anged, and
there was only the choice of surrendering her to the enemy, or of
sending her the road that every Confederate iron-clad went sooner, or
later--and she was blown up.

But the gloom was only to grow deeper and deeper, with thickening
clouds and fewer gleams of light.

After the fight at Iuka, in which that popular darling had been
defeated and forced to fall back before superior numbers, Price had
combined his army with that of Van Dorn; and on the 3d of October, the
latter led them to another wild and Quixotic slaughtering--standing out
among the deeds even of that stirring time, in bold relief for
brilliant, terrible daring, and fearful slaughter--but hideous in its
waste of life for reckless and ill-considered objects. The forces of
the enemy at Corinth were in almost impregnable works; and Van
Dorn--after worsting them in a hot fight on the 3d, and driving them
into these lines, next day attacked the defenses themselves and was
driven back. Officers and men behaved with a cool and brilliant daring
that savored more of romance than of real war; deeds of personal
prowess beyond precedent were done; and the army of Mississippi added
another noble page to its record--but written deep and crimson in its
best blood.

And another piteous cry was wrung from the hearts of the people to know
how long, O, Lord! were these terrible scenes--_killings_, not battles;
and with no result but blood and disaster!--to be re-enacted.

After its retreat from Kentucky, Bragg's army rested for over a month
at Murfreesboro, the men recruiting from the fatigues of that
exhausting campaign; and enjoying themselves with every species of
amusement the town and its kindhearted inhabitants offered--in that
careless reaction from disaster that ever characterized "Johnny Reb."
There was no fresh defeat to discourage the anxious watchers at a
distance; while the lightning dashes of John Morgan, wherever there was
an enemy's railroad or wagon train; and the flail-like blows of
Forrest, gave both the army and the people breathing space.

But fresh masses of Federals were hovering upon the track of the
ill-starred Bragg, threatening to pounce down upon and destroy
him--even while he believed so much in their inaction as to think of
forcing them into an advance. The Federals now held West and Middle
Tennessee, and they only needed control of East Tennessee to have a
solid base of operations against Northern Georgia. Once firmly
establish