Chapter 2

682,117 were over 21 years of age;1,159,789 were 21 years old and under;1,151,438 were 18 years old and under;844,891 were 17 years old and under;231,051 were 16 years old and under;104,987 were 15 years old and under;1,523 were 14 years old and under;300 were 13 years old and under;278 were 12 years old and under.

When the Great Struggle began, the United States was the home of less than thirty-two millions of people. Today it has passed eighty millions and the peoples from all the nations of the earth are flooding into our open gates to the extent of more than a million a year. A new community of more than three thousand inhabitants could be founded every day from the men, women and children who disembark from the sea of ships charted to the American shores. There are among us today more than forty-eight millions who have been born here or immigrated into this country since the beginning of the Civil War. These people have no personal knowledge of it and their information is gathered from the narrations of others. These Brady negatives will come as a revelation to them and give a truer understanding of the meaning of it all. The good service they may do for the nation in this one respect cannot be overestimated.

With thirty-two millions of people aroused by an overpowering impulse that dared them to follow the dictates of conscience by pledging their loyalty to the states they loved—whether it be under Southern suns or Northern snows—it is almost beyond comprehension that Brady came out of the chaos with even one photographic record. While his extensive operations could not begin until system and organization were accomplished, he did secure many negatives in 1861.

Hardly had the news of the first gun passed around the globe when a half million men were offering their services to their country. Loyal Massachusetts was the first to march her strong and willing sons to the protection of the Government. The shrill notes of the fife sounded throughout the land and battle-scarred old Europe beheld in amazement the marshalling of great armies from a nation of volunteer patriots wholly inexperienced in military discipline—a miracle in the eyes of older civilization that had been drenched in the blood of centuries.

It was the simultaneous uprising of a Great People. The first shot from South Carolina transformed Virginia, the beloved mother of presidents, into a battleground. The streets of Baltimore became a scene of riot. The guns of the navy boomed on the North Carolina coast. The men of the West moved on through Missouri, blazing their way with shot and shell. Through Kentucky and Tennessee the reign of fire swept on until it re-echoed from Florida on the gulf to the wilderness of New Mexico and the borderline of Texas.

The American Republic was in the clutches of terrific conflict and in the first twelve months nearly a million and a quarter of its manhood was fighting for the National Flag. There was no turning from the struggle. It must be waged to its deadliest end. From this moment, for four dreadful years, fighting was taking place somewhere along the line every day and more than seven thousand battles and skirmishes were fought on land and sea.

Nearly three-fourths of the men who stood in the Union ranks in the Civil War were native-born Americans. The others were the best and bravest blood of fellow-nations.

PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT FORT SUMTER IN 1861

"THEY have fired on Fort Sumter!" These are the words that rang across the continent on the morning of the twelfth of April, in 1861, and the echo was heard around the world. The shot that began one of the fiercest conflicts that civilization has ever seen was fired just before sunrise at four in the morning. Special editions of newspapers heralded the tidings through the land. Thousands of excited men crowded the streets. Trade was suspended. Night and day the people thronged the thoroughfares, eager to hear the latest word from the scene of action. Friday and Saturday were the most anxious days that the American people have ever experienced. When the news came on Sunday morning that Major Robert Anderson had evacuated the fort with flags flying and drums beating "Yankee Doodle," the North was electrified with patriotism. The stars and stripes were thrown to the breeze from spires of churches, windows of residences, railway stations and public buildings. The fife and drum were heard in the streets. Recruiting offices were opened on public squares. Men left their business and stepped into the ranks. A few days later, when the brave defenders of Fort Sumter reached New York, the air was alive with floating banners. Flowers, fruits and delicacies were showered upon the one hundred and twenty-nine courageous men who had so gallantly withstood the onslaught of six thousand. Crowds seized the heroes and carried them through the streets on their shoulders. The South was mad with victory. It was believed that its independence had been already gained. Several days after the bombardment this picture was secured of the historic fort in South Carolina, about which centered the beginning of a great war. It was taken in four sections and this is a panoramic view of them all. The photograph did not fall into the possession of the Government, but was held for many years by a Confederate naval officer, Daniel Ellis, commander of the twenty-gun ram "Chicora" and at one time in command of Fort Sumter. It is now in possession of James W. Eldridge of Hartford. It corrects the erroneous impression that the fort was demolished in 1861. It stood the bombardment with but slight damage, other than a few holes knocked in the masonry as this picture testifies. In saluting the American flag before the evacuation on April 15, Private Daniel Hough was killed and three men wounded by the premature explosion of one of their own guns.

