Jay County, Indiana - The whole text, 1881 (part 2 of 11)

The great basin occupied by the Oeetm is, like the dry land, diversified by plains, mountains, table-lands, and valleys, sometimes barren and sometimes covered with marine vegetation. Springs of fresh water rise from the bottom, and volcanoes eject their lava and scoria?. The sea is supposed to have acquired its saline properties when the globe was in the act of subsiding from a gaseous state ; for the water, as well as the saline matter it contains, are volatile and gaseous at high temperatures.

The Surface of the Earth. - The most prominent and strikinofeature of the earth's surface are the Mountains. These generally appear in groups, intersected by valleys in every direction More frequently in extensive chains symmetrically arrano-ed in a series of parallel ridges, separated by narrow long'itudinafvallevs the highest and most rugged of which occupy the center -When the chain is broad, and of the first order in point of magnitude peak after peak rises m endless succession. The lateral ridges and valleys are of less elevation, and are less bold in proportion to their distance from the central mass, until at last the remotest ridge sinks into gentle undulations. Extensive and high branches diverge from the main chains at various angles, and stretch awav into the plains. They are often as high as the chains from which they spring, and it often happens that these branches are united by transverse ridges. At the point where these offsets diverge there is frequently a knot of mountains extending over hundreds of square miles.

One side of a mountain range is usually more precipitous than the other. Nothing deceives the traveler more than the steepness of a declivity. The declivity of Mont Blanc, "the Monarch of Mountains," towards the Allee Blanche, precipitous as it appears

Tablelands form a prominent feature in the Asiatic and American continents, and are met with -in various other parts of the world. These perpetual storehouses of the waters send their streams to refresh the plains, and to afford a highway between nations. Table-lands of less elevation, sinking in terraces of lower and lower level, constitute the links between the high ground and the low, the mountains and the plains, and thus mamtain the continuity of the land.

The Plains embrace all that portion of the Earth's surface not included in preceding divisions, and are by far the most extensive area of the dry land.

Geology. - The substances which constitute our Earth are divided into four classes, distinguished by the manner in which they have been formed; plutonw and volcanic rocks, both of igneous origin, though produced under different circumstances ; aqueous or stratified rocks, formed by the action of water, as we may conclude from the name ; and metamorphic rocks, deposited by water, according to some, and therefore stratified, but afterwards altered and crystallized by heat. The aqueous and volcanio rocks are formed near the surface of the earth, and the plutonio and metamorphic rocks at great depths.

Aqueous rocks are all stratified, being the sedimentary deposits of water. They have their origin in the wear of the land by rain, streams, or the ocean. Running water carries the debris of the land to the bottom of the seas and lakes, where it solidifies, and is then raised up by subterranean forces to undergo the same process in the lapse of time. The primary fossiliferous or palaeozoic strata, the oldest of the sedimentary rocks, consist of limestone, sandstone, and shales. They are entirely of marine origin, and have been formed far from land, at the bottom of a deep ocean.

This series of rocks is subdivided by geologists into the Cambrian, and the upper and lower Silurian, and Carboniferous systems. They are distinguished by the difference in their fossil remains. The Silurian rocks abound in organic remains, which, in the Cambrian, are rarely found. The Tower Silurian group contains the remains of shell-fish, etc. The upper Silurian group contains marine shells of every description, also quantities of coral, and some sea-weeds. The remains of several land plants have been found in the Silurian rocks of North America. An ocean covered the northern hemisphere during the Silurian period.

The secondary fossiliferous strata was deposited at the bottom of an ocean, like the primary, and still show traces of their marine origin. Calcareous rocks are more abundant in these strata than in the crystalline. The Devonian, or Old Bed Sandstone group, consists of strata of dark red and other sandstones, marls, coralline, limestones, conglomerates, etc. It has some very singular and interesting fossils.

The Carboniferous group consists of numberless layers of various substances, filled with the remains of fossil land plants mixed with beds of coal. This is a remarkable group, and forms a very interesting study. In this country (North America) the footprints of a huge reptile, of the frog tribe, have been found on some of the carboniferous strata. The coal strata have been broken and deranged by earthquakes and various kinds of igneous eruptions.

