ARMY OPERATIONS. 



without its disturbances, though the wholesale 

 massacres of the previous year were, happily, 

 not repeated. During the spring and early 

 summer, there were occasional outrages on the 

 part of the Sioux of Minnesota and Dakota, who 

 penetrated the lines, although a guard of 2,000 

 men were stationed along the frontier, and 

 murdered about 30 persons. About a dozen of 

 these assassins were captured or killed. Early 

 in June General Sibley started with a force of 

 between two and three thousand men for 

 Devil's Lake, in Dakota Territory, 500 miles 

 from St. Paul's, and sent General Sully, about 

 the same time, with a large body of cavalry, up 

 the Missouri, to cooperate with him in cutting 

 off the retreat of the savages. On the 3d of 

 July, Little Crow, the principal chief of the 

 Sioux, who had been actively engaged during 

 the winter and spring in endeavoring to raise 

 the Sioux and Yanktonais to make another at- 

 tack upon the settlers in Minnesota, and had 

 endeavored to obtain guns and ammunition 

 from British America, was killed by Mr. 

 Sampson, about six miles north of Hutchinson, 

 Minnesota. He was not fully identified till some 

 time after. The cavalry force under General 

 Sully failed to connect with General Sibley, 

 and that general encountered the Indians, near 

 Missouri Conteau, on the 25th of July, and en- 

 gagements followed between that date and the 

 29th, at Big Mound, Dead Buffalo Lake, Stony 

 Lake, and on the banks of the Missouri. In 

 these engagements between 60 and 70 of the 

 Indians were killed and as many more wounded. 

 The loss of General Sibley's troops was five 

 killed and 4 wounded. On the 3d of Septem- 

 ber, General Sully encountered and defeated a 

 body of Indians at "Whitestone Hall, about 130 

 miles above the Little Cheyenne. A part of 

 these Indians had previously been engaged 

 against Gen. Sibley. A large number of them 

 were killed and wounded, and 156 taken pris- 

 oners. Gen. Sully's loss was 20 killed and 38 

 wounded. The Indians fled across the Missouri, 

 and most of them, it is believed, took refuge in 

 Idaho Territory, where they were, late in the 

 year, guilty of some outrages. 



In January, 1863, roving bands of Indians 

 committed some thefts, robberies, and murders 

 in the western part of what is now called Idaho 

 Territory, in the vicinity of Bear river. Act- 

 ing Brig. General Connor, in command in that 

 region, marched with a force of 275 men to 

 Bear river, a distance of 140 miles, through 

 deep snows, in which 76 of his men were dis- 

 abled by frozen feet, and, with 200 men, at- 

 tacked the Indian stronghold, in which 300 

 warriors were assembled, and after a hard- 

 fought battle of four hours, destroyed the en- 

 tire band, leaving 224 dead upon the field. 

 His own loss was 14 killed and 49 wounded. 

 Since that time the Indians in that quarter have 

 been quiet. 



At the close of 1863 the Federal armies had 

 made large progress. The State of Missouri 

 was placed beyond the danger of an invasion. 



ASIA. 



147 



The military power of the enemy in Arkansas 

 was broken, and the greatest portion of the 

 State made subject to the army of the Union. 

 The occupation of the mouth of the Rio Grande, 

 in Western Texas, has destroyed one outlet 

 from the Confederacy to -foreign countries, and 

 the commerce which thereby existed. The 

 capture of Vicksburg and Port Hudson removed 

 from the banks of the Mississippi every milita- 

 ry station of the enemy, by which the naviga- 

 tion of that river could be closed. It broke up 

 the facilities for communication between the 

 States east and west of that river, and, with the 

 occupation of the eastern part of Tennessee, 

 gave to the Federal arms the entire control of 

 that State. It brought under the same control 

 a part of the States of Mississippi and Louisiana 

 on the shores of the river. In the East there 

 was no material change in the position of mili- 

 tary affairs. No operations of any magnitude 

 had taken place in the-Departments of Virgi- 

 nia and North Carolina. And with the excep- 

 tion of the siege of Charleston, the same is true 

 of the Department of the South, embracing the 

 States of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. 

 The territory thus lost by the enemy embraced 

 some of the most important districts for pro- 

 ducing grain and cattle in the Southern States. 

 It also contained some valuable deposits of 

 nitre, used for the manufacture of gunpowder. 

 The Secretary of "War, in his annual report, in 

 December, said : " The success of our arms 

 during the last year has enabled the Depart- 

 ment to make a reduction of over two hundred 

 millions of dollars in the war estimates for the 

 ensuing fiscal year." 



ASIA. Asia has, at present, only three great 

 countries, which are purely Asiatic : China, Ja- 

 pan, and Persia. Each of these is now in con- 

 stant intercourse with the countries of Europe 

 and America. China and Japan, in particular, 

 are undergoing a transformation which bids 

 fair to become one of the prominent events 

 in the history of the nineteenth century. (See 

 CHINA and JAPAN.) 



Persia has an area of about 546,000 English 

 square miles, with a population of nearly ten 

 millions. Its intercourse with the countries 

 of Europe has, of late, become more frequent, 

 and the Government has adopted in the ad- 

 ministration of affairs some of the forms of 

 European countries. A Persian newspaper 

 has been established in the capital. A tele- 

 graph line has been completed between Tehe- 

 ran, Tabreez, and Reshd, and encouraged by 

 its success, the Government has ordered the 

 construction of a new line, to connect the Per- 

 sian capital with Bagdad, and thus with Europe. 

 The Persian army, in June, 1862, c.onsisted of 

 95,000 infantry, 500 regular cavalry, 29,030 ir- 

 regular cavalry, 5,000 artillery, and 380 "Zam- 

 b'areks" (to serve artillery drawn by camels). 

 In 1863 the Persian Government sent 20,000 

 men to the frontier of Afghanistan, because 

 the ruler of that country, the celebrated Dost 

 Mohammed, had attacked Herat, a principality, 