"JOHN BROWN'S body lies a-mouldering in the grave; his soul is marching on!" In every public meeting, through village and town, along the lines of recruits marching to the front, around the army campfires, this song became the battle-cry. It had been but three years since John Brown, with seventeen whites and five negroes, seized the United States Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and began the freeing of slaves. It required eighteen hours and 1,500 militia and marines to subdue the ardent abolitionist. He took refuge in the armory engine house. The doors were battered down. Eight of the insurgents were killed. Brown, with three whites and a half dozen negroes, was captured and hanged. The Confederates planned its capture, but upon their approach on the eighteenth of April, in 1861, three days after the firing on Fort Sumter, they found only the burning arsenal. They held the coveted position with 6,500 men, but fearing the attack of 20,000 Unionists, deserted it. It was held by the Union troops until 1862, when, on the fifteenth of September, Stonewall Jackson bombarded the town and forced its surrender. The Union loss was 80 killed, 120 wounded, 11,583 captured. The Confederate loss was 500. In this engagement were the brave boys of the 12th New York State Militia; 39th, 111th, 115th, 125th and 126th New York; 32nd, 60th and 87th Ohio; 9th Vermont; 65th Illinois; 1st and 3rd Maryland "Home Brigade;" 15th Indiana Volunteers; Phillips' Battery; 5th New York; Graham's, Pott's and Rigby's Batteries; 8th New York; 12th Illinois, and 1st Maryland Cavalry. It was during these days that the Army of the Potomac engaged the Confederate forces in bloody conflict at Turner's and Crampton's Gap, South Mountain, Maryland, leaving Harper's Ferry again in the hands of the Union.

PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT HARPER'S FERRY

THERE is not a fleet on the seas that can withstand a modern battery if kept under fire by proper obstructions. Modern sea-coast artillery can destroy a vessel at a single shot. The watchdog that guarded the waterway to the National Capital in the Civil War was Fortress Monroe. The old stone fort, partially protected by masses of earth that sheltered it from the view and fire of the assailant, challenged the ugliest iron-clads to pass through Hampton Roads. Fortress Monroe early became the base of operations and under its protection volunteer regiments were mobilized. When the 2nd New York Volunteers reached the fort, about six weeks after the firing on Fort Sumter, the 4th Massachusetts Volunteers had come to the assistance of the regular garrison of four companies of artillery on duty day and night over their guns. Something of the conditions may be understood by the statement of an officer who says that his men had to appear on parade with blankets wrapped about them to conceal a lack of proper garments, and sometimes stood sentinel with naked feet and almost naked bodies. The volunteers arrived faster than provisions could be furnished and there was a scarcity of food. So great was the difficulty in procuring small arms that some of the soldiers were not really fitted for war during the year of 1861. The Government operations were centered around Fortress Monroe and President Lincoln personally visited the headquarters to ascertain the actual conditions. Brady was admitted behind the parapets with his camera and secured this photograph of one of the heaviest guns in the great fortification.

PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT FORTRESS MONROE

TO feed the millions of fighting men in both armies during the years 1861 to 1865, was an enigma equalled only by the problem of ammunition. After the diets of hardtack on the long marches there is no memory dearer to the heart of the old veteran than a good, old-fashioned "square meal" from the log-cabin kitchen in the camp. This is a typical scene of one of these winter camps. They were substantially built of logs, chinked in with mud and provided on one end with a generous mud chimney and fireplace. The most "palatial" afforded a door and a window. Roaring fires burned on the hearths. With the arrival of the soldiers, knapsacks and traps were unpacked. The canteen was hung on its proper peg. The musket found its place on the wall. The old frying pan and tin cup were hung near the fire. There was to be a real "old home feast." The soldiers crowded around the sutler's tent dickering over canned goods and other luxuries which cost perhaps a half-month's pay. The log settlement was all astir. Smoke issued from the mud chimneys. Crackling fires and savory odors lightened the hearts of the warriors and the community of huts rang with jovialty, laughter and song. Stories of the conflict were told as the soldiers revelled over the hot and hearty meal and not until the late hours did the tired comrades wrap themselves in their blankets and fall onto their beds of pine needles or hard board bunks.

