The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-15 00:00:00

AMERICAN LITERATURE.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)
Report to the War Department. By Major-General
Lewis B. Parsons, Chief of the Rail and River

Transportation.
People speak glibly of the movement of armies,
of victories and defeats ; and while discussing the
battles, their mind's eye only sees glancing bayonets,
reserves hurrying up, squadrons of cavalry hulled
against the enemy's flanks, and batteries unlimber-
ing to drive their shot through the advancing lines.
It is in the roar of the cannonade, in the rush of ca-
valry, thundering through the smoke and fire, with
death around, that interest centres and excitement
rises. Few but the tactician, the statesman, or the pro-
fessional soldier give a thought to the prodigious ef-
forts by which alone the combatants, on a great scale,
with all their material, are placed opposite to each
other in fighting array. The American war bewildered
the European more than any other, for the distances
were so great, the places where battles were fought
so widely separated and so unexpected, the means
so unknown by which armies supposed to be directed
on one point, suddenly appeared some 300 miles
away, being found to be directed against another, so
that Englishmen could not trace the strategy of the
war. and were content to drift, many believing that
it was an affair of chance, the one army endeavour-
ing to meet and annihilate the other wherever it
appeared in force. This is due to the geographical
features of the continent, whereon a flood of light is
thrown by the circumstances related in the report
of General B. Parsons, Chief of rail and river tran-
sportation. To understand the civil war in Ame-
rica, the first thing is to have a general idea of a
country differing in many features from any other
in which grand military operations were carried
on before. The valley of the Mississippi was, in
truth, the theatre of the struggle, of which to con-
vey a conception to the mind of an Englishman,
we may say is drained by twenty-three thou-
sand miles of navigable water. When hostilities
commenced this gigantic network of rivers was
more or less in the hands of the Confederates,
the struggle from the beginning to the end being
to wrest it from them, when the Confederacy,
pierced to death, fell a prey to the Northern
general in the position to seize the prize. "At
the commencement of the war the Government
held no point south of Cairo, and all Southern
rivers were blockaded till the fall of forts Henry
and Donelson in February, 1862, which opened
the Tennessee and Cumberland, and also the Mis-
sissippi to island No. 10. The fall of island No.
10 and Corinth iu the spring of .1862 led to the
fall of Memphis, and opened the river to that place.
But it was not until July, 1863, after the capture
of Vicksburg, that the Mississippi from Cairo to
New Orleans was at all passable for Government
transports, and even till May, 1865, the enemy
claimed to hold most of the rivers through the
Southern States by his moveable batteries and
roving bands of guerillas so as to prevent their
navigation being of any practical advantage." The
rivers most used were the Cumberland, the Ten-
nessee, Lower Mississippi, White, Arkansas, and
Upper Missouri. The means of transportation on
all were of a similar character, and available for
service at any point, and Gen. Parsons, in detailing
some of the army movements through their agency,
gives an idea of the immense advantage the Govern-
ment derived from the organization he and others
had effected, and we select an instance to con-
vey to our readers the nature of these services. In
the fall of 1861 the Confederacy made its final
effort to raise the States behind Sherman and check
his march on Atlanta. Price invaded the State of
Missouri in force, and it was necessary to gather
an army at the shortest notice. Seven thousand
cavalry were transported as by magic from Cape
Giradeau to Jefferson city, and at the same mo-
ment Capt. Metcalf, who superintended these opera-
tions, carried the army corps of Gen. A. J. Smith, num-
bering 16,000 men, from Jefferson city to Franklin
on the Pacific Railroad, whence they marched to
Dozier's landing on the Missouri River, where
seventeen steamers waited to carry them to Jeffer-
s3n city, where the two commands united, and the
rebel General at once checkmated had to commence
his disastrous retreat. The same officer then carried
Smith's corps to the Tennessee to strengthen General
Thomas at Nashville, then threatened by the last
great military movement of the Richmond Govern-
ment, that of Hood, after he had doubled round
Sherman's army in the vain hope of drawing back
that General, by operating on his line of communi-
cation. General Smith's command, although at
the time 500 miles away, was so speedily thrown
into the State capital of Tennessee that it took a
decisive part in the brilliant series of actions which
struck the death-blow to the flickering life of the
Confederacy. The perfection to which this machi-
nery for water carriage had attained may be seen by
comparing the first movements in boats, with the abi-
lity in the end to convey armies on the grandest scale,
and in the shortest periods vouched for by Gen • Par-
sons, and in some instances performed. On the
Ist August, 1861, four thousand men under Gen.
Fremont were embarked in eight boats at St. Louis,
and this was termed in the papers of the day " the
great fleet." It is now practicable, says General
Parsons, on 24 hour's notice, to embark at Boston
or Baltimore a larger army than those with which
Napoleon won some of his most decisive victories,
and landing it within three days at Cairo, 1,200 miles
distant, there embark it on transports, and within
four days more time disembark it at New Orleans,
2,200 miles from the point of departure. Boats
could easily be gathered at Cincinnati, Louis-
ville, and St. Louis, which could within a week
precipitate two hundred thousand troops, with
all necessary munitions and supplies, upon Cairo

