ce beneath the prairie-flowers.

CHAPTER IX.

EVACUATION OF COLUMBUS.

The Rebels, at the beginning of the war fortified Columbus, in Kentucky,
which is twenty miles below Cairo on the Mississippi River. There the
bluffs are very high, and are washed at their base by the mighty stream.
Cannon placed on the summit have long range. A great deal of labor was
expended to make it an impregnable place. There were batteries close
down to the water under the hill, with heavy guns. A gallery was cut
along the side of the bluff, a winding, zigzag passage, which, with many
crooks and turns, led to the top of the hill. They had numerous guns in
position on the top, to send shot and shell down upon Commodore Foote,
should he attempt to descend the river. They built a long line of
earthworks to protect the rear, intrenchments and stockades,--which are
strong posts set in the ground, making a close fence, with holes here
and there through which the riflemen and sharpshooters could fire.

They cut down the trees and made _abatis_. There were several lines of
defence. They stretched a great iron chain across the river, supporting
it by barges which were anchored in the stream. They gave out word that
the river was effectually closed against commerce till the independence
of the Confederacy was recognized.

[Illustration: A REBEL TORPEDO.]

When the war commenced, there was a man named Maury, a lieutenant in the
United States service, and who was connected with the National
Observatory in Washington. He was thought to be a scientific, practical
man. He had been educated by the government, had received great pay, and
was in a high position; but he forgot all that, and joined the Rebels.
He imitated General Floyd, and stole public property, carrying off from
the National Observatory valuable scientific papers which did not belong
to him. He was employed by the Rebel government to construct torpedoes
and infernal machines for blowing up Commodore Foote's gunboats. He had
several thousand made,--some for the land, which were planted around
Columbus in rear of the town, and which were connected with a galvanic
battery by a telegraph wire, to be exploded at the right moment, by
which he hoped to destroy thousands of the Union troops. He sunk several
hundred in the river opposite Columbus. They were oblong cylinders of
wrought iron, four or five feet in length; inside were two or three
hundred pounds of powder. Two small anchors h