THE charge of the cavalry is an intense moment on the battlefield. At the time of the Civil War nothing was known of the snap-shot process in photography and Brady tried frequently throughout the four years to secure negatives of the cavalry. It seems to have been an impossibility under the long "time exposure process." He did, however, succeed in securing negatives of horses. Frequent opportunity to try to secure a photograph of the cavalry, is proven by the fact that there were 3,266 troops, or more than 272 regiments, in defense of the Government. This picture is found in Brady's collection and shows the cavalry depot at Giesboro Point, Maryland, just outside of Washington. At the beginning of the war the mounted men were used as scouts, orderlies, and in outpost duty. General "Joe" Hooker finally turned a multitude of detachments into a compact army corps of 12,000 horsemen. The gallant horseman, "Phil" Sheridan, under instructions from General Grant, organized three divisions of 5,000 mounted men, each armed with repeating carbines and sabers. It was with this force that Sheridan met the Confederate cavalry at Yellow Tavern, near Richmond, and demonstrated the importance of mounted troops by great military powers. One of the most magnificent scenes in the war was when 10,000 horsemen moved out on the Telegraph Road leading from Fredericksburg to Richmond, and the column, as it stood in "fours," well closed up, was thirteen miles long and required four hours to pass a given point.

"CAPTURE the National Capital, throw the city into confusion and terror by conflagration, seize the President and his Cabinet, and secure control of the Government." This was the first cry of the Confederacy. Thousands of volunteers were moving toward the city in answer to the call for men to save the Nation. Orders were issued to hold back the enemy from crossing the bridges that entered Washington. Two batteries were thrown up at the east end of the Upper, or Chain Bridge, and a heavy two-leaved gate covered with iron plates pierced for musketry, was constructed at the center of the bridge. Blockhouses at Arlington Heights and the battery at Georgetown Heights, guarded the Aqueduct Bridge. The largest approach to Washington was the famous Long Bridge, a mile in length, and connecting the National Capital with Alexandria, Virginia, the gateway to the Confederacy. Three earthen forts commanded its entrance. All soldiers of the Army of the Potomac remember Long Bridge. It was over this structure that a hundred thousand men passed in defense of their country, many of them never to recross it. This was one of the strategic points in the first days of the war and consequently one of the first pictures taken by Brady, with its sentinel on duty and the sergeant of the guard ready to examine the pass. No man ever crossed Long Bridge without this written oath: "It is understood that the within named and subscriber accepts this pass on his word of honor that he is and will be ever loyal to the United States; and if hereafter found in arms against the Union, or in any way aiding her enemies, the penalty will be death."

PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT LONG BRIDGE ENTRANCE TO WASHINGTON

THERE is nothing impossible to any army in time of war. Bridges are thrown across rivers in a night; roads are constructed as the line advances; telegraph wires are uncoiled in the wake of the moving regiments. To protect from a delay that might mean defeat, the army frequently carried its own "bridges" with it. These army or pontoon bridges consisted of boats over which planks were thrown to span the waterways. This view shows two of the boat's wheels ready for the march. Each pontoon wagon is drawn by six mules. These pontoons were always getting stuck in the mud, and the soldiers, struggling along under their own burdens, were obliged to haul on the drag ropes, and raise the blockade. Probably no soldier will see this picture without being reminded of the time when he helped to pull these pontoons out of the mud, and comforted himself byshouting at the mules. A view is also shown of a pontoon bridge across the James River ready for the approach of the army. It was often necessary to establish an immediate telegraph service between different points in the lines. This photograph shows one of the characteristic field telegraph stations. An old piece of canvas stretched over some rails forms the telegrapher's office, and a "hardtack" box is his telegraph table; but from such a rude station messages were often sent which involved the lives of hundreds and thousands of soldiers. The building of corduroy roads to allow ammunition and provision trains to pass on their journeys was of utmost importance. An hour's delay might throw them into the hands of the enemy. Many disasters were averted by the ingenuity of the engineers' corps.

