ockaded rifle pits. There was besides an interior line of
4 detached forts. The artillery armament of these works was 30 field guns
and two thirty-pounder Parrotts. Wilson's attacking force was 8000.
Forrest, for the defense, had half that force of veteran cavalry, and some
2000 militia, home-guards, and citizens. The captures were 2700 prisoners,
nearly 2000 horses, 32 guns in service, 26 field guns mounted complete in
arsenal, 46 siege guns in the foundry, 66,000 rounds of artillery
ammunition, and 100,000 rounds for small arms. General Wilson destroyed
the Selma arsenal, with 44 buildings covering 13 acres, filled with
machinery and munitions; powder works comprising 7 buildings, with 14,000
pounds of powder; niter works, with 18 buildings equipped, 3 gun
foundries, 3 rolling mills, and several machine shops, all equipped and
turning out material of war, and vast accumulations of quartermaster and
commissary stores. It was a crushing blow to the Confederacy--this capture
of Selma with its enormous military plant on Sunday, April 2. The same day
Grant, at the other end of the line a thousand miles away, had broken the
lines at Petersburg, and the evacuation of Richmond began.

THE CAPTURE OF MONTGOMERY.

General Wilson's command remained at Selma about a week, making active
preparations for its next stroke, which was to be against Montgomery, the
former capital of the Confederacy. It was necessary to prepare a thousand
feet of bridging to cross the Alabama River, then at flood tide and filled
with floating _debris_. Equipments of every kind were looked after and the
most careful refitting of the whole command took place, the Confederate
stores taken offering abundant facilities for such important work. There
had been horses enough captured to mount the whole command, together with
a very considerable force of negroes for fatigue purposes. With Croxton's
brigade detached and moving by a circuitous route from central Alabama,
through northern Georgia toward Macon, the final objective, the force of
the main column was reduced to 11,000 men.

Upon reaching the outskirts of Montgomery they were met by the officials
of the town and leading citizens, offering surrender without conditions.
Then followed an astonishment for the people of this capital. The whole
force, marching in close column, with its flags unfurled and music
playing, made its way into and through the city without a marauder leaving
its column or a soldier