fire--and in vain. He lost thirteen thousand
men to only four thousand of the Confederates. "Fighting Joe" Hooker now
succeeded Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac. We must now
turn to the West, and see what had been doing there in 1861-62.

[Sidenote: General Grant.]

[Sidenote: He seizes Cairo.]

[Sidenote: Battle of Mill Springs, January, 1862.]

396. Grant and Thomas.--In Illinois there appeared a trained
soldier of fierce energy and invincible will, Ulysses Simpson Grant. He
had been educated at West Point and had served in the Mexican War. In
September, 1861, he seized Cairo at the junction of the Ohio and the
Mississippi. In January, 1862, General George H. Thomas defeated a
Confederate force at Mill Springs, in the upper valley of the Cumberland
River. In this way Grant and Thomas secured the line of the Ohio and
eastern Kentucky for the Union.

[Illustration: THE BRIDGE AT ANTIETAM. Burnside's soldiers charged over
the bridge from the middle foreground.]

[Sidenote: Capture of Fort Henry, February, 1862.]

[Sidenote: Fort Donelson.]

397. Forts Henry and Donelson, February, 1862.--In February, 1862,
General Grant and Commodore Foote attacked two forts which the
Confederates had built to keep the Federal gunboats from penetrating the
western part of the Confederacy. Fort Henry yielded almost at once, but
the Union forces besieged Fort Donelson for a longer time. Soon the
Confederate defense became hopeless, and General Buckner asked for the
terms of surrender. "Unconditional surrender," replied Grant, and
Buckner surrendered. The lower Tennessee and the lower Cumberland were
now open to the Union forces.

[Sidenote: The lower Mississippi.]

[Sidenote: Admiral Farragut.]

398. Importance of New Orleans.--New Orleans and the lower
Mississippi were of great importance to both sides, for the possession
of this region gave the Southerners access to Texas, and through Texas
to Mexico. Union fleets were blockading every important Southern port.
But as long as commerce overland with Mexico could be maintained, the
South could struggle on. The Mississippi, too, has so many mouths that
it was difficult to keep vessels from running in and out. For these
reasons the Federal government determined to seize New Orleans and the
lower Mississippi. The command of the expedition was given to Farragut,
who had passed his boyhood in Louisiana. He was given as good a fleet as
could be provided, and a force