PONTOON BOATS ON WHEELS

BUILDING A CORDUROY ROAD

FIELD TELEGRAPH STATION IN OPERATION

PONTOON BRIDGE ACROSS JAMES RIVER

"IF any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot!" The order rang from town to town. Old Glory waved in the breeze defiantly. "The flag of the Confederacy will be hoisted over Washington within sixty days," came the retort from the far South. "Only over our dead bodies," replied the men of the North. The National Government discovered that a conspiracy had been in operation to denude its armories and weaken its defenses. Political influences had secretly disarmed the incoming administration, scattering the regular army in helpless and hopeless positions far from the seat of the Government and beyond its call in an emergency. Northern forts had been dismantled and the munitions from Northern arsenals had been dispatched to Southern vantage grounds to be used in case of necessity. The treasury had been depleted and the Government was on the verge of bankruptcy. Eleven of the historic old states of the Union had withdrawn and formed a new republic, the "Confederate States of America." These were the conditions that confronted Lincoln in his first days of the Presidency. Plots were rampant to take his life. His steps were shadowed by Secret Service detectives to safeguard him against assassins, and he was practically held a prisoner in the White House. In further protection the defenses around the city were strengthened. From every hillside grim guns turned their deep mouths into the valleys until a chain of fortifications made the city impregnable. Brady secured permission to take his cameras into these fortifications. This is the best negative which he secured. It is taken behind the breastworks at Fort Lincoln, near Washington.

PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT FORT LINCOLN

THE first serious collision of the two great armies of divided Americans took place at Bull Run, in Virginia, on the twenty-first of July, in 1861. The Government had confined its operations almost wholly to the protection of Washington, and the public demand for more aggressive action was loud and alarming. The Confederate pickets had become so confident that they advanced within sight of the National Capital. Accusations were strong against the seeming desire of the Government to evade the enemy. Charges of deliberate delay and cowardice came from the North. "On to Richmond," the stronghold of the Confederacy, was the demand. So great became the public clamor that, despite the judgment of military authorities, 29,000 Federals under McDowell advanced against the 32,000 Confederates under Beauregard, driving them back only to be repulsed, after one of the hardest and strangest combats that military history has ever recorded. The Union ranks were so demoralized that they retreated without orders and straggled back to Washington, although a strong stand might have turned the tide of battle. The Union loss was 481 killed; 2,471 wounded and missing, besides 27 cannon and 4,000 muskets. The Confederate loss was 378 killed; 1,489 wounded and missing. Brady's cameras were soon on the field. He did not reach it in time, however, to secure pictures of the fighting armies. One of his negatives shows the historic stream of Bull Run along which the battle occurred. Another negative shows the field over which the hardest fighting took place. A third negative is that of Sudley Church, which was the main hospital after the conflict. It was here that, after a long detour, the Union forces found a vulnerable point and crossed to meet the enemy. Brady also secured a negative of Fairfax Court House, one of the outposts of the Confederacy, in this campaign.

FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE IN 1861

STREAM OF BULL RUN IN 1861

SUDLEY'S CHURCH AND FORD AT BULL RUN

BATTLEFIELD OF BULL RUN IN 1861

THE man behind the gun risks his life on his faith in the ammunition train to keep him supplied with powder and shell. An old warrior estimates that an army of 60,000 men, comprising a fair average of infantry, cavalry, artillery and engineers must be provided with no less than 18,000,000 ball cartridges for small arms, rifles, muskets, carbines and pistols for six months' operation. In the field an infantry soldier usually carries about sixty rounds. The lives of the men depend upon the promptness of the ammunition trains. To supply these 60,000 men requires one thousand ammunition wagons and 3,600 horses. The wagon constructed for this service will carry 20,000 rounds of small-arm munition. The cartridges are packed in boxes and the wagon is generally drawn by four to six horses or mules. Several wagons are organized into an "equipment," moving under the charge of an artillery, and there are several such "equipments" for an army of this magnitude, one for each division of infantry, a small portion for the cavalry, and the rest in reserve. Early in the Civil War a chemist suggested to General McClellan that he could throw shells from a mortar that would discharge streams of fire "most fearfully in all directions." McClellan replied: "Such means of destruction are hardly within the category of civilized warfare. I could not recommend their employment until we have exhausted the ordinary means of warfare." The Government preferred to depend largely upon these silent, ghost-like wagons, with their deadly loads of millions of cartridges, pressing toward the battle lines throughout the conflict. This picture shows an ammunition train of the Third Division Cavalry Corps in motion with the army encamped on the distant hills. It is one of Brady's best negatives.

PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AS AMMUNITION TRAINS WERE MOVING

SLAVE pens were common institutions in the days of negro bondage in America. The system had developed from the early days of colonization and was for many generations a legitimate occupation throughout the country. So many rumors, false and true, were told of the "pens" that Brady schemed to secure photographs of some of them. Early in 1861 he succeeded in gaining entrance to one of the typical institutions in Alexandria, Virginia. The results are here shown. The cell rooms with their iron-barred doors and small cage windows relate their own story. While they were installed by the larger slave traders they were wholly unknown on most of the old Southern plantations. A picture is also here shown of the exterior of the "slave pen" kept at Alexandria with the inscription over the door, "Price, Birch & Co., Dealers in Slaves." This shows the proportions to which the system had grown in the greatest republic in the world. Enormous fortunes were being accumulated by some dealers who had thrown aside sentiment and humanity and were herding black men for the market. With the outbreak of the war many of the slaves sought the protection of the Union Army, while others, who had kind masters, were willing to remain on the plantations. Mr. Brady secured several photographs of these typical slave groups. The one here shown is a party of "contrabands" that had fled to the Union lines. Another familiar scene in 1861 was the pilgrimage of poor whites to the Union ranks. When the troops passed through many of the mountain villages, these frightened white sympathizers would hastily gather their scanty belongings, pile them onto an old wagon, desert their homes and follow the army, to be passed on from line to line until they reached the North.

IRON-BARRED CELLS IN AN OLD SLAVE PEN

SLAVE DEALERS' HEADQUARTERS IN ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA

REFUGEES LEAVING THE OLD HOMESTEAD

CONTRABANDS IN WAKE OF THE UNION ARMY

ONE of the greatest secret forces in the Civil War was the electric telegraph. Wires were uncoiled as the army moved on its march toward the enemy and over them passed the hurried words that frequently saved hundreds and thousands of lives. While England was the first to experiment with the new science on the battlefield, the war in America demonstrated its permanent importance in the maneuvers of armies. Brady was much interested in the development of telegraphy as a factor in war and never missed any opportunity to take a photograph of the field telegraph corps as they passed him on marches. This picture shows one of the construction corps in operation. The wires were laid as each column advanced, keeping the General in command fully informed of every movement and enabling him to communicate from his headquarters in the rear of the army with his officers in charge of the wings. The military construction corps laid and took up these wires as fast as an infantry regiment marches. An instant's intelligence may cause a charge, a flank or a retreat. By connecting with the semi-permanent lines strung through woods and fields, into which the enemy would have little reason to venture unless aroused by suspicion, the commander on the field is kept informed of the transportation of troops and supplies and the approach of reinforcements. It was also the duty of the military construction corps to seize all wires discovered by them and to utilize them for their own army or tear them down. Constant watch is kept for these secret lines. Great care must also be taken that false messages do not pass over them. Their destruction is generally left to the cavalry. The heavy construction wagons, carrying many miles of telegraph wire in coils, were drawn by four horses.

PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AS MILITARY TELEGRAPH WAS BEING STRUNG

PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AS FIELD TELEGRAPH WAGON WAS SENDING MESSAGE

TELEGRAPH stations in wagons were not uncommon sights to the soldiers between the years of 1861 to 1865. Great responsibility rested upon the operators who halted alongside the road to send a message back to headquarters that might change the whole course of events and defeat into victory. The operators in the Civil War stood by their posts like sentinels. The confidential communications of commanders and the movements of the morrow were intrusted with them, but not in a single instance is one known to have proven false to that trust. It was part of the duty of the telegraph service to take messages from the scouts sent out to ascertain the resources of the country, the advantages of certain routes, and the general lay of the land. Every click of the instrument transmitted secrets upon which might depend the rise or fall of the nation. These field telegraph wagons, drawn by horses, carried the instruments and batteries which had but recently been invented by an American scientist, and by which an electric spark shot messages through wire in the fraction of a second's time. The War of 1861 proved for all time the advantages of this new science. It left the signal corps to attend to only short-range communications and lightened the duties of mounted orderlies, conveying messages in a flash of electricity that had hitherto taken a day's reckless riding on horseback. While it saved the orderlies from many hazardous journeys there were many more where the telegraph wires did not penetrate and dependence was still placed on the dashing mounted messenger. The chief service of the electric telegraph was to maintain communication between corps and divisions and headquarters. It was also utilized in some of the brilliant strokes of the Secret Service in forestalling deep-laid plots.

PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN AN ARSENAL AT WASHINGTON

THE downfall of Washington in the first days of the war would have meant the downfall of the Republic. What changes this would have wrought in the history of the Western Continent can never be known. Its probabilities were such that the Treasury Building was guarded by howitzers, the Halls of Congress were occupied by soldiers, the Capitol building became a garrisoned citadel. Lincoln was virtually imprisoned by guards in the White House, and the streets were patrolled by armed men. Troops were quartered in the Patent Building. The basement galleries of the Capitol were converted into store-rooms for barrels of pork, beef and rations for a long siege. The vaults under the broad terrace on the western front were turned into bakeries where sixteen thousand loaves of bread were baked every day. The chimneys of the ovens pierced the terrace and smoke poured out in dense black clouds like a smoldering volcano. Ammunition and artillery were held in readiness to answer a moment's call. So intense was the excitement that one of the generals in command at the Government arsenal exclaimed: "We are now in such a state that a dog-fight might cause the gutters of the Capital to run with blood." There was the clank of cavalry on the pavements, the tramp, tramp of regiments of men whose polished muskets flashed in the sunlight as they moved over Long Bridge. Cavalcades of teams and white-topped army wagons carrying provisions, munitions of war and baggage followed in weird procession. Brady was then in Washington negotiating with the Government and the Secret Service for permission to follow the armies with his cameras. This is one of the pictures that he took at that time, showing the artillery and cannon-balls parked at the National Capital.

NO one, except the men who did it, can ever know the tremendous difficulties overcome in preparing an army for warfare. The transformation of a nation of peaceful home-lovers to a battle-thirsty, fighting populace is almost beyond human understanding. To arm them instantly with the implements of war is a problem hardly conceivable. When the first guns of the Civil War were belching their death-fire, all the man-killing weapons known to civilization were being hurried to the front. There were flint and percussion and long-range muskets and rifles; bayonets and cavalry sabers; field and siege cannon; mortars and sea-coast howitzers; projectiles, shot, shell, grape and canister; powder, balls, strap and buckshot; minie balls and percussion caps; fuses, wads and grenades; columbiads and navy carronades; lances, pistols and revolvers; heavy ordnance and carriages. Europe was called upon to send its explosives across the sea. Caves were opened for the mining of nitre, lead and sulphur. Factories were run day and night for the manufacture of saltpeter. On land and sea the greatest activity prevailed. This photograph was taken on the twenty-sixth day of August in 1861, when the ammunition schooners, accompanying the fleet from Fortress Monroe on the expedition to Fort Hatteras, N. C., were passing through Hampton Roads. The fleet, sailing under sealed orders, in command of Flag Officer Silas H. Stringham, arrived before sunset. Two days later, in conjunction with the troops of the 9th, 20th, and 99th New York Volunteers, under General Benjamin F. Butler, it forced the surrender of Fort Hatteras without the loss of a man and took seven hundred prisoners. The Confederates lost about fifty killed and wounded.

PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN HAMPTON ROADS—AMMUNITION SCHOONERS

SPIES lived in the White House according to the rumors in 1861, and every council of the Administration was reported to the enemy. Whether this is true or not has never been verified, but by some mysterious channel the Administration's plans invariably fell into the hands of the Confederates. One of the first instances of this is the expedition to Port Royal on the South Carolina coast. This was one of the finest harbors along the South Atlantic and it was planned to take it from the Confederates and use it as a base for future Union operations. The most careful preparations were laid for two months. On the twenty-ninth of October, in 1861, fifty vessels under sealed orders with secret destination sailed from Hampton Roads. The fleet had hardly left the range of Fortress Monroe when the full details of its sealed orders reached the Confederates at Port Royal. Off Cape Hatteras it ran into a severe gale; one transport was completely wrecked, with a loss of seven lives; another transport threw over her cargo; a storeship went down in the storm, and a gunboat was saved only by throwing her broadside battery into the sea. The fleet was so scattered that when the storm cleared there was only a single gunboat in sight of the flagship. Undismayed by the misfortune, within a few hours the vessels that had withstood the tremendous gale were moving on to Port Royal. Several frigates that had been blockading Charleston Harbor joined them and on the morning of the seventh of November the attack was made on Fort Walker at Hilton Head and Fort Beauregard on St. Helena Island. The guns of the fleet wrought dreadful havoc. The stream of fire was more than the entrenched men had expected or could endure. The troops fled across Hilton Head in panic from Fort Walker. When the commander at Fort Beauregard looked upon the fleeing soldiers he abandoned his position and joined the retreat. A flag of truce was sent ashore but there was no one to receive it, and soon after two o'clock the National colors were floating over the first permanent foothold of the Government in South Carolina, a Confederate stronghold.

GUN IN BATTERY AT PORT ROYAL, S. C., 1861

COOSAW FERRY, PORT ROYAL ISLAND, S. C.

FORT BEAUREGARD, BAY POINT, S. C., 1861

GENERAL ISAAC I. STEVENS' STAFF, BEAUFORT, S. C.

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, in their one hundred and twenty years of "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness," have had but three wars with the outside world. They have enjoyed a greater immunity from armed encounter than any of their neighbors. Other than the grievous struggle which we have had with our own people, it may be fairly said that we have been blessed by Peace.

As if by magic the hundreds of thousands of volunteers were armed with the munitions of War and marched to the battle-front. The great Lincoln, under the constitutional provisions, was commander-in-chief of the citizen armies, and worked in conjunction with his War Department at Washington. The military genius of a trained fighter was needed and from the outbreak of the War until November 6, 1861, Brevet-Lieutenant Winfield Scott was in command; then came Major-General George B. McClellan, a man of great caution, until March 11, 1862. From that time until July 12, 1862, the Government was without a general commander until Major-General Henry W. Halleck took control and continued till March 12, 1864. It was then that Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant was called upon to end the struggle. Under these military leaders the great fighting force of volunteers was organized into armies. The first of these patriot legions was the Army of the Potomac.

Army of the Potomac was called into existence in July, 1861, and was organized by Major-General George B. McClellan, its first commander; November 5, 1862, Major-General A. E. Burnside took command of it; January 25, 1863, Major-General Joe Hooker was placed in command, and June 27, 1863, Major-General George G. Meade succeeded him.

Army of Virginia was organized August 12, 1862. The forces under Major-Generals Fremont, Banks, and McDowell, including the troops then under Brigadier-General Sturgis at Washington, were consolidated under the command of Major-General John Pope; and in the first part of September, 1862, the troops forming this army were transferred to other organizations, and the army as such discontinued.

Army of the Ohio became a power, November 9, 1861. General Don Carlos Buell assumed command of the Department of the Ohio. The troops serving in this department were organized by him as the Army of the Ohio, General Buell remaining in command until October 30, 1862, when he was succeeded by General W. S. Rosecranz. This Army of the Ohio became, at the same time, the Army of the Cumberland. A new Department of the Ohio having been created, Major-General H. G. Wright was assigned to the command thereof; he was succeeded by Major-General Burnside, who was relieved by Major-General J. G. Foster of the command of the Department and Army. Major-General J. M. Schofield took command January 28, 1864, and January 17, 1865, the Department was merged into the Department of the Cumberland.

