596 



NASHVILLE. 



Albany, retaining, at the same time, his connec- 

 tion with that at Cincinnati. As an astrono- 

 mical lecturer, he was exceedingly popular, and 

 among the monuments of his skill in perfecting 

 the necessary apparatus for that department of 

 science is an instrument at Albany for record- 

 ing right ascensions and declinations by electro- 

 magnetic aid to within T5 Vir f a 8econ( l of 

 time, and for the measurement, with great 

 accuracy, of large differences of declination 

 incapable of being reached by the microm- 

 eter. 



Among his published works are : " Planetary 

 and Stellar Worlds," "Popular Astronomy," 

 and a treatise on Algebra. On the 1st of July, 

 1846, he commenced the publication of a period- 

 ical entitled the " Sidereal Messenger," which, 

 at the end of two years, was discontinued for 

 want of sufficient patronage. At the breaking 



out of the present war, Professor Mitchel left 

 his scientific pursuits and sought an opportunity 

 of serving his country. In August, 1861, he 

 he was commissioned brigadier-general of vol- 

 unteers, and ordered to the department of the 

 Ohio, under the command of Maj.-Gen. Buell. 

 After the capture of Bowling Green and Nash- 

 ville he made a forced march southward and 

 seized the railway between Corinth and Chat- 

 tanooga, thereby breaking the enemy's line of 

 communication, and possessed himself of va- 

 rious points in northern Alabama, for which 

 he was made a major-general. In July, 1862, 

 he was relieved of his command, and, on the 

 17th of the September following, was appointed 

 commander of the department of the South, 

 where he was making preparations for a vigor- 

 ous campaign when he fell a victim to the 

 yellow fever. 



NASHVILLE. Intelligence of the capture 

 of Fort Donelson reached Nashville on Sunday, 

 February 16, and produced the utmost conster- 

 nation. The Confederate governor, Harris, im- 

 mediately convened the Legislature, but they 

 speedily adjourned to Memphis, whither the 

 public archives and money were also removed. 

 On the same day, Gen. A. S. Johnston passed 

 through the city on his retreat from Bowling 

 Green, and, before nightfall, hundreds of fam- 

 ilies were abandoning their homes and making 

 their way southward. The general confusion 

 was increased by the destruction of unfinished 

 steamers at the wharves, and the free distribu- 

 tion of the stores by the military authorities to 

 all who would take them. On Monday the pub- 

 lic stores were closed, and an effort was made 

 by Gen. Floyd, who had been placed in com- 

 mand of the city, to recover what had already 

 been given out ; but on Tuesday the distribution 

 began again, and continued until Saturday 

 morning. On Tuesday night the troops de- 

 stroyed the wire bridge and railroad bridge 

 across the Cumberland river, in spite of the 

 earnest remonstrances of the leading citizens. 

 The former cost $150,000, and the latter $250,- 

 000. Governor Harris made a speech recom- 

 mending the citizens to burn their private prop- 

 erty, and calling on Tennesseeans to rally and 

 meet him at Memphis, but little or no response 

 was made to his appeal. The machinery was re- 

 moved from many of the most important work- 

 shops and carried to Chattanooga. On the 

 28d, the rear guard of the Confederates evacu- 

 ated the city, and the same clay the advance of 

 Gen. Buell's column occupied Edgefield, a small 

 town on the opposite side of the river. The 

 next day Mayor Cheatham and a committee 

 from Nashville waited upon the general, and 

 agreed to surrender the city at a certain hour 

 on the following morning (the 25th), receiving 



assurances that the liberty and property of all 

 citizens should be sacredly respected. Before 

 the surrender was effected, however, Gen. Nel- 

 son arrived with his column on transports, ac- 

 companied by the gunboat St. Louis, and land- 

 ed at Nashville. The following proclamation 

 was afterward issued by the mayor : 



The committee representing the city anthorities and 

 people have discharged their duty by calling on Gen. 

 Buell, at his headquarters, in Edgefield, on yesterday. 

 The interview was satisfactory to the committee, and 

 there is every assurance of safety and protection to the 

 people, both in their persons and property. I there- 

 fore respectfully request that business be resumed, 

 and that all our citizens of every trade and profession 

 pursue their regular vocations. The county elections 

 will take place on the regular day, and all civil busi- 

 ness will be conducted as heretofore. Commanding 

 General Buell assures me that I can rely upon his aid 

 in enforcing our police regulations. One branch^of 

 business is entirely prohibited, viz., the sale or giving 

 away of intoxicating liquors. I shall not hesitate to 

 invoke the aid of Gen. Buell in case the recent laws 

 upon the subject are violated. I most earnestly call 

 upon the people of the surrounding country, who are 

 inside the Federal lines, to resume their commerce 

 with the city, and bring in their market supplies, es- 

 pecially wood, butter, and eggs, assuring them that 

 they will be fully protected and amply remunerated. 

 B. B. CHEATHAM, Mayor. 



The city remained perfectly quiet, and the 

 Federal troops, to use the words of the Con- 

 federate press, "conducted themselves with 

 marked propriety." The Union feeling in the 

 city, however, was for many weeks extremely 

 faint. A correspondent, writing ten days after 

 Gen. Buell's arrival, says: "The disagreeable, 

 but irresistible conviction forces itself upon the 

 mind of even a superficial observer, that what- 

 ever the number and warmness of Unionists 

 may have been at the time when, and for some 

 time after Tennessee was juggled out of the 

 Union, eight out of every ten have been made 

 submissionists by the protracted secession prea- 



