l the features are considered, is it claiming too much to say that no
conception of the war was more magnificent?

The evacuation of Bowlinggreen was commenced on the 14th of February,
and notwithstanding the discontent of the troops, was accomplished in
perfect order. On the day after it was all over, the enemy arrived upon
the opposite bank of Barren river--the bridges had all, of course, been
burned--and shelled the town which he could not immediately enter.

The weather for the week following the evacuation, was intensely cold,
and the troops accustomed, for the most part, to comfortable quarters
during the winter, and exposed for the first time to real hardships,
suffered severely. Still, after the first murmuring was over, they were
kept in high spirits by the impression, assiduously cultivated by their
officers, that they were marching to surprise and attack Thomas, who was
supposed to have compromised himself by an imprudent pursuit of
Crittenden.

The news from Donelson, where the fight was then raging, was very
favorable, and the successful defense of the fort for several days
encouraged even General Johnson to hope that it would be held and the
assailants completely beaten off.

As the army neared Nashville, some doubts of the truth of the programme
which the men had arranged in their imaginations began to intrude, and
they began to believe that the retreat meant in good earnest the giving
up of Kentucky--perhaps something more which they were unwilling to
contemplate. While they were in this state of doubt and anxiety, like a
thunder-clap came the news of the fall of Donelson--the news that seven
thousand Confederate were prisoners in the hands of the enemy.

General Johnson, himself, was thoroughly surprised by the suddenness of
the disaster, for, six hours before he received information of the
surrender, he had been dispatched that the enemy had been signally
repulsed, and were drawing off, and until the intelligence came of the
fate of the garrison, he had learned of no new attack. The depression,
which this information produced, was deepened by the gloom which hung
over Nashville when the troops entered. It is impossible to describe the
scene. Disasters were then new to us, and our people had been taught to
believe them impossible. No subsequent reverse, although fraught with
far more real calamity, ever created the shame, sorrow, and wild
consternation which swept over the South with the news of the