The National tribune., 1906-02-22

'A3 -. ~, A1ACASOf11 = ELOhO
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Grant. Weitzel moved out from DON
aldsonville and distributed his men
around to the best advantage In the
fertile La Fourche country and the
overpowering lassftnde Of Midsummer
seized all. SO many officers succumbed
to the hardships and the climate that
bewildering succession of changes of
command followed leading to a reor-
ganizatfon OF the corps.
"Unvexea to the sea.n
At the commencement sofsthis series
Of articles much space wasxgiven to a
description Of the immense importance
Of the traffic by the way OF the Mfssis-
sippi River and its tributaries; the
number, greatness and perfection OF
appointments OF the steamers that piled
upon those streams. Much.the finest
of all these superb floating hotels that
carried passengers between Cincinnati,
Louisville, st. Louis and New Orleans
was the Steamer Imperial She was
fitted up with lavish expenditure that
left nothing undone to make her, in
every respect, the finest Of all the pas
senger steamboats, on the inland waters.
For her day she was as sumptuous as
the finest Of the great Transatlantic
liners of to-day. One detail that will
GRAFTON and the soldiers who served in
the Army Of the Tennessee was that the
sides of the great. long saloon on the
passenger deck were made Of mirrors.
AS mirrors We're not SO plentiful and
cheap as to-day, this meant an expendi-
ture much out of proportion to any
thing that is to-day planned and carried
out. The Imperial was the favored
passenger boat between st. Louis and
New Orleans, but when that trade was
destroyed by the war she passed into
the service of the army and became,
we believe. eventually hospital trans
port. July 16, 1863, she arrived at New
Orleans direct from st. Louis, being
the first boat to make the trip in the
two tumultous, eyentful years which
had followed the firing on Fort Sumter.
This was the consummation of the work
OF the Armies Of the Tennessee and
Gulf, and expressed BY President Lin
coin in a way that has become one Of
the literary monuments of the language:
1.-The Father of Waters now flows un.
vexed to the sea-"
The first work of the great armies
which had started in from Cairo and
from New Orleans had been triumph
antly completed. The Confederacy was
cut in two; its final fall was assured,
and the supremacy Of the United States
Government over the whole of it's terri
tory was in process Of rapid accom-
plishment.
Comparison With the crimean War.
For many years the Crmean War
filled the minds of the people of Eu-
rope. 1t was the greatest war between
the end of the sNapoIe6nic period and
the struggle between Prussia and
France, which resulted In the over
throw OF the Second Empire. In the
Crimean War the combined armies OF
Great BritaiH. France, Sardinia and
Turkey severely defeated the Russian
army, took the stronghold of Sebasto-
pol, destroyed the Qualifications and
shipping and forced q husniliating peace
upon Russic. The literature of this
struggle is probably esen more volum-
nous than that Of our civil war. Eng
lish and French writer's. have written
about It. and all the incl
dents have been. madef the subject OF
pictures by painters, by writer's and
poets. Yet the opening Of the Missis-
sippi was In every way q more stupen-
dous affair than the whole = Crimean
died from disease, greater battles were
fought, more stubborn resistance was
shown by, the defendants and more per-
sistent gallantry by the assailants than
the Crimean War. which
lasted from March 90, 1854. until
March, 1856. We have been told great
deal more than has been written OF our
war about the battles OF the River
Alma, OF Balaklayas Inkermann, the
Charge of the Light Brigade, and the
of the Malakoff, which made
Mcmahon a Marshal Of France and
later President. .-..
The histories Of that war are mainly
argument, rhetoric and fine descriptive
writing, with an astonishing paucity Of
az fal rS1v fnr
tainty that at the great battle Of Inker
mann there were 8, 900 British engaged
until 5000 French came to their as
and that the British loss dur
ing the war was 20,656, OF which but IL
per cent. or say. $500. were actually
from disease. The French loss was
probably about the same. The losses
of the Turks and Sardinians were nomi-
nal, at least. in battle. for they did very
little fighting. The Alma, BalakIava,
the three days assault upon the Mala-
kof seem minor affairs when compared
with Sherman's assault at Chickasaw
Bayou and the fearful assaults OF the
! 9th and 22d Of May et Vicksburg and
the eth Of May and s1ath of June at
Port Hudson. The battles OF the Alma
and Balaklava We're about the proper
tions OF the fights at Raymond and
Jackson. The Crimean War was the
only real war In .Whicn England was
engaged from the battle of Waterloo
until the outbreak Of the South African
troubles In 1900, period Of 85 years.
Consequently 1T was the principal theme
in history for over a half century. Our
war of the rebellion was SO stupendous
an affair that it cannot be grasped as a
whole. and the best way is to compare
portions Of it with the great wars waged
by other countries. So far as the Gen. |
eralship on both sides was concerned, |
SO far as the fortitude and fighting |
qualities of the c0mbatants on both |
sides are considered, the campaign for |
the opening of the Mississippi stands far |
above the Crimean War In every at
tribute which tends to raise war to the |
plane Of greatness.
(The end1