company in the Mexican war.-"The Captain."-His natural aptitude for arms. His personal appearance.-His escape from Kentucky.-A trick on the enemy. His early services on Green River.-How he captured six Federals. -Adventure with a telegraph operator.-His first expedition into Kentucky.—A new engine of war.-Freaks of the telegraph.-The affair of Hartsville.-His expedition through Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio.-Its captures and ravages.-Gen. Morgan a prisoner.-Cruelty and indignities of the enemy. His escape from the Ohio penitentiary.-Detailed account of his escape and travel through the enemy's lines. -An ovation at Richmond.-His new command on the Virginia border.-Disfavour and prejudice of the Government.-Gen. Morgan's last expedition into Kentucky. -Its defeat.-Affair of Mt. Sterling.-Cruel slanders of Gen. Morgan.-Attempts an expedition to Bull Gap, East Tennessee.-Surprised and killed by the enemy. -Different versions of his death.-A brief review of his campaigns.

JOHN H. MORGAN was the oldest of six brothers, all of whom, save one too young to bear arms, did military service for the Southern Confederacy. He was born at Huntsville, Alabama, June 1, 1825, was reared in Kentucky, and was a lineal descendant of Morgan of revolutionary fame.

In 1846, when the call came for "more volunteers" in the Mexican war, John H. Morgan, then scarcely of age, raised a company; but before it could enter upon active service the news came that a treaty of peace had been concluded. Upon the disbanding of the company, the conduct of young Morgan was remarkable. He indemnified out of his own means every man for the loss of his time during the period of recruiting. It was at this time that he gained the title of captain; and so familiar and dear was the word that, for a long time, when he was ascending the heights of fame in the great war between North and South, and had made a name for the world's tongue, many of the

Kentuckians in his command refused to recognize or apply any other title to him than that of "THE CAPTAIN."

Shortly after the Mexican war Morgan purchased an establishment, and engaged in the manufacture of jeans, linseys and bagging for the Southern market. He was detained by the sickness and death of his wife from taking up arms at the outset of the war, which President Lincoln had fully declared in his proclamation of April, 1861; but some months thereafter he secretly collected a little band of followers, not over twenty-five in number, and left his home, making his way to Green River, where he reported himself to the Confederate officer in command "ready for duty."

Such was the small beginning of a career that was to obtain the applause of his countrymen and the wonder of the enemy. Morgan's little command was rapidly increased by the arrival of exiles from Kentucky, who knew well the worth and valour of the man as a leader. He was not a graduate of West Point; but he had a natural aptitude for arms, a restless activity, and a faculty of adaptation in his manners which made him a favourite in every grade of society. He was six feet high, broad-shouldered and magnificently proportioned; had soft auburn hair, gray eyes, a fair complexion, and a smile of wonderful sweetness. Of excessive animal spirits and a jovial disposition, he was at home among the rudest people; and although there he would sometimes display an uncultivated humour and join in the coarsest entertainment, yet he readily adapted himself to whatever company he entered, and his perfect self-possession and modest, unassuming style of speech indicated him in the highest classes of society as a genuine and thorough Kentucky gentleman. His general appearance was that of a gentleman of leisure,—his carriage exceedingly graceful and manly, with rather an inclination to be fastidious in his dress. But the man who graced a parlour, and practiced all the accomplishments of polite society, presented another picture in the field. There the neat dress, the dainty gloves, les objets de luxe were laid aside, and "the Captain" appeared wearing a grey roundabout, a wide-brimmed black felt hat, with boots drawn over his pantaloons, and presenting that carelessness of attire which denotes severe and earnest work. At the commencement of the war, he was possessed of great wealth, all of which he left.