The magnesian limestone, or Permian formation, comes immediately above the coal measures, and consists of breccias or conglomerates, gypsum, sandstone, marl, etc. The Permian formation has a fossil flora and fauna peculiarly its own, mixed with those of the coal strata. A series of red marls, rock-salt, and sandstones, which have arisen from the disintegration of metamorphic slates and porphyritic trap, containing oxide of iron, and known as the Trias, or New Bed Sandstone system, lies above magnesian limestone.

The Oolite or Jurassic group consists of sands, sandstone, marls, clays, and limestone. Fossil fishes are numerous in the Oolite strata. The Cretaceous strata which follow the Oolite in the ascending order, consist of clays, green and iron sands, blue limestone and chalk.

The series of rocks from the granite to the end of the secondary fossiliferous strata, taken as a whole, constitute the solid crust of the globe, and in that sense are universally diffused over the surface of .the earth.

The Tertiary strata for the most part occupy the hollows formed in this crust, and are found in irregular tracts, often of great thickness and extent. Under the vegetable mould of every country there is a mass of loose sand, gravel, and mud, called alluvium, lying upon the subjacent rocks. It is often of great thickness, and in the high latitudes of North America and Europe is mixed with immense fragments of rocks, varying in shape by the action of the water, which have been carried vast distances from their origin. It is known as the Bowlder Formation, or Northern Drift. In Russia there are enormous blocks that have been transported 800 and in some instances 1,000 miles in a southeastern direction from their origin in the Scandinavian range.

Minerals are deposited in veins or fissures of rocks, in masses, iu beds, and sometimes rolled fragments imbedded in gravel and sand, the detritus of water. Most of the metals are found in veins ; a few, as gold and tin, iron and copper ores, are disseminated through the rocks, though infrequently. The metals are diffused over the earth in great abundance. Few countries of any extent do not contain some of them.

The Waters of the Earth. - The vapor which rises invisibly from the land and water ascends in the atmosphere until it is condensed by the cold into clouds, which restore it again to the earth in the form of rain, hail, and snow. Part of this moisture restored to the earth is reabsorbed by the air, part supplies the wants of animal and vegetable life, a portion is carried off by the streams, and the remaining part penetrates through porous soils until it reaches a stratum impervious to water, where it accumulates in subterranean lakes, often of great extent. The mountains receive the most of the aerial moisture, and from the many alternations of permeable and impermeable strata they contain, a complete system of reservoirs is formed in them, which, continually overflowing, form perennial Springs, at different elevations, which unite and run down their sides in incipient rivers. A great portion of the water at these high levels penetrates the eartli until it reaches an impermeable stratum below the plains, where it collects in a sheet, and is forced by hydraulic pressure to rise in springs, through cracks in the ground, to the surface. In this way the water which falls on hills and mountains is carried through highly inclined strata to great depths, and even below the bed of the ocean, in many parts of which there are springs of fresh water. In boring artesian wells the water often rushes up with such force, by the great pressure of the water underneath, as to form jets forty or fifty feet high.

Few springs give the same quantity of water at all times. They vary much in the quantity of foreign matter they contain. Springs which exist in mountains are generally pure. The carbonic acid gas generally found in them escapes into the atmosphere, and their earthy matter is deposited as they run along. The water of rivers from such sources is soft, while wells and springs in the plains are hard, and more or less mineral.

Rivers often rise in lakes which they connect with the sea. Sometimes they spring from small elevations in the plains, from perennial sources in the mountains, alpine lakes, and melted snow and glaciers. All rivers ultimately empty into the ocean. The Atlantic, the Arctic, and the Pacific Oceans are directly or indirectly the recipients of all the rivers ; consequently their basins are bounded by the principal water-sheds of the continents. The basin of a sea or ocean comprehends all the land drained by the rivers which fall into it, and is bounded by an imaginary line passing through all their sources.

