The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1884-02-23

the erroneous report that o fresh Federal force
was advancing on his right and rear, rain,
want OF rations and transportation, broken
bridge, and SO on. But, alas for him the Con-
federacy will never forgive him for camping
on the battlefield that night.
There now follows chapter of speculations
on what might have been; the book is full OF
things of this sort. Some of them are valuable;
others remind one of the strategy of our home
guards. Nothing more serious was actually
accomplished than to push the Federals under
cover of the defences of Washington
Early In 1862 Gen. Beauregard was trans
ferred TO the West, where he found affairs lit
tie to his taste, But before he could re-arrange
his forces and build new forts Gen. Grant and
the fleet had captured Forts Henry and Done-
son, ana greatly depressed the spirits OF the
whole Southern poole. Time was now allowed
him by Gen. Halleck, who was then in chief
command of the Union Western army, and
good use was made of it, By great efforts the
shattered rebel armies were collected at Cor
iath, Miss, New troops were added, and the
battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing, WAS
fought.
There are four chapters relating TO this bat
tie, 10 which We learn of the preparation, the
fight itself. the first days success, the death of
Albert Sidney Johnston, whereby the COM
mand fell to Beauregard, the Federal rein
foroements. the second day repulse, the "slow
and orderly withdrawal of the Confederate
forces" to Corinth, aud the inability OF the
enemy to follow" These four chapters, though
long and full of the criticisms peculiar to the
hnnk int Il. =
different aspect to this battle from any other
account we have seen.
Seven weeks later the Confederates evacu.
ated Cornth, when Gen. Beauregard, being
sick, turned over the command to Gen. Bragg.
In reviewing his operations in the West much
credit is claimed for neutralizing the immense
Federal force under Halleok. All the move
ments OF "the enemy" are freely criticised aud
| the inevitable "what might have been" ap-
| pears in every chapter
| September, 1862. found him In better health
! aud once more in Charleston commanding the
Department of South Carolina aud Georgia
E[e found few things as he thought they should
be, aud he soon learned the difficulty of getting
ANYTHING from Richmond. The real worth of
the man is exhibited in his long, steady and
| successful resistance to the Union army, aided
| as it was by large feet of ironclads Judge
| Roman makes special claim for glory for his
| chief for this defence. It will be remem bere d
that although M iris Island was captured and
the harbor effectually sealed, Charleston and
| Fort Sumter were not evacuated until Sher-
man approached 10 February, 1865.
"Finding that the enemy had nearly ceased
his operations against Charleston" Gen. Beau
regard was transferred north In April, 1864 to
assist Lse in the defence of Richmond I"
| Most notable here were his fights with our
ola-time hero Ben Butler, whereby Petersburg
| Was saved for while to the Confederates. His
| genius for engineering served him well now;
having the shorter line to move upon and be-
ing always well informed of the movements of
| the Union army, he handled the few men nm
der his command with great sagaclty, prompt-
ness and effect. The story of tn ,se DAYS is
well told in the old song we used to sing:
| Now Ben, who had been "bottled up" was anxious
to redeem
| The reputation he had Iost-it wasn't much 7 ween
He or ssed the James River, and hunted high and
| low
To find the Johnny Rebels and to strike a mighty
blow.
We trust the honor Of flag to brave and skiful
/
| But in this category We never could pus Ben.
He found the rebel pickets who fought him in the
rain,
And very shortly after he was bottled up, again.
This fort of the General at Petersburg is
| summed up as follows: sit was a great feat
in military annals. On the 18th, 200 men de-
Tending Petersburg prevented % 900 from eft
fecting its capture. On the evening of the 16 h
| 10000 stood successful barrier to 66 00O The
same 10000 on the 18th confronted 10000, and
| were not defeated. On the 18th 5000
in the forenoon and 10000 in the afternoon
bloodily repulsed the combined attack of these
| 10000. The loss of the enemy was nine times
| greater; 1t amounted to more than we had in
action" The results are correctly stated, but
we fear Judge Roman will have to revise his
figures, as in the case of Bull Run.
| In October, 1864, Gen. Beauregard was again
sent to the Western department. now greatly
enlarged, but troubles gather, engineering
| skill can avail no longer, the Northern hosts
| overpower everything. Still. if we can trust
our author, "it might have been" otherwise.
| The closing chapters show how the life blood
| of the Confederacy ebbed, but 10 important r
| striking action of Gen. Beauregard is recorded.
| II is painful reading on the WHOLE unless we
can divest ourselves entirely of sympathy with
| the General When things were going from
bad to worse; when all bis well meant advice
was unhee1ed, he suddenly received the order
on Feb. %. 1865, to place himself under com-
mand of Gen. 10. Johnston. and these two he
roes Of Bull Run found their last ditch togeth.
er at Greensboro, N. O.. where, inste i'd OF dy-
ing, they wisely surrendered to Sherman.
Ga the 1st day of Nav, 1865, with $1.50 In
his pocket, he started for home Lieut. CHS
holm of his staff had the shrewdness to load
wagon full of tobacco, nails, thread and 9th
| er scarce articles, and they thus worked their
| way back to Louisiana. bartering as they went.
The book is filed with censure of President
Davis, who is accused OF lying and Partially.
| Some of the3a accusations are probably we'll
| founded, but on the whole the wisdom of Mr..
| Davis and the Confederate War Department
will not be questioned for assigning Gen.
Beauregard to engineering duties and reliev-
| ing him from field operations where he invari-
ably failed.
Books Received.
GARD. By Judge Alfred Roman, formerly of
His Staff. New York: Harper & Brothers. Sold
by Subscripti1n)