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AIKIN, LUCY. 



ALABAMA. 



AIKIN, Miss LUCY, an English author and 

 poet, born at Warrington, Eng., Nov. 6, 

 1781 ; died at Hampstead, Eng., Jan. 29, 1864. 

 Miss Aikin belonged to a gifted and highly 

 intellectually family, her grandfather having 

 been classical and afterwards Divinity tutor in 

 the Warrington academy, her father, Dr. John 

 Aikin, being the well-known author and poet, 

 and, in conjunction with his sister, Mrs. Anna 

 Laetitia Barbauld, the author of that excellent 

 juvenile classic "Evenings at Home." Miss 

 Aikin was educated under her father's direc- 

 tion, and her literary attainments were far 

 beyond those of almost any woman of her 

 time, embracing a very thorough familiarity 

 with the principal French and Italian authors 

 and the Latin classics, as well as a profound 

 acquaintance with English history and litera- 

 ture. In 1810 she published her first poetical 

 work, "Epistles on Women," though she had 

 previously assisted her father and aunt in some 

 of their books. The "Epistles" is character- 

 ized by a smooth and polished versification, 

 and terseness and compactness of language, 

 and her style is evidently formed on the model 

 of that of Pope, the master-spirit of the latter 

 part of the last century. In 1814 appeared 

 "Lorimer, a Tale," a work of considerable 

 ability; but Miss Aikin had been for some 

 years preparing for a higher flight in literature. 

 After years of study and critical reading and 

 comparison, she published, in 1818, her "Me- 

 moirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth," 

 comprehending in it the private life of the 

 queen and the domestic life of the period, 

 anecdotes and biographies of the principal 

 members of her court, and notices of the 

 manners, opinions, and literature of the age. 

 The work received, as it merited, the hearty 

 approbation of Professor Smythe, Sir Henry 

 Hallam, and other eminent historians. In 

 1822 this was followed by "Memoirs of the 

 Court of James I.," a well-written work, but 

 relating to a period inferior in interest to that 

 of Elizabeth. In 1823 she published a memoir 

 of her father, who had died the preceding 

 year, and in 1825 one of her aunt, Mrs. Bar- 

 bauld. She then resumed her historic studies, 

 and in 1833 produced her "Memoirs of the 

 Court and Eeign of Charles I.," and ten years 

 later, " Memoirs of Addison." This was her 

 last important work. Her later years were 

 spent in quiet enjoyment in the family of 

 her niece ^ at Wimbledon and Hampstead, 

 where, amid a large circle of valued friends, 

 she held a court of her own, her rare conver- 

 sational powers and her high intellectual at- 

 tainments making her the constant centre of 

 attraction. 



ALABAMA. The military operations of 

 18G4 touched the State of Alabama only on 

 its northern and southern border. On the 

 north, these operations were confined to the 

 line of railroad from Memphis to Chattanooga. 

 On the south, the forts at the entrance of 

 Mobile harbor were captured by the Navy 



(See NAVAL OPERATIONS) and a raid was 

 made by a Federal force from the neighborhood 

 of Pensacola to Pollard. The force consisting of 

 two thousand cavalry, started on December 

 13th, and reached Pollard on the morning of 

 the 16th. The railroad depot, eight cars load- 

 ed chiefly with grain, the railroad and Quarter- 

 master's store-houses, in which were tents, 

 boxes of haversacks, canteens, knapsacks, har- 

 nesses, and Quartermaster's property in abun- 

 dance, the Commissary's store-houses, filled 

 with meal, corn, a number of barrels of soft 

 soap, some flour, etc., and the ordnance build- 

 ing, with -some two thousand stand of arms, 

 and a large stock of accoutrements, were de- 

 stroyed. A trestle bridge, three miles from 

 the town, and small crossings of numerous 

 streams, were burned. Some skirmishing took 

 place on the return of the expedition, causing 

 a loss of seventy-five in killed, wounded, and 

 missing. 



The two most important cities in the State 

 are Selma and Mobile. The former is on the 

 west bank of the Alabama Kiver, fifty-six miles 

 west of Montgomery, the capital, and three 

 hundred and eight miles above Mobile by the 

 river : as a shipping point for iron, coal, ammu- 

 nition and Commissary stores, it is of the 

 highest importance to the Confederacy. There 

 are manufactories of shot, shell, torpedoes, 

 cannon, powder, canteens, and clothing. Naval 

 foundries are located there, and a navy yard, 

 at which iron-clad batteries are constructed; 

 also private establishments for the manufac- 

 ture of cotton cards, wagons, ambulances, and 

 nitre. It is the terminus of the Alabama and 

 Tennessee Eailroad, over which is brought 

 immense quantities of coal and iron. Ten miles 

 west are the saltworks of Alabama, which 

 have furnished the largest portion of salt used 

 in Alabama, Mississippi, and Western Georgia, 

 during the last two years. 



An extra session of the Legislature was 

 called by the Governor, in September, to devise 

 measures for the defence of the State. That 

 body neither adopted the Governor's sugges- 

 tions nor substituted any of their own. Some 

 resolutions in favor of reconstruction on the 

 plan proposed by the Chicago Convention, 

 were introduced and discussed, but no public 

 measure was adopted. After two weeks, an 

 adjournment took place. At the regular ses- 

 sion in November, the Governor, in his Mes- 

 sage, discussed at much length the question of 

 reconstruction through a convention, and de- 

 nounced it as impracticable. With regard to 

 reconstruction he said: "Who would desire 

 a political union with those who have murder- 

 ed our sons, outraged our women, and with 

 demoniac malice wantonly destroyed our prop- 

 erty, and now seek to make slaves of us ? The 

 voices from the graves of two hundred thou- 

 sand fallen heroes would blanch the cheeks of 

 the recreant who would propose it. The 

 hoarse shout of four hundred thousand living 

 heroes now with arms IP their hands, fighting 



