"As a living illustration of one of the aspects of the Civil War, a sketch is given above of the contrabands, nee 'niggers,' going to their daily work at Fortress Monroe.  The variety of the Ethiopian countenance is capitally given, and while some remind us of the merry phiz of George Christy in his sable mood, others wear the ponderous gravity of a New Jersey justice.  The colored men had a comparatively pleasant time under their state of contraband existence."

"Our correspondent at Hilton Head wrote us:  "I witnessed the parade entire, as well as the company drills in the manual of arms, etc., afterward, and I must acknowledge my complete surprise at the discipline and even vim evinced by the sable crowd.  Dressed in the regulation uniform of the United States Army, tall and strong men generally speaking, they, considering that the regiment had not been fully armed but about ten days, spoke well for officers and men."

"The right wing of General Hurlbut's division stopped the advance of the Confederates by a determined defense along a side road leading through the woods on the right of the field.  The Twenty-fifth and Seventeenth Kentucky and Forty-fourth and Thirty-first Indiana Regiments were engaged.  By some means the dry leaves and the thick underbrush which covered this locality took fire, filling the woods with volumes of smoke, and only discovering the position of the opposing forces to each other by the unceasing rattle of musketry and the whizzing of the bullets."

"Our sketch represents the desperate bayonet charge of the Federal troops which drove back the Confederates; but the Federals were so exhausted with their victory that the reconnaissance for the next day was postponed, and some heavy guns having arrived, it was proposed to put them in battery in advance of General Steven's camp and try their effect upon the Confederate fort before renewing the project of an assault.  The battery produced no effect upon the Confederate fort; and as its shells and shot commanded the Federal position and rendered its camp insecure, it became necessary to recur again to the old plan of the reconnaissance, and to attempt to reduce it by assault.  The Federals were met by a murderous fire of grape and canister.  Two regiments only reached the front, much cut up -- the Eight Michigan and the Seventy-ninth New York 'Highlanders.'  The Twenty-eight Massachusetts broke and scattered, while the Forty-sixth New York did little better.  The first two drove the gunners from their guns; some mounted the parapet, and some even penetrated the work; but the other regiments, there being two besides those named, not rushing up to their support, they were obliged to retire after having really held it for nearly twenty minutes."

"Next to the ever-memorable  combat between the Merrimac and the Monitor, that of the Carondelet and the Arkansas was the most exciting.  Like the former engagement, it ended in a drawn battle.  On July 14th, 1862, the gunboats Carondelet and Tyler were sent by Commodore Farragut to survey the Yazoo River and ascertain the exact condition of the Confederate iron-plated ram Arkansas, about which there were various reports.  They arrived at the mouth of the Yazoo, fifteen miles above Vicksburg, at seven o'clock in the evening, and anchored for the night.  Next morning at daylight they tipped anchor and slowly steamed up the Yazoo, the Tyler considerably in advance.  About two miles up the river smoke was seen across a little point of land, which, as Captain Gwin of the Tyler surmised, proceeded from the Confederate ram, now rapidly steaming toward the Tyler.  In another moment a heavy report was heard from the enigmatical gunboat, and a huge round shot went howling over the deck of the Tyler. Captain Walke of the Carondelet ordered the Tyler to proceed with all speed to alarm the fleet and advise it to prepare for her approach while he engaged the Confederate monster.  In ten minutes afterwards the Carondelet and Arkansas were alongside each other, and the conflict commenced in earnest.  The Carondelet commenced with her bow guns, striking her opponent with a rapidity and precision which the enormous strength of the iron plating alone prevented taking immediate effect.  The Arkansas used in return her rifled and smooth-bore guns with terrible effect, some of the shots going right through the Carondelet.  Seeing her inability to cope with her antagonist, Captain Walke ran the Carondelet alongside the Arkansas and grappled her.  The order "Boarders away!" was instantly passed, and the crew of the Federal gunboat speedily mounted the deck of its adversary.  When there they found no foe to engage.  The crew of the Arkansas had retired below, and the iron hatches were closed, so that it was utterly impossible to go down and continue the action.

"'Headquarters, Army of the Potomac, November 10th, 1862. -- In accordance with General Orders, No. 182, issued by the President of the United States, I hereby assume command of the Army of the Potomac.  Patriotism, and the exercise of my every energy in the direction of this army, aided by the full and hearty cooperation of its officers and men, will, I hope, under the blessing of God, insure its success.  Having been a sharer of the privations, and a witness of the bravery of the old Army of the Potomac in the Maryland campaign, and fully identified with them in their feelings of respect and esteem for General McClellan, entertained through a long and most friendly association with him, I feel that it is not as a stranger  I assume command.  To the Ninth Army Corps, so long and intimately associated with me, I need say nothing:  our histories are identical.  With diffidence for myself, but with a proud confidence in the unswerving loyalty and determination of the gallant army now intrusted to my care, I accept its control, with the steadfast assurance that the just cause must prevail.  A.E. Burnside, Major General Commanding.' Our illustration represents the general issuing orders to his staff immediately after assuming command."

"Our sketch shows the Confederate device for shooting down the Federal pickets.  We have here not a whole wood marching, but single trees moving in the dusky twilight, continously and stealthily, that their onward movement may be taken for the mere swaying of the trees in the wind.  But the pickets in the third year of the war were keen of eye and quick of ear, and the hand on the trigger tells that some will fall in their cedar coffins to lie with no other cerements of the grave and molder away amid the crags and woods of that wild territory."

"Our artist sent us with this sketch of 'Bummers Foraging' a graphic account of their modus operandi.  He wrote:  "These active and unscrupulous fellows generally started out every morning mounted on very mean horseflesh, and, as a general rule, they always came back very well mounted, with the animals they rode in the morning laden, even to breaking down, with all the good things of this world.  In one place in South Carolina they came to a large plantation owned by a leading Confederate named Fitzgerald.  Here the Federal soldiers found, buried in various out-of-the-way places, an immense quantity of gold and silver plate, of the aggregrate value of over $70,000; here they also found a large quantity of the finest Madeira wine, which had been stowed away in the old gentleman's wine cellar for nearly thirty years.  Indeed, as a general thing, it may be said that the brave fellows had plenty of good wine to drink on their memorable march through Georgia and South Carolina."

"This pretty and thriving little town, in Johnston County, N.C., was the scene of a desperate struggle between a portion of General Sherman's army and the rear of the Confederate army on the 20th of March, 1865.  Our artist has given a spirited sketch of a brilliant dash upon the Confederate forces by a division of the Seventeenth Corps, commanded by General Mower, and spoke with great admiration of the dogged valor of a Confederate captain who refused to surrender his gun.  A sharp encounter ensued between him and one of the Federal soldiers, in which the unfortunate Confederate got his brains dashed out with the butt-end of a musket.  The defeat of the Confederates was very much attributed to the brilliant charge made upon their lines by which their right was flanked.  When the Federal troops entered, it was found that the retreating Confederates had fired a large quantity of rosin and turpentine.  The flames were, however, subdued before all was destroyed."

SOURCE:  Frank Leslie's Famous Leaders and Battle Scenes of the Civil War, edited by Louis S. Moat (New York, 1896). 

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