sessing a knowledge of the railroad facilities
and connections of the South, unequaled perhaps by any other man in
the country at that time, at once saw the vital importance of Miss
Carroll's plan. He declared it to be the first clear solution of the
difficult problem, and was soon sent West to assist in carrying it out
in detail. The Mississippi expedition was abandoned, and the Tennessee
made the point of attack. Both land and naval forces were ordered to
mass themselves at this point, and the country soon began to feel the
wisdom of this movement. The capture of Fort Henry, an important
Confederate post on the Tennessee River serving to defend the railroad
communication between Memphis and Bowling Green, was the first result
of Miss Carroll's plan. It fell Feb. 6, 1862, and was rapidly followed
by the capture of Fort Donelson, which, after a gallant defense,
surrendered to the Union forces Feb. 16th, and the name of Ulysses S.
Grant, as the general commanding these forces, for the first time
became known to the American people. By these victories the line of
Confederate fortifications was broken, and the enemy's means of
communication between the East and the West were destroyed.

All the historians of our civil war concede that the strategy which
made the Tennessee River the base of military operations in the
South-west, thus cutting the Confederacy in two by its control of the
Memphis and Charleston Railroad, also made its final destruction
inevitable. At an early day the Government had neither a just
conception of the rebellion, nor of the steps necessary for its
suppression. It was looked upon from a political rather than a
military point of view, and much valuable time was wasted in
suggestions and plans worse than futile. But while the national
Government had been blind to the real situation, the Confederacy had
every hour strengthened its position both at home and abroad, having
so far secured the recognition of France and England as to have been
acknowledged belligerents, while threats of raising the blockade were
also made by the same powers.

In order to a more full understanding of our national affairs at that
time, we will glance at the proceedings of Congress. When this body
met in December, 1861, a "Committee on the Conduct of the War" was at
once created, and spirited debates upon the situation took place in
both the Senate and the House. It was acknowledged that the salvation
of the country depended