The volume of a river varies. In the temperate zones rivers are subject to floods from autumnal rains and the melting of the snow, especially on mountain ranges. The inundations of the rivers in the torrid zone occur with a regularity peculiar to a region in which meteoric phenomena are uniform in all their changes. These floods are owing to the periodical rains which, in tropical climes, follow the cessation of the tradewinds, after the vernal equinox, and at the turn of the monsoons. They are thus dependent on the declination of the sun, the immediate cause of all these changes. Streams sometimes suddenly disappear, and % after flowing underground for some distance reappear at the surface. The alluvial soil carried down by streams is gradually deposited as their velocity diminishes ; and if they are subject to inundations and the coast is flat, it forms deltas at their mouths. Tides flow up some rivers to a great distance. The tide is perceptible in the Amazon five hundred and seventy-six miles from its mouth, and it ascends two hundred and fifty-five miles in the Orinoco.

The hollows formed on the surface of the earth by the ground sinking and rising, earthquakes, streams of lava, craters of extinct volcanoes, the intersection of strata, and those that occur along the edges of the different formations, are generally filled with water, and constitute systems of Lakes, some salt anil some fresh. Almost all lakes are fed by springs rising at the bottom, and they are occasionally the sources of the largest rivers. Some have neither tributaries nor outlets; the greatest number have both. The quantity of water in lakes, like that in rivers, varies with the seasons everywhere. Small lakes occur in mountain passes, formed by water which runs into them from surrounding peaks. They are frequently, as in the Alps, very transparent, of a bright green or azure hue. Large lakes are common on table-lands, but the largest are on extensive plains. There are more lakes in high than in low latitudes, because evaporation is much greater in low latitudes. Fresh-water lakes are characteristic of the higher latitudes of both continents ; but those on the old continent sink into insignificance in comparison with the number and extent of those on the new. The American lakes contain more than half the amount of fresh water on the globe. Lakes being the sources of some of the largest rivers, are of great importance for inland navigation as well as for irrigation; while, by their constant evaporation, they maintain the supply of moisture in the atmosphere so essential to vegetation.

The Tides flow and ebb twice a day, and are raised by the combined action of the sun and moon. The water immediately under the moon is drawn from the earth by that luminary at the same time that she draws the earth from the water diametrically opposite, in both cases producing a tide of nearly equal height. A similar action of the sun raises a wave which, on account of its great distance, is much less than that raised by the moon. The two waves sometimes unite, and sometimes are opposed to one another, according to the relative positions of the sun and moon ; but the combined wave tends to follow the sun and moon as far as the rotation of the earth will allow. Being thus chiefly regulated by the moon, the tides occur twice in twenty-four hours. In that time the rotation of the earth brings the same point of the ocean twice under the meridian of the moon. The highest, or spring tides, happen at full moon - twice in each lunar year.

Ocean Currents. - Besides the tides there are other great movements going on continuously in the ocean, which are called I' ocean currents," and which play an incalculably important part in the natural economy of the earth. The two "principal oceanic currents in the northern hemisphere, and those most familiar to the reader, doubtless, are the "Gulf Stream "and the "Japan Current;" and it has been clearly demonstrated, by the experiments and observations of Dr. Carpenter, that, in common with the other great ocean currents, they arise from the simple fact that, like all other substances, water is expanded by heat. In the great caldron of the torrid zone, the water is heated even as high as 85deg. F. It consequently expands and flows off to the cooler regions, its place being supplied by colder and heavier water from the north. This, together with the great amount of equatorial precipitation, is believed to produce the ocean currents of our hemisphere, which are crowded against the eastern shores of both continents by the motion of the earth until they reach latitude 48deg. to 56deg., where, by their motion being in excess of that of the earth, and by encountering more elevated plateaus of the ocean beds, they are deflected eastward, and break upon the opposite coasts of the respective continents. This movement of the Gulf Stream is well understood. Leaving the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, it moves northeastward along the American coast, gradually becoming an off-shore current until it impinges upon the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, where it is deflected to the eastward, and, moving along the southern declivity of the plateau upon which the ocean cable from Virgin Bay to valenoia rests, crosses the Atlantic and breaks upon the shores of "Western Europe. A portion of its volume, escaping over the plateau, moves along the northern coast of Ireland and western coast of Scotland. Here we have a magnificent river of warm water carrying the heat of the tropics to more frigid regions. This heat is retained intact to a great degree until the current breaks upon the shores, where it is set free, and, being carried inland by the prevailing westerly wind, renders all of Central and Northern Europe habitable. Were the Gulf Stream arrested in its flow, the German would become a frozen ocean, the British Islands would become another Labrador - would cease to grow wheat and barley, and the people would be obliged to emigrate or perish in a frozen wilderness.