or Memphis. A despatch to the Secretary of
War detailing the movement of the 23d Army
Corps shows that this is no vain boast. It begins
with the laconic announcement that, " in accord-
ance with your orders, Major-General Schofield
and army have been transferred from Clifton on
the Tennessee to the Potomac." This letter is dated
February 2d, and the transfer was made in the


middle of the previorts month ; that is, in the bit-
terest period of winter. The corps consisted of
10,000 men. They appear to have commenced the
move on the 17th January, the order having only
reached a few days, but before the month closed
Schofield and his army were encamped on the banks
of the Potomac ready after Hood's decisive defeat
to take part in the great attack soon after to be
made by General Grant on Lee's lines covering
Richmond. The distance was 1,400 miles, equally
divided between land and water ; the time but
eleven days of a severe mid-winter, without any pre-
paration beyond the means upon which Gen. Parsons
could at once put his hands, and the only soldier
even hurt owed she loss of his life to his own

imprudence, for the bard frost having injured
the rails, be considered himself in danger at some
spot, sprang from the car, and was killed. This
is an extraordinary feat, and shows with what im-
mense power the North was then operating, for la
five days after the movement was decided on at
Washington the march was commenced in Tennes-
see, 1,400 miles away, and in eleven days more
that corps, with its baggage, its animals, and

its great military trains, in Mid-winter, was
betw,en Washington and Richmond. We have
shown the power thrown into the hands of the
North by the use made of the marvellous net-
work of river communication, and we wish now
to direct attention to the ability with which every
difficulty was surmounted. Col. Arthur Edwards,
one of the General's subordinates, was directed
by Rosecrans to put steamers on the Tennessee
river above the Muscle Shoals. As these shoals are
an effectual bar to steamboat navigation on the
Upper Tennessee from the Ohio these steamers had
to be built, and Colonel Edwards bad not a scrap
of material except what he could extract from en
old dilapidated saw-mill, the only structure which
marked the spot on which once stood the village of
Bridgeport. The war had spread wide destruction
for hundreds of miles around, and Colonel Edwards
had before him only the primeval forest, too often
the cover for the enemy's picquets. The saw-mill
was immediately repaired ; spikes, nails, iron, paint,
pitch, oakum, were brought from the North, and

