to Gen. Floyd, he says of the affair: "I felt that in this contingency, whilst it might be questioned whether I should, as commander of the army, lead it to certain destruction in an unavailing fight, yet I had a right individually to determine that I would not survive a surrender there. To satisfy both propositions, I agreed to hand over the command to Gen. Buckner, through Gen. Pillow, and to make an effort for my own extrication by any and every means that might present themselves to me." He succeeded in getting away, during the night, a large part of his own command, before the terms of capitulation had been made between Gen. Buckner and Gen. Grant.

He reached Nashville on the 18th, where Gen. A. S. Johnston placed him in command of the city during its evacuation.* He then proceeded to Murfreesboro, where Gen. Johnston's retreating army had its first rendezvous. Thence he went to Chattanooga, where he received an order from Richmond, relieving him of command.

The rapid and unexpected success of the Federal armies in Kentucky and Tennessee, threw the South into alarm and despondency. When it became known that Gen. A. S. Johnston had for months been in command of less than 30,000 men, great censure

* An officer of the army, who assisted in the evacuation of Nashville, thus describes the admirable conduct and manner of Gen. Floyd on that occasion, with an intelligent glance at the character of the man :

"I saw a great deal of Gen. Floyd while he was commanding in Nashville, and I' was remarkably impressed by him. I was required to report to him almost every hour in the twenty-four, and he was always surrounded by a crowd of applicants for all sorts of favours, and couriers bringing all sorts of news. It was impossible in the state of confusion which prevailed to prohibit or regulate this pressing and noisy attendance, or to judge, without examination, of what was important to be considered. Many matters which ordinarily a general officer would not permit himself to be troubled with, might need attention and action from him at such a time. Irascible and impetuous as Gen. Floyd seemed to be by nature-his nerves unstrung, too, by the fatigues of so many busy days and sleepless nights-and galled as he must have been by the constant annoyances, he yet showed no sign of impatience. I saw him give way once to anger, which was then provoked by the most stupid and insolent pertinacity. It was interesting to watch the struggle which would sometimes occur between his naturally violent temper and the restraint he imposed upon it. His eye would glow, his face and his lips turn pale, and his frame shake with passion; he would be silent for minutes, as if not daring to trust himself to speak, looking all the while upon the ground, and he would then address the man, whose brusqueness or obstinacy had provoked him, in the mildest tone and manner. He was evidently endowed with no common nerve, will, and judgment."

was cast upon the Richmond government. It became necessary to divert public attention to some minor issue; and those who felt the popular censure most severely had the address to divert the discussion from the question who was responsible for not reinforcing Gen. Albert Johnston with 50,000 or 75,000 men, to the question whether Gen. Floyd was justifiable in bringing away from Fort Donelson a part of his command after it had become impracticable to bring the whole. The great question of statesmanship and military policy was forgotten, for the pitiful quibble raised by a few martinets.

On being relieved from command, Gen. Floyd retired to Virginia, where he remained inactive but a short time. The Legislature of that Commonwealth, indignant at the treatment he had received, conferred upon him the commission of MajorGeneral, and directed him to recruit and organize a division of troops from among the classes not embraced in the Confederate conscription. These classes were so restricted that the task was not easily performed. By the fall, however, he had succeeded in getting together a force of nearly 2,000 men, which he moved into the country embracing the head-waters of the Big Sandy River, where he several times surprised the troops of the enemy posted in that quarter, capturing and destroying their dépôts of supplies. His exposure in this service, however, soon threw him into ill health, and he was ultimately obliged to return home, to occupy for many months what was destined to be a death-bed. His disorder finally took the form of cancer, or rather scirrhus of the stomach, of which he died, on the 26th August, 1863.

Such is a brief memoir of one of the most remarkable men of the South, or of his day. His intellect was clear, strong, and practical. His forecast of political events was unerring. His power over the minds of men when present before him, whether singly or collectively, was magical. He was always successful with the people when he went before or among them; he paid no court to politicians, who were for the most part his bitter assailants. He was ever loyal in his personal attachments; he was fearless and defiant of his enemies. He had the faculty of enlisting the devoted affection of those who knew him; he was much misunderstood by those who did not. He was often assailed by good men who were strangers to his real character;

but from among those who knew him well, none ever turned upon him but the mean and false. He was peculiarly the friend of young men, encouragin gthem to manly exertion and in honourable ambition. He sympathized with the worthy poor, was fond of conversing with them, and gave to hundreds a help, of which the world knew nothing. His heart was full of kindly affections; he sought out children wherever he came, and these instinctively hung upon and loved him. His habits were frugal, and free from all extravagance. Throughout the last twentyfive years of his life, his circumstances were straitened; and, after passing through many public trusts, he died as he had lived, His temperance, both in meat and drink, bordered upon abstemiousness; he eschewed betting and gambling, which he held in repugnance; he was a regular attendant upon religious worship; and he died a respected member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, enjoying, in extremis, the affectionate ministrations and devoted attachment of his minister, who left the army and came far to render these grateful offices. This is the great and generous character which partisan rancour and sectional misconceptions have pictured as a monster in treason and various criminality.