"While the Atlantic has its Gulf Stream, the Pacific has one as much grander as the ocean through which it flows. This is called the "Japan Current." It takes its rise in the Indian Ocean, moves northward along the eastern shore of Asia, as the Atlantio Gulf Stream hugs the American shore, until it strikes upon the Aleutian Islands and Alaskan Penbsula. Here it is divided. One portion moves northward through Behring Sea and Straits, eastward through the Arctic Ocean, southward through Baffin's Bay and Davis's Straits, and still southward along our Atlantio coast, giving us cold northerly and easterly winds and good fish. This accounts for the abundance of icebergs in the Atlantic, while none are ever seen in the Pacific. The Japan Current, flowing from the Pacific into the Arctic Ocean and thence into the Atlantic, carries all icebergs with it. The other and much larger portion of the Japan Current is bent southward by the elevated bed of Behring Sea and the Alaskan Peninsula, and flows along the western coast of America as an off-shore current until it strikes upon Cape Mendocino, in California,, where a portion turns ao-ain northward as an immense in-shore eddy, while the remainder moves on southward uutil, by its greater specific gravity, it sinks beneath the surface and is lost.

In addition to these two great equatorial currents there are several others, which may be classilied as the Arctic, the Antarctic, and the Indian Equatorial. The direction of both polar streams, owing to the rapid revolution of our planet, is oblique and toward the equator. The Antarctic Current, encountering for many degrees little interruption from land, thus deflects gradually more and more to the eastward to about the 40th parallel, where it unites with the warm currents of the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans flowing directly east. In the Southern Pacific it strikes the southwest shores of South America, and there divides into two arms, the one following the coast northwards under the well-known name of Humboldt's Current; the other, preserving more its easterly direction, doubles Cape Horn, and crossino- the Atlantic forms on the southwest coast of Africa a northward flowing current similar to the Humboldt. Following the same laws, but confined by the formation of the land into narrower channels, the Arctic Ocean sends southward the immense volume of cold water known as the Greenland and Labrador currents, circling the coasts of these countries and bearing a freight of icebero-s as far south as the 40th parallel, whence it flows under the Gulf Stream, and along the coast of the United States; also the Behrimg Current, of much smaller dimensions, through the straits of the same name. The Indian Equatorial Current, under the names of the Malabar and Mozamlnque Currents, flows west and south across the Indian Ocean and through Mozambique Channels, forms the Cape Current, then bending suddenly eastward, it retrogrades in the 40th parallel, forms the South Australian Current, and finally unites with the East Australian.

Distribution of Animals and Plants. - According to Agassiz there are no less than four great " divisions " and twelve " classes " of animals ; but we use the word here in the popular and restricted sense in which it covers simply the order of "mammalia." The Mammalia consists of nine««to'«of animals, viz : the quadrv/mana,, animals which can use their fore and hind feet as bands, such as monkeys and apes ; clieiropUra, those that have winged anus, such as bats ; carnmora, those that live on animal food, such as the lion, tiger, etc. ; rodentia, or gnawers, as beavers, squirrels, and mice ; edentata, or toothless animals, as sloths, ant-eaters, and armadilloes ; pachydermata, thick-skinned animals, as the elephant, horse, hippopotamus, and hog; rummantia, those that chew the cud, as camels, llamas, giraffes, cows, sheep, and deer; marsupials, those having a pouch into which their young is received after birth ; and eetacem, those that inhabit the water, as dolphins, cachalots, whales, etc. The number of known species of the whole animal kingdom amounts at the present time to about 13,000. The animal kingdom varies with the height above the sea, and the latitude. The number of land animals increases from the frigid zones to the equator. Viewing the mammalia from a comprehensive stand-point, it may be said that the forests of the tropics are the principal home of the monkey tribe ; Asia