CLARKSBURG. 



COMMERCE OF THE U. S. 103 



Union forces under Gen. Cox, they retreated. 

 One shot was fired from the Union force into 

 the steamboat Moffit, which caused her boiler 

 to explode, and she was burnt to the water's 

 edge. The troops under Gen. Wise were in": a 

 fortified camp below Charleston, but they evac- 

 uated their position and*!eft considerable spoil 

 behind them, which was taken by Gen. Cox's 

 troops. They retreated to Gauley bridge, 

 thirty-eight miles above. 



CLARKSBURG, the capital of Harrison 

 county, Virginia, is located on the west fork 

 of the Monougahela River, at the mouth of Elk 

 Creek. It is 220 miles northwest of Rich- 

 mond. The village is situated on high table- 

 land, environed by hills. When the ordinance 

 of secession passed the Virginia State Conven- 

 tion, some of the first indications of opposition 

 to it in Western Virginia were manifested here. 

 The ordinance was passed on the 17th of April, 

 and on the 23d a public meeting was held, and 

 delegates appointed to meet similar delegates 

 from other cooties at Wheeling, to consult on 

 the posture of affairs. 



The first belligerent issue between the Union 

 men of Western Virginia and the State troops 

 recognizing the authority of the Southern Con- 

 federacy, was joined at this town. Two com- 

 panies of the Confederate military having 

 marched into the place on the 20th of May, the 

 court house bell was rung as a signal for the as- 

 semblage of the two Union military companies, 

 under the command of Captains Moore and 

 Vance, who demanded that the Confederate 

 forces should surrender their arms and disbaqd. 

 After a brief parley the demand was complied 

 with. 



COCKEYSVILLE is a village in Baltimore 

 county, Maryland. It is on the Baltimore and 

 Susquehanna Railroad, about seventeen miles 

 from Baltimore and forty from Annapolis. Af- 

 ter the attack on the Massachusetts troops at 

 Baltimore on the 19th of April, the other forces 

 in their rear from the North, chiefly Pennsyl- 

 vanians, stopped at Cockeys Fields, in the vi- 

 cinity of Cockeysville, and encamped, to the 

 number of twenty-four hundred. 



Having left Harrisburg with no knowledge 

 of the opposition of the citizens of Baltimore to 

 the passage of the Northern troops through 

 their city, they had halted upon the first inti- 

 mation of the hostile intentions of the author- 

 ities of that city ; and, far from entertaining any 

 idea of forcing a passage through Baltimore, 

 they seemed to hold her citizens in peculiar 

 and friendly regard. 



This circumstance had more effect in allaying 

 the excitement of the Baltimoreans than all the 

 efforts of their city police or military com- 

 panies. 



COLUMBUS is a small village having one 

 hundred to two hundred inhabitants, situated 

 on the Mississippi River, in Kentucky. It is 

 eighteen miles below Cairo by water, forty- 

 seven miles from Paducah, and about forty-five 

 miles above Island No. 10 in the Mississippi 



River. It is important only as a military posi- 

 tion. The Mobile and Ohio Railroad terminates 

 here, and the Nashville and Northwestern Rail- 

 road at Hickman, nine miles below. Its posi- 

 tion is on the southern slope of a high bluff of 

 the Mississippi bank, which commands the 

 stream for about five miles. Wolfs Island is 

 in the centre of the river in its immediate vicin- 

 ity. The place was occupied on the 4th of Sep- 

 tember by Confederate troops, under the com- 

 mand of Gen. Pillow, who immediately com- 

 menced fortifications. This closed the naviga- 

 tion of the Mississippi to the steamboats be- 

 longing to the States above. The fortifications 

 were pushed to such an extent as to render it 

 one of the strongest points held by the Confed- 

 erate troops. Three one hundred and twenty- 

 eight pounders were placed in such a position 

 as to command the river from the highest part 

 of the bluff, being seventy -five feet above the 

 water. Above on the river was another bat- 

 tery of fourteen guns, which were generally 

 rifled. 



On the northern slope of the bluff were two 

 light batteries and a rifle pit, one mile in length, 

 which were designed specially to protect the 

 place against a land attack from the north, 

 while on the summit of the hills was a strongly 

 intrenched work, commanding all directions, 

 and manned by eight cannon. 



On the south side, and to protect the town 

 from a rear attack, was a small battery of eight 

 guns. The whole number of guns has been es- 

 timated at between eighty and a hundred. In 

 addition, there was a floating battery of twen- 

 ty guns capable of being moved to the most 

 exposed points. The number of Confederate 

 troops at various periods, in and around Colum- 

 bus, was estimated at 30,000. The position was 

 regarded in the Confederacy as the northern 

 key to the mouth of the Mississippi. Its evacu- 

 ation on the 1st of March, 1862, after the cap- 

 ture of Forts Henry and Donelson, and the 

 occupation of Nashville by the Federal troops, 

 became a matter of course. 



COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

 The commerce of the United States underwent 

 a remarkable change in the year 1861, partly 

 in consequence of the civil war, and partly by 

 reason of the immense demand from Europe for 

 breadstuff's, which for the first time closely taxed 

 the western lands, newly traversed by railroads, 

 to supply. The external commerce of theUnited 

 States has from its origin consisted mainly in 

 the exportation of raw products, food, and 

 materials for manufacturers, and receiving in 

 exchange tropical productions and manufactur- 

 ed goods. Proportionately, however, as manu- 

 facturing has been developed in the country, 

 and the coarser descriptions of imported goods 

 have been supplanted by those of home pro- 

 duction, the people, grown richer and more 

 luxurious, have required finer and more costly 

 productions from abroad in return for the 

 products exported. The commoner kinds of 

 American manufacture have also gradually 



