cause. Though won at a trifling cost it was decisive so far as concerned the purposes of that immediate campaign. Marshall's force was driven from Kentucky, and made no further attempt to occupy the Sandy Valley. The important victories at Mill Spring, Forts Donaldson and Henry, and the repulse at Shiloh, followed. The victory at Mill Creek proved the first wave of a returning tide."

Speaking of the engagement, Garfield said, after he had gained a wider experience in war: "It was a very rash and imprudent affair on my part. If I had been an officer of more experience, I probably should not have made the attack. As it As it was, having gone into the army with the notion that fighting was our business, I didn't know any better."

“And, during it all," says Judge Clark, who was in the Forty-second, "Garfield was the soldier's friend. Such was his affection for his men that he would divide his last rations with them, and nobody ever found anything better at head-quarters than the rest got."

CHAPTER XIII.

T

THE CAPTURE OF POUND GAP.

HE night closed in upon the happy, but tired men, who spent the long watches of it on the frozen ground.

this time to consider the situation.

Garfield took

Marshall's for

ces were broken and demoralized. Though in full retreat, they might be overtaken and destroyed; but his own troops were half dead with fatigue and exposure, and had less than three days' rations. Under these circumstances, Garfield prudently decided to occupy Prestonburg, and await the arrival of supplies before dealing a final blow at the enemy. On the day succeeding the battle he issued the following address to his army, which tells, in brief, the story of the campaign:

storm, with only a You have marched

"SOLDIERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH BRIGADE: I am proud of you all! In four weeks you have marched some eighty, and some a hundred miles, over almost impassable roads. One night in four you have slept, often in the wintry sky above your heads. in the face of a foe more than double your number, led on by chiefs who have won a national renown under the old flag, intrenched in hills of his own choosing, and strengthened by all the appli

THE TROOPS CONGRATULATED.

191

ances of military art. With no experience but the consciousness of your own manhood, you have driven him from his strongholds, pursued his inglorious flight, and compelled him to meet you in battle. When forced to fight, he sought the shelter of rocks and hills. You drove him from his position, leaving scores of his bloody dead unburied. His artillery thundered against you, but you compelled him to flee by the light of his burning stores, and to leave even the banner of his rebellion behind him. I greet you as brave men. Our common country will not forget you. She will not forget the sacred dead who fell beside you, nor those of your comrades who won scars of honor on the field. I have recalled you from the pursuit, that you may regain vigor for still greater exertions. Let no one tarnish his wellearned honor by any act unworthy an American soldier. Remember your duties as American citizens, and sacredly respect the rights and property of those with whom you may come in contact. Let it not be said that good men dread the approach of an American army. Officers and soldiers, your duty has been nobly done. For this I thank you."

The retreat of Marshall had by no means dispelled the dangers, by which the small army of the Union colonel was hampered. A fresh peril now beset it. An unusually violent rain-storm broke out; the mountain gorges were all flooded; and

N

the Big Sandy rose to such a height, that steam. boat-men pronounced it impossible to ascend the stream with supplies. The troops were almost out of rations; and the rough, mountainous country was incapable of supporting them. Colonel Garfield had gone to the mouth of the river. He ordered the "Sandy Valley," a small steamer, which had been in the quarter-master's service, to take in a load of supplies and start up. The captain declared it impossible. Efforts were made to get other vessels, but without success.

Finally, Garfield ordered the captain and crew on board, and stationed himself at the wheel. The captain still protested, that no boat could possibly stem the raging current; but Garfield turned her head up the stream and began the perilous trip. The water in the usually shallow river was sixty feet deep; and the tree-tops along the banks were almost submerged. The little vessel trembled from stem to stern at every motion of the engines; the water whirled her about as if she were a skiff; and the utmost speed, which the steam could give her was three miles an hour. When night fell, the captain of the boat begged permission to tie up. To attempt ascending the flood in the darkness was madness. But Garfield kept his place at the wheel, now, as always, no mere considerations of danger, affecting his purpose. Finally, in one of the sudden bends of the river they drove, with a full head of steam, into the quicksand of the bank. Every effort to back off was in vain. Mattocks

PILOTING A STEAMER.

193

were procured; and excavations were made in vain around the embedded bow. Garfield, at last, ordered a boat to be lowered to take a line to the opposite bank. The crew protested against venturing out on the flood. Garfield leaped into the boat and steered it over. The force of the current carried them far below the point, which they sought to reach; but they finally succeeded in making fast to a tree, and rigging a windlass with rails sufficiently powerful to float the vessel once more.

It was Saturday, when the boat left the mouth of the Big Sandy. All night, all day Sunday, and throughout Sunday night they kept up their struggle with the current, Garfield leaving the wheel only eight hours out of the whole time, and that during the day. By nine o'clock on Monday morning they reached the camp, and were received with tumultuous cheering. Garfield himself could hardly escape being borne to headquarters on the shoulders of the delighted men.

It was but natural, that the confused retreat of Marshall's troops should have occasioned an alarm among the simple country-people. The flying rebels had spread the most exaggerated reports of the strength and character of the Union forces; and the inhabitants of the district looked for the immediate inauguration of a reign of terror, that should deprive all non-combatants of life and liberty. Fleeing from their homes, they took refuge in the woods and mountains, almost deserting the towns for a time.