er the direction of
able leaders, had been skillfully adjusted to the needs of the new nation
and was now working smoothly and effectually. There had, indeed, come a
change of sentiment in the Southland. That boastful and flatulent
spirit,--the spirit that contemptuously slurred the strength and courage
of the foe and counted upon an easy victory,--was gone. In its place was a
temper far more formidable. The South realized now that before it was a
task of greatest magnitude, but her people rose to it in a spirit of
splendid sacrifice and with high, stern resolution.

The early part of the year, indeed, brought a series of reverses,
particularly in the West,--reverses that would have seemed fatal to a
cause, less resolutely supported. In January was fought the battle of Mill
Springs, where Thomas, in routing the Confederate forces, achieved the
first considerable Union success of the war. In February came Grant's
capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, which not only yielded thousands of
prisoners but left Middle Tennessee open to the invaders. The same month
witnessed the opening of operations in North Carolina by Burnside, which
resulted in the capture of Roanoke Island and (in March) of New Berne. Pea
Ridge, fought in March, dashed Confederate hopes of Missouri,--for a
season,--and the capture of New Madrid proved another heavy loss to the
South, in men, guns, and munitions. Early in April Fort Pulaski yielded to
Gillmore, and McClellan's great army began its progress up the Peninsula,
with Richmond as its announced goal. The siege-artillery of the Army of
the Potomac was still thundering at Williamsburg, when, on May 6 and 7,
was fought the bloody battle of Shiloh, in which the Confederates,--after
a striking initial success,--were driven from the field by Grant and
Buell, with the death of their loved commander, Albert Sidney Johnston, to
make more bitter their defeat. The echoes of Shiloh's guns had scarcely
ceased, before Island No. 10, with many prisoners and supplies, fell to
Pope, and the crowning Confederate disaster came on May 28, when Farragut
received the surrender of New Orleans,--the commercial metropolis, the
largest and wealthiest city, and the greatest seaport of the South.

But Confederate prestige, which had suffered sadly in these events, was
speedily restored in fullest measure. While McClellan was toiling slowly
up the Peninsula, Jackson was electrifying the whole South by his campaign
in the Shenan