282 



EARTHQUAKES. 



Dranesville, for the purpose of obtaining a 

 quantity of forage known to be in the posses- 

 sion of secessionists, they marched from camp 

 about 6 o'clock in the morning. Apprehend- 

 ing that they might be attacked, General Mc- 

 Call ordered another brigade, under General 

 Reynolds, to follow at 8 o'clock. Meantime, 

 General Orde's brigade, having advanced nearly 

 to Dranesville, were assailed by a Confederate 

 force in ambush. A spirited engagement en- 

 sued, which lasted nearly an hour, when the 

 enemy's force fled in the direction of Fairfax 

 Court House, abandoning on the field a num- 

 ber of their killed and wounded, besides arms, 

 clothing, and other articles. The force under 

 General Reynolds did not come up until the 



action was over. The Union force, after re- 

 maining at Dranesville till near sundown, re- 

 turned to their camp, which they reached be- 

 tween 9 and 10 o'clock at night, bringing with 

 them fifty wagon loads of forage, and the pris- 

 oners and abandoned articles. 



The enemy's force was composed of the First 

 and Eleventh Kentucky regiments, and the 

 Tenth Alabama, with a regiment of cavalry and 

 a battery of cannon, all under the command 

 of Colonel John H. Forney, acting Brigadier- 

 General. They left on the field ninety dead 

 bodies, and ten of their wounded. Eight of 

 their number, unhurt, were taken prisoners. 



On the Union side, about seven were killed, 

 and sixty-three wounded. 



E 



EARTHQUAKES and ERUPTIONS OF VOL- 

 CANOES. One of the most disastrous earth- 

 quakes of modern times occurred on the 20th 

 of March, 1861, along the western border of 

 the Argentine Republic and the eastern foot 

 of the Andes, totally destroying the city of 

 Mendoza and the greater part of San Juan, 

 lying 120 miles further north. On the eastern 

 side of the mountains the shock was felt at 

 about half-past eight in the morning, at Val- 

 paraiso and Santiago, causing great alarm and 

 confusion to the people, who at that time were 

 assembled in great numbers in the churches, 

 it being near the close of Lent. To the east the 

 subterranean movement extended to the bor- 

 ders of the Atlantic, being felt at Buenos Ayres, 

 323 leagues from Mendoza, where it was ob- 

 served that the movement of pendulums vi- 

 brating north and south was accelerated, 

 while those moving east and west were not 

 affected. At Cordova, 150 leagues east from 

 Mendoza, 'a church was thrown down. The 

 shock was felt at Mendoza in the evening of 

 March 20th, at the time when a large congre- 

 gation was dispersing from the Jesuit church. 

 Those who had reached the Plaza were saved, 

 but many were destroyed by the falling in of 

 the walls and roof of the building. In a short 

 space, computed at only six or eight seconds, 

 every building, public and private, in the city 

 was thrown down, burying a large portion of 

 the population in the ruins. Flames soon burst 

 forth from these, consuming the dead and 

 wounded entangled in them. The air was filled 

 with the awful sound of the subterranean rum- 

 blings, and affrighted animals ran howling 

 about ; while from the gaping fissures floods 

 of water were vomited forth. For several days 

 the earth continued to tremble at intervals, till 

 every portion of the walls that had resisted the 

 first shock had fallen to the earth. For some 

 leagues towards the Andes the roads were ren- 

 ered almost impassable, by the fissures and deep 

 holes opened by the earthquake ; while upon the 

 mountains huge masses of rock were precipi- 



tated down the steep slopes, filling the road, and 

 occasionally falling for days after the first catas- 

 trophe. The city of Mendoza is described as 

 one of the most attractive of that portion of 

 South America, pleasantly situated, about 2,900 

 feet above the level of the sea, near the Andes, 

 its houses adorned with porticoes, and surround- 

 ed with gardens and orchards. Its public prom- 

 enade, called the Alameda, was about a mile 

 long, bordered with stately poplars. The total 

 population was about 15,000, of whom it is 

 reported that three-fourths were destroyed, 

 though in some of the accounts the number is 

 given at about one-half the whole population. 

 At San Juan it is reported that about 3,000 

 persons were destroyed. 



Earthquake and Volcanic Eruption on the 

 East Coast of Africa. On the nigfht of the 

 7th of May, or morning of the 8th, earthquake 

 shocks were felt for about an hour, at Edd, about 

 half-way between Massonah and the Straits of 

 Bab-el-Mandel. Fine dust, at first white and af- 

 terwards red, continued to fall during the day, 

 becoming in places nearly knee-deep. This 

 ceased to fall on the 9th, and at night fire and 

 smoke were seen issuing from Jebel Dubbeh, a 

 mountain about a day's journey inland, never 

 before known to be a volcano ; and sounds like 

 the firing of cannon were heard at Perim these 

 sounds were heard at 2 A. M. on the 8th, and 

 at long intervals up to the 10th or llth. The 

 dust was also met with at sea, and along the 

 entire coast of Yemen it fell for several days. 

 Several shocks were felt on the 8th at Mocha 

 and Hodeida. 



Eruption of Vesuvius. One of the great 

 eruptions of Vesuvius, such as occur but once 

 in the course of centuries, took place on the 

 8th of December, 1861. It was preceded by a 

 succession of subterranean movements during 

 the night, which were felt at Naples, violently 

 shaking the furniture in the houses, and causing 

 no little alarm to the people in their beds. 

 The eruption commenced at about one o'clock 

 Sunday morning, just over Torre del Greco, 



