eamboats. The people
crowded round the renegade officers, and called for a speech. General
Floyd went out upon the balcony of the hotel, and said:--

"Fellow-Citizens: This is not the time for speaking, but for action. It
is a time when every man should enlist for the war. Not a day is to be
lost. We had only ten thousand effective men, who fought four days and
nights against forty thousand of the enemy. But nature could hold out no
longer. The men required rest, and having lost one third of my gallant
force I was compelled to retire. We have left a thousand of the enemy
dead on the field. General Johnston has not slept a wink for three
nights; he is all worn out, but he is acting wisely. He is going to
entice the Yankees into the mountain gaps, away from the rivers and the
gunboats, and then drive them back, and carry the war into the enemy's
country."[7]

[Footnote 7: Lynchburg Republican.]

General Johnston's army, retreating from Bowling Green, began to pass
through the city. The soldiers did not stop, but passed on towards the
South. The people had thought that General Johnston would defend the
place, the capital of the State; but when they saw that the troops were
retreating, they recklessly abandoned their homes. It was a wild night
in Nashville. The Rebels had two gunboats nearly completed, which were
set on fire. The Rebel storehouses were thrown open to the poor people,
who rushed pell-mell to help themselves to pork, flour, molasses, and
sugar. A great deal was destroyed. After Johnston's army had crossed the
river, the beautiful and costly wire suspension bridge which spanned it
was cut down. It cost two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and
belonged to the daughters of the Rebel General Zollicoffer, who was
killed at the battle of Mill Springs in Kentucky. The Rebel officers
undertook to carry off the immense supplies of food which had been
accumulated; but in the panic, barrels of meat and flour, sacks of
coffee, hogsheads of sugar were rolled into the streets and trampled
into the mire. Millions of dollars' worth were lost to the Confederacy.
The farmers in the country feared that they would lose their slaves, and
from all the section round they hurried the poor creatures towards the
South, hoping to find a place where they would be secure.

Throughout the South there was gloom and despondency. But all over the
North there was great rejoicing. Everybody praised the brave soldiers
who had fought so n