fourteen barges were at once constructed. Govern-
ment steamers on the Cumberland river were dis-
mantled, and this officer, in the month of October,
after making his barges, built a steamer, the Chat-
tanooga, which ascended the river to the astonish-
ment of Rosecrans' army, which, by her timelY
services, was probably saved from a disastrous re-
treat. He then repaired the Dunbar, in time to
render valuable cervices in transporting troops for
the splendid victories of Look-out Mountain and of
Mission Ridge. Perceiving the necessity of steam
power and machinery, and regarding the waste of
muscle from a stand-point peculiarly American,
Colonel Edwards confiscated an engine and boiler,
which he found at Stevenson, Alabama, and
setting it up beside his old mill at Bridgeport, b°
built a machine shop, and proceeded to turn out four
gunboats ironclad from the main to the upper deck, and
nine other transports, making 13 steamers in nine
months ! having cut up 750,000 feet of lumber, out
of logs dragged a distance of from one to three
miles. We would like to know what other service
in the world could parallel this instance ; and
we doubt whether the whole range of the Ame-
rican war tells with more force the aptitude of
the people to do " any mortal thing." On the
grand march until reaching the sea for Sherman
operations, Nashville was the base whence his arta
and the enormous force operating in Tennessee were
supplied. During the months of February, Marebt
April, and May, 614 steamers and other boats arrived
there, and discharged 158,016 tons. By changing
the contract for transport from the day to the piece,
in the carriage alone the Government was saved the
enormous sum of three millions of dollars ; and o°,
well was the system conceived that the cost of
moving troops did not average a third of a cent per
mile for each soldier, with gold ranging from 200
to 280. An army of 20,000 men, with officers and
baggage, would be moved 400 miles on the Mis-
sissippi for $25,000, while stores and animals were
conveyed at a similar ratio. On the 30th of June,'
1865, the Government owned 114 boats propelled
by steam, and 486 barges. During the war the
loss of the United States Navy was two boats
destroyed by torpedoes, eleven by batteries, four t°
prevent them falling into the hands of the wolf,
and seven sunk. The number of boats destroyed
from all causes was 335, of 152,450 tons, valuedi
at 8,255,000 dollars. An idea may be fortneu,,
of the trust imposed on the Transport Department
as well as of the cost of the work to the United States,
and of the magnitude of the carriage, when We 5511
that, for the fiscal year, ending June 30, 1861
$48,491,132 were disbursed, including all kinds 0'
Army Transport throughout the United State!:
Over a fourth of this was paid for the Wester;
rivers alone. The number of officers and we
carried was close on 4,000,000, and the cattle over
700,000. A quarter of a million men were prisoners
of war. It is generally supposed that the Govern'
ment worked most of the railways themselves, bilw
this is a mistake, as it was only where they were
abandoned, and had been damaged by the enemy'
that they were repaired and run on Government
,
account. During that year the railroads owned 137
companies transported 5,614,537 tons of stores'
while the Government carried but 354,638 tot
The proportion, however, was in favour of the I-I°o
vernment as regards steamers and barges, but
presume that the boats generally belonged to Pr
vate persons, and were taken up by the Quarteyro
master's Department for the time. We maY 'e a
add that the officers never hesitated to seize 3bp
13
appropriate anything required on emergenc9.l„
the State, but almost invariably with such conslu;,
ration that the owners were compelled to adll' a
however inconvenienced, that they were jusoe
by the necessity. Amidst the " shoddy" forth
made out of the country's emergencies it is s3ti,
factory to turn to the able and upright admintstrei
tion of these difficult departments by United Stator,
officers, who, while fingering millions, ands
,ea
rounded by dishonest contractors, seldom incor'eic
even the breath of suspicion. Grand as were.tibbe
achievements, furnishing a history which "111,10.
read with as much astonishment as interest 03
rope when fully told, yet, perhaps, their highest the
uour, reflecting most credit on their country, Is ell
purity of their administration, contrasting strangthe
with the shameful peculation which marked
conduct of many loudly professing patriots, so P
wirably satirised by Artenius Ward.

Vaeti
ADVERTISEMENT:I—HoIIoway's Pills—Healthy —cletiov
—How melancholy to a sensitive mind is the refle,. pe
that in addition to a grievous and painful illness thvoia
cuniary means of himself and family are rapidly beltage'
exhausted. Nine-tenths of our ailments might be a etioo
tiler prevented or directly cured if the first fault" p,'
were set right. This great eud is accomplished wit?ti atederful certainty and safety by Holloway's Pills, willeualli
adapted to the stout as well as to the frail, and are equriff
suited to every constitution and climate. They Pa i 0
the blood, that seat of life and source of health, snail;
revivifying streams diffuse regularity and vigour thNtoro
out the system, and give every organ its proper,
function.

Births.
Cl
CLARKE -On the 13th inst., the wife of H. Saville -
Esq., Bayswater, of a daughter. 0
HAMILTON —On the 12th inst., at Charlton, the Wife
Cat. R. V. Hamilton, R.N.. of a daughter. Aof
41"-
WHINpNEY—On the 14th inst., at 90, Regent's-WU
the wife of F. Whinney, Esq., of a daughter.
Marriages. Oft';
STEPHENS —BYNG—On the 13th inst., at St. Peter'";clo, „'f
slow-gardens, Frederick Stephens, 2d Life Gu..„9.5.,
Cecilia Mary, eldest daughter of Captain Byng, -1".
Quendon Hall, Essex.
:tOP"
SWINTON —KENDALL -On the 14th inst., at Dm,- Iwo,
H. Swinton, Commander R.N., to Caroline Jat'efyig
daughter of Henry Kendall, Esq., Sussex-square,
ton.