a poor man.

LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE.

CHAPTER LXXIV.

His military life before the War of 1861.-His command in the Trans-Mississippi. Ordered to Bowling Green, Kentucky.-At Shiloh.-His views and advice in the Kentucky Campaign.-Promoted to a Lieutenant-General.-The first day of Murfreesboro.-Reinforcements wanting at a critical time.-Gen. Hardee as an organizer of troops.-Religious incidents of his camp.-He joins Johnston's army in Mississippi.-Return to the Army of Tennessee.-The battle of Missionary Ridge.-Fought against the advice of Gen. Hardee.-He takes charge of Bragg's army at Dalton.-Why he declined permanent command of it.-The Atlanta campaign.-Protest against the appointment of Gen. Hood as Commander-inChief.-Hardee's desperate fight at Jonesboro.-He is assigned to the command of the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. -Condition of this Department at the time of Sherman's "march to the sea."-The evacuation of Savannah.-Campaign of the Carolinas.-Hardee's fight at Averysboro.-Battle of Bentonville.-The General loses a young son in the last affair of arms.-A tribute from Arkansas troops to Gen. Hardee.-Estimate of his military record.-His virtues as a soldier and a citizen.

WILLIAM JOSEPH HARDEE was born in Camden county, Georgia, in 1815. He obtained his military education both at West Point and at the celebrated cavalry school of Saumaur, in France. He was the author of one of the best works on military tactics that had ever been published; and, up to the period of the war between the North and the South, his military services had extended over more than twenty years. He had served in Florida; he had been stationed on the Western frontier; he had accompanied Taylor across the Rio Grande in the Mexican campaign, taken part in the siege of Monterey, and in various actions distinguished himself to the gates of Mexico. He was twice brevetted "for gallant and meritorious service" during this war, and came out of it Lieutenant-Colonel by brevet. Thereafter, he was on duty on the Texan frontier until 1853; in 1855, he was appointed

Major of the 2d Cavalry; and the following year he was appointed Commandant of the Corps of Cadets at West Point, and filled that office until 1860. Upon being relieved, he obtained leave of absence, and was in Georgia at the time of the secession of that State.

He brought to the service of the Southern Confederacy a fruitful experience, and a name generally known in military circles. He was offered by President Davis the position of Adjutant-General of the Army. This he promptly declined in favour of more active service. The Provisional Congress authorized the appointment of five general officers, and Hardee was one of the five upon whom it was intended this rank should be conferred; but the arrival of Gen. Cooper, about this time, filled out the number to whom the appointments were eventually given.

Hardee was first assigned to the command of Fort Morgan, at the entrance of Mobile Bay; but in June, 1861, he was sent, with the rank of Brigadier-General, to take command in Arkansas. He commenced his military career with a most brilliant design. When Gen. Price was in the heat of his first famous campaign in Missouri, and pursuing the victory he had obtained at Oak Hills, Gen. Hardee was also intent upon a movement in that State, which promised the most important results. It was to advance through Southeastern Missouri from the Arkansas border, having his base at Pocahontas; to unite at Frederickton with a column under Pillow, of some 6,000 or 8,000 men, moving from New Madrid; to take Ironton, and then, by flanking and threatening to get between that place and St. Louis, to compel the evacuation of the latter city, or to defeat its garrison in the open field. This movement would have cut off and destroyed the defeated and routed army of Lyon, then in full flight for St. Louis, and made the Confederates masters of the situation in Missouri. But the campaign was overruled by other necessities— the first instance of that frequent disappointment of decisive operations in the West, due to the lack of uniformity and concert in the plans and actions of the various commanders. It was considered at Richmond most important, at that time, to occupy and fortify Columbus, in Kentucky, situated on the Mississippi River, some twenty-two miles below the mouth of the Ohio. This measure, it was thought, would protect the States