am
Ferguson of the Thirteenth Missouri was shot down, how Sergeant Beem of
Company C seized the flag before it touched the ground, and advanced it
still farther; how Beauregard was riding madly along the lines by the
church, trying to rally his men, when Thurber's battery opened, and
broke them up again; how, at noon, he saw it was no use; how he drew off
his men, burned his own camp, and went back to Corinth, defeated, his
troops disheartened, leaving his killed and hundreds of his wounded on
the field; how the Union army recovered all the cannon lost on
Sunday;--if I were to write it all out, I should have no room to tell
you what Commodore Foote was doing all this time on the Mississippi.

It was a terrible fight. The loss on each side was nearly equal,--about
thirteen thousand killed, wounded, and missing, or twenty-six thousand
in all.

I had a friend killed in the fight on Sunday,--Captain Carson,
commanding General Grant's scouts. He was tall and slim, and had
sparkling black eyes. He had travelled all over Missouri, Kentucky, and
Tennessee, had often been in the Rebel camps. He was brave, almost
fearless, and very adroit. He said to a friend, when the battle began in
the morning, that he should not live through the day. But he was very
active, riding recklessly through showers of bullets. It was just at
sunset when he rode up to General Grant with a despatch from General
Buell. He dismounted, and sat down upon a log to rest, but the next
moment his head was carried away by a cannon-ball. He performed his
duties faithfully, and gave his life willingly to his country.

You have seen how the army was surprised, how desperately it fought, how
the battle was almost lost, how the gunboats beat back the exultant
Rebels, how the victory was won. Beauregard was completely defeated; but
he telegraphed to Jefferson Davis that he had won a great victory. This
is what he telegraphed--

"CORINTH, April 8th, 1862.

"TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR, RICHMOND:--

"We have gained a great and glorious victory. Eight to ten thousand
prisoners and thirty-six pieces of cannon. Buell reinforced Grant,
and we retired to our intrenchments at Corinth, which we can hold.
Loss heavy on both sides.

"BEAUREGARD."

You see that, having forsworn himself to his country, he did not
hesitate to send a false despatch, to mislead the Southern people and
co