Army of the Cumberland developed from the Army of the Ohio, commanded by General Don Carlos Buell, October 24, 1862, and was placed under the command of Major-General W. S. Rosecranz; it was also organized at the same time as the Fourteenth Corps. In January, 1863, it was divided into three corps, the Fourteenth, Twentieth and Twenty-first; in September, 1863, the Twentieth and Twenty-first Corps were consolidated into the Fourth Corps. October, 1863, General George H. Thomas took command of the army, and the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps were added to it. In January, 1864, the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps were consolidated and known as the Twentieth Corps.

Army of the Tennessee was originally the Army of the District of Western Tennessee, fighting as such at Shiloh, Tennessee. It became the Army of the Tennessee upon the concentration of troops at Pittsburg Landing, under General Halleck; and when the Department of the Tennessee was formed, October 16, 1862, the troops serving therein were placed under the command of Major-General U. S. Grant. October 24, 1862, the troops in this Department were organized as the Thirteenth Corps; December 18, 1862, they were divided into the Thirteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps. October 27, 1863, Major-General William T. Sherman was appointed to the command of this army; March 12, 1864, Major-General J. B. McPherson succeeded him; July 30, 1864, McPherson having been killed, Major-General O. O. Howard was placed in command, and May 19, 1865, Major-General John A. Logan succeeded him.

Army of the Mississippi began operations on the Mississippi River in Spring, 1862; before Corinth, Mississippi, in May, 1862; Iuka and Corinth, Mississippi, in September and October, 1862.

Army of the Gulf operated at Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana, May, June, and July, 1863.

Army of the James consisted of the Tenth and Eighteenth Corps and Cavalry, Major-General Butler commanding and operating in conjunction with Army of the Potomac.

Army of West Virginia was active at Cloyd's Mountain, May 9 and 10, 1864.

Army of the Middle Military Division operated at Opepuan and Cedar Creek, September and October, 1864.

During the year 1862, Brady's men followed these legions. Both armies were maneuvering to strike a decisive blow at the National Capital of either foe—one aiming at Washington and the other at Richmond. The scenes enacted in these campaigns are remarkable in military strategy, and Brady's men succeeded in perpetuating nearly every important event.

Cameras were also hurried to the far South and West where great leaders with great soldiers were doing great things. Several of these cameras arrived in time to bear witness to the bravery of the men of the Mississippi, who were waging battle along the greatest waterway in North America—the stronghold of the Confederacy and the control of the inland commerce of the Continent.

THE first naval conflicts of the Civil War took place early in 1862. On the ninth of March, the revolving turret iron-clad "Monitor" met the enormous Confederate ram, "Merrimac," in Hampton Roads. Both powerful vessels forced the attack and stood under the fiercest bombardment only to again invite assault. After four hours of the nerviest fighting that the seas had ever known, the adversaries withdrew, undefeated, to repair their respective damages. Brady secured several photographs of these vessels immediately after the engagement. One of them on this page shows part of the deck and turret of the "Monitor;" near the port-hole can be seen the dents made by the heavy steel-pointed shot from the guns of the "Merrimac." While the news of this conflict was amazing even old Europe, naval operations along the American coast were creating consternation. On the first anniversary of the Fall of Fort Sumter the National navy, in an attempt to sweep the Confederates from the Atlantic coast, bombarded Fort Pulaski in Georgia. All day long the bombardment was terrific and firing did not cease until nightfall, when five of the guns of the fortress were silent. All night long four of Gillmore's guns fired at intervals of fifteen or twenty minutes and at daybreak the onslaught became furious. At two in the afternoon a white flag appeared from its walls. The spoils of victory were the fort, forty-seven heavy guns, a large supply of fixed ammunition, forty thousand pounds of gun powder, a large quantity of commissary stores; three hundred prisoners and the port of Savannah was sealed against blockade runners—all this with the loss of but one killed on each side. Brady seems to have had unusual foresight. He was nearly always in the right place at the right time and these negatives picture the ruins of Fort Pulaski.

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