obly. There were public meetings, speeches,
processions, illuminations and bonfires, and devout thanksgivings to
God.

The deeds of the brave men of the West were praised in poetry and song.
Some stanzas were published in the Atlantic Monthly in Boston, which are
so beautiful that I think you will thank me for quoting them.

"O gales that dash the Atlantic's swell
Along our rocky shores,
Whose thunders diapason well
New England's glad hurrahs,

"Bear to the prairies of the West
The echoes of our joy,
The prayer that springs in every breast,--
'God bless thee, Illinois!'

"O awful hours, when grape and shell
Tore through the unflinching line!
'Stand firm! remove the men who fell!
Close up, and wait the sign.'

"It came at last, 'Now, lads, the steel!'
The rushing hosts deploy;
'Charge, boys!'--the broken traitors reel,--
Huzza for Illinois!

"In vain thy rampart, Donelson,
The living torrent bars,
It leaps the wall, the fort is won,
Up go the Stripes and Stars.

"Thy proudest mother's eyelids fill,
As dares her gallant boy,
And Plymouth Rock and Bunker Hill
Yearn to thee, Illinois."

CHAPTER VII.

THE ARMY AT PITTSBURG LANDING.

On the 6th and 7th of April, 1862, one of the greatest battles of the
war was fought near Pittsburg Landing in Tennessee, on the west bank of
the Tennessee River, about twelve miles from the northeast corner of the
State of Mississippi. The Rebels call it the battle of Shiloh, because
it was fought near Shiloh Church. I did not see the terrible contest,
but I reached the place soon after the fight, in season to see the guns,
cannon, wagons, knapsacks, cartridge-boxes, which were scattered over
the ground, and the newly-made graves where the dead had just been
buried. I was in camp upon the field several weeks, and saw the woods,
the plains, hills, ravines. Officers and men who were in the fight
pointed out the places where they stood, showed me where the Rebels
advanced, where their batteries were, how they advanced and retreated,
how the tide of victory ebbed and flowed. Having been so early on the
ground, and having listened to the stories of a great many persons, I
shall try to give you a correct account. It will be a difficult task,
however, for the stories are conflicting. No two persons see a battle
alike; each has his o