attle, which Carleton witnessed from the deck of the gunboat
_Pittsburg_, which he has described not only in his letters but also
in the books written later. After the destruction of the rebel fleet
followed the heavy bombardment which, after many days of constant rain
of iron, compelled the evacuation of the forts early in April. Even
after these staggering blows at the Confederacy, Carleton expatiated
on the mighty work that yet remained to be done before Secessia should
become one of the curiosities of history in the limbo of things
exploded.

A month of arduous toil and continuous activity on foot, on deck, and
on horseback followed. On the river and in Tennessee and in
Mississippi the tireless news-gatherer plied his tasks. Then came
tidings of the capture of New Orleans, the evacuation of Fort Pillow,
in or near which Carleton wrote two of his best letters; the retreat
of the Confederates from Memphis, and the annihilation of the rebel
fleet in a great water battle, during which Carleton had the very best
position for observation, only two other journalists being present to
witness it with him. Owing to a week's sickness, he did not see the
battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing, but he arrived on the ground
very soon after, and went over the whole field with participants in
the struggle and while the debris was still fresh. He made so thorough
a study of this decisive field of valor, that he was able to write
with notable power and clearness both in his letters at the time and
later in his books.

We find him in Chicago, June 17th, in Boston, June 21st, where, in one
of his letters, numbering probably about the two hundredth, he
welcomes the sweet breezes of New England, her mountains, the
deep-toned diapason of the ever-sounding sea, the green fields, the
troops of smiling children, the toll of church bells, and the warm
grasp of hands from a host of kind-hearted friends; and, best of all,
the pure patriotism, the true, holy devotion of a people whose mighty
hearts beat now and ever "for union and liberty, one and
inseparable."

CHAPTER X.

AT ANTIETAM AND FREDERICKSBURG.

The opening of the battle-summer of 1862 found the seat of war in the
East, in the tidewater region of Virginia. These were the days when
"strategy" was the word. General George B. McClellan's leading idea
was to capture Richmond rather than destroy the Confederate army. His
own forces lay on both sides of the Chickahominy, in th