ARMY OPERATIONS. 



37 



After taking possession of Clarksville, Com. 

 Foote returned to Cairo for the purpose of ob- 

 taining an additional gunboat and six or eight 

 mortar boats. Meantime the troops of Gen. 

 Grant, under Brig.-Gen. Smith, were pushed 

 forward to Clarksville, and at the request of 

 Gen. Smith, Lieut. Bryant, of the gunboat Cai- 

 ro, preceded seven transports with the brigade 

 of Gen. Nelson up the river to Nashville. They 

 arrived on the 24th. The troops were landed 

 without any opposition, as there was not any 

 hostile force on the banks of the river. On the 

 same day the advance of Gen. Buell's centre 

 from Bowling Green arrived on the opposite 

 side of the river, to see the Stars and Stripes 

 already floating in triumph from the staff on the' 

 State capitol. The Confederate force under 

 Gen. Albert S. Johnston retired to Murfrees- 

 borough, a small town thirty-two miles distant 

 on the Nashville and Chattanooga railroad. 

 Here they were soon after joined by the force 

 under the Confederate General Critfenden. 



An invasion having now been commenced 

 within the limits of the States attached to the 

 Confederacy, the Major-General commanding 

 the department of Missouri issued the follow- 

 ing order for the regulation of the troops : 



HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT or MISSOURI, ) 

 ST. Louis, February 22. $ 



The Major-General commanding the department de- 

 sires to impress upon all officers the importance of pre- 

 serving good order and discipline among their troops as 

 the armies of the West advance into Tennessee and the 

 Southern States. Let us show to our fellow citizens in 

 these States that we come merely to crush out rebel- 

 lion, and to restore to them peace and the benefits of 

 the Constitution and the Union, of which they have 

 been deprived by their selfish and unprincipled leaders. 



They have been told that we come to oppress and 

 plunder. By our acts we will undeceive them ; we will 

 prove to them that we come to restore, not to violate, 

 the Constitution and laws in restoring to them the flag 

 of the Union. We will assure them that they shaU 

 enjoy under its folds tne same protection of life and 

 property as in former days. 



Soldiers, let no excess on your part tarnish the glory 

 of our arms. The orders heretofore issued in this de- 

 partment in regard to pillaging, marauding, the de- 

 struction of private property and stealing, and the con- 

 cealment of slaves, must be strictly enforced. 



It does not belong to the military to decide upon the 

 relation of master and slave. Such questions must be 

 settled by civil courts. No fugitive slave will, there- 

 fore, be admitted within our Tines or camps except 

 when especially ordered by the General command- 

 ing. Women, children, merchants, farmers, mechan- 

 ics, and all persons not in arms, are regarded as non- 

 combatants, and are not to be molested in their per- 

 sons or property. If, however, they aid and assist the 

 enemy, they become belligerents, and will be treated 

 as such. If they violate the laws of war, they will be 

 made to suffer the penalties of such violation. 



Military stores and public property must be surren- 

 dered , and any attempt to conceal "such property bv 

 fraudulent transfer or otherwise, will be punished; but 

 no private property will be touched unless by orders 

 of the General commanding. 



Whenever it becomes necessary to levy forced con- 

 tributions for the supply and subsistence of our troops, 

 such levies will be made as light as possible, and be so 

 distributed as to produce no distress among the peo- 

 ple. All property so taken must be receipted and fully 

 accounted for, as heretofore directed. 



These orders will be read at the head of every regi- 



ment, and all officers are commanded to strictly enforce 

 them. 

 Uy command of Maj.-Gen. HALLECK. 



N. H. MCLEAN, Assistant Adjutant-General. 



The effect of these military operations was a 

 great excitement in the neighboring Confeder- 

 ate States. To witness their strongest positions 

 for defence flanked and evacuated without a 

 blow, to see other fortified points compelled to 

 a quick surrender by an irresistible force of 

 men and gunboats, revealed to them the gigan- 

 tic contest in which they were engaged. They 

 said : ' No people were ever engaged in a more 

 serious struggle. It is emphatically a combat 

 for life or death." The Governor of Mississippi 

 issued a proclamation calling upon every citi- 

 zen able to bear arms to have his arms in readi- 

 ness. Boards of police in all the counties of 

 the State were required to appoint " enrollers" 

 preparatory to drafting, and to establish gun 

 shops to repair arms. The Governor of Arkan- 

 sas issued a proclamation drafting into im- 

 mediate service every man in the State sub- 

 ject to military duty, and requiring them to 

 respond within twenty days. Gov. Harris of 

 Tennessee issued a proclamation, saying : " As 

 Governor of your State and Commander in 

 Chief of its army, I call upon every able-bodied 

 man of the State, without regard to age* to en- 

 list in its service. I command him who can 

 obtain a weapon to march with our armies. I 

 ask him who can repair or forge an arm to 

 make it ready at once for the soldier. I call 

 upon every citizen to open his purse and his 

 storehouses of provision to the brave defenders 

 of our soil. I bid the old and the young, wher- 

 ever they may be, to stand as pickets to our 

 struggling armies." Thus was set on foot a 

 system of measures which led to the passage 

 of a conscription act by the Confederate Con- 

 gress and the raising of an immense Confeder- 

 ate army during the ensuing summer months. 



Meanwhile, on the morning of the 4th of 

 March, an expedition consisting of the gun- 

 boats Louisville, Carondelet, St. Louis. Pittsburg, 

 Lexington and four mortar boats, left Cairo for 

 Columbus on the Mississippi. Transports with 

 the following troops formed a part of the ex- 

 pedition: 42d and 2Vth Illinois, 6 companies 

 of the 55th Illinois, four companies of the 71 st 

 Ohio and one company of the 54th Ohio. On 

 arrival the fort was found to be unoccupied, 

 except by two hundred and fifty of the 2d Illi- 

 nois regiment, who had reached it by a land 

 march a short time previous. The enemy had 

 commenced the evacuation on the 26th ult. 

 Almost everything difficult to move had been 

 more or less destroyed. Still a large amount 

 of army material was obtained. The enemy 

 had retired down the river. 



At Nashville order was speedily restored. 

 Col. Matthews of the 51st Ohio was appointed 

 pro vost^ marshal and the troops were all quar- 

 tered without the city. An immense amount 

 of military stores of the Confederate Govern- 

 ment was found in the city. They consisted 