Deaths. 90i
BROOKING—On the 13th inst.. at 9, Horbury-c-r e P''f
'
Lad broke-square, Thomas Hol 'sworth Brooliipg'
(1'
aged 78. tlf'"
CHINNOCK —On the 12th inst., suddenly, at 37, 'v-0 1.
~,A,
PI
place, Fred. Cliinnock, Esq., aged 63. es, o
JONES -Oa the 12th inst., at Kingston-ston-on-Thnni on
ward Jones, Esq., of the Bank of England, eld-
R. 11. Jones, Esq., of 11, Holford-square. old'
S
MANLEY- On the 12th inst., at Bedford, John t
Esq., aged 52. ng tolYr/t
NASH —OR the 13th inst ,at 2, Windsor-road, ..ri
hill, S., Alfred Nash, Esq., Retired Payinits'or
aged 52.

Tap-
London : Printed and Pahlished by WILLUSA go o
of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at Oita SUN 01°'000t1
Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in th.
Micicllesex.—Friday, January 15, 18(0.

TATIONAL ORPHAN HOME, Ham-common,
Richmond, Surrey. Founded 1849. Enlarged 1861.
Under the patronage of H.R.H. the Duke of CAMBRIDGE, E.G.,
nereby a home has been afforded for 280 Destitute Orphan
")",rls of all ages classes, and denominations, from all parts of
Oslo kingdom.
The object of the Charity is to give orphan girls a plain Eng-
ush education, and practical instruction in the kitchen, house,
and laundry, to fit them for domestic service; and, if not other
vise provided for when they attain 15 years of age, to obtain
suitable situations for them.
Tho Committee earnestly appeal for support. The Charity is
entirely sustained by donations and subscriptions.

°Mee, 121, Pall-moll, W

HENRY KINGSCOTE, Treasurer
W H. WaFwicii Secretary.

IIORPHAN ASYLUM,
41-P Mackenzie-park, Slough (formerly at Clapham-rise).
Instituted 1827.
Patron—ller Most Gracious Majesty the QUEEN.
For the gratuitous board, clothing, and education of
destitute orphans from all parts of the British dominions,
and of all denominations, whose parents were once in
prosperous circumstances.
One hundred and seventy-five orphans now in the In-
stitution ; ample room for about 30 more.
Increased support indispensable, as this Charity is not
endowed, and is in the greatest need of further pecuniary
ftsoistance.
Subscribers and the public are invited to inspect the
Institution, and judge as to the nature of the Charity and
ts peculiar claims.
The last Report can be obtained on application to the
Secretary, _ _ _

THOS. TILSON, Chairman.
CHAS. LEE, M.A.
Hon. Secs.
AUBREY C. PRICE, M.A.,}
ALFRED MACKENZIE, Secretary.
Offices, 73, Cheapside, London, E.C.
%racers M rs Williams, Deacon, and Co., Birchin-
i_ ess
" and Messrs. Haywood Brothers. Manchester.

tiXAITII RESTORED WITHOUT MEDICINE OR EXPENSE.
DU BARRY'S delicious health-restoring Invalids'
and Infants' Food.
THE REVALENTA ARABICA
saves fifty times its cost in other remedies, and restores
Perfect digestion strong nerves, sound lungs, healthy liver,
refreshing sleep, functional regularity, and energy to the
ost disordered or enfeebled—removing speedily and
effectually indigestion (dyspepsia\ cough, asthma, con-
sumption, habitual constipation, diarrhoea., all gastric de-
,,'"gements, ba3morrheids, liver complaints, flatulency,
r,„"ee_rvousness, biliousness, fevers, sore throats, diphtheria,
rheumatism,
colds, influenza, noises in the head and ears,
,ellrnatiem gout, impurities, eruptions, hysteria, neu-
-1,-alida, irritability, sleeplessness, acidity, palpitation,
Z"eartburn, headache, debility, dropsy, cramps, spasms,
t,nsea and sickness even in pregnancy or at sea, sinking
thebronchitis, scrofula, tightness of the chest, pains at
the Pit of the stomach and between the shoulders. It is
most digestible and nourishing of all foods, and suitable
for invalids and infants in all complaints.
hIPORTANT CAurrox.—Beware of the many unsavoury
'more than slopy imitations to which, without autho-
ity, Baron Liobig's name is most audaciously attaohed.
y, henceforth none will doubt the valuable properties of
."11 Barry's health-restoring Revalenta Arabica invalids'
d Infants' Food, since to the thousands of blessings it
`!E4 already received from invalids whose position had
"in en deemed hopeless we may now add that of his Holi-
bess the Pope' whose' health has been perfectly restored
it after thirty years of unsuccessful medical treatment.
18 eA quote from the Gazette do Midi, July 25th (Cure No.
ICTl3);—"Rome, July 21st, 1866.—The health of the
O,?'Y Father is excellent, especially since, abandoning all
,d,ner remedies, he has confined himself entirely to Du
Revalenta Ambles Food, of which he consumes a
t aterul at every meal. It has produced a surprisingly
2oeficial effect on his health, and his Holiness cannot
wraise this excellent food too highly."
corn No. 58,216 of the Marchioness de Brehan of seven
Sears' liver complaint, wasting away, debility, nervous-
u,lyritability, with a nervous palpitation all over, bad
tion, constant sleeplessness, and the most intolerable
morous agitation.
r.v
ure No. 78, of dyspepsia, from the Right Hon. the Lord
fordrt do Docies, Lord-Lieutenant of the County of Water-
r—l have derived much benefit from your excellent
vv. STUART---
DE DECIES, Dromana, Cappoquin, County
Aterferd.,,
froCuf, No. 49,832. - Of fifty years' indescribable agony
rlatnoi 78Pepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation,
of LencY, spasms, sickness, and vomiting. Maria Jolly,
0 ynn, Norfolk.
n 4r° No. 47121.—Miss Elizabeth Jacobs, of extreme
ervollsnessindigestion,gatherings, low spirits, and Der-
Y),I, fancies,
Cure No.' o:C 814 Mr Samuel Laxton, Leicester, of two
Years (lriar 1
The
Food is sold in Canisters, at ls. lid. ; 11b., 2s. 9d.
clnistet" 6d.; 121 b., 225. ; 211 b., 40s. The 121 b. and 241 b
carriage free on recei
arr pt of P. 0. Order. Also Du
_aY Revalonta A rabica Chocolate Powder is packed in
elpus
notiler2 : For 12 cups at 2s, for 24 cups at 3s. 6d., for 48
about
cia,s, for 288 cups at 305., for 576 cups at 555. Being
free , e Penny per cup. The 30s. an 1 555. tins are sent
Eiv,,,,_.c_arriage in England on receipt of Post Office Order
also""JPl.7 BARRY and Co., 77, Regent-street, London ;
o,_ _ act. 'i'ortnuln and Mason's ; also at 4, Cheapside, 61,
biZe_ftouriel-street ; 63 and 150, Oxford-street ; and 121,
A th-nad, London and all Grocers and Chemists.

ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL, Gray's-inn-road,
in the immediate vicinity of the Great Northern
Railway Terminus, King's Cross.
Patron—Hor Most Gracious MAJESTY the QUEEN.
Vico-Patron—
_

His Royal Highness the Prince of WALES, K.G.
President—His Grace the Duke of BUCCLEUCII, K.G.
This Hospital, founded iu the year 1828, the first to
establish the principle of free admission to the sick poor,
without the delay and difficulty of Governors' orders, is
wholly dependent for support on voluntary contributions
and legacies.

It affords relief to a large number of in-patients, and, in
addition to this, the average number of attendance of the
destitute sick has for a considerable period averaged be-
tween 3,000 and 4,000 weekly.
The Committee earnestly solicit the assistance of the
benevolent, as the premises of this hospital aro capable of
containing several hundred more beds had the Committee
the requisite funds to maintain them.
Contributions are received by their bankers, Messrs.
Brown, Hansom, and Co., Abehurch-lane ; also by Messrs.
Coutts and Co.; Drummond and Co.; Glyn and Co.:
Herries sind Co.; Ransom and Co. ; Prescott, Grote, and
Co.; Smith, Pay.o, and Co.; Barclay and Co.; Williams,
Deacon, and Co.; Nisbet and Co., Beruers-btreet and at
the Hospital from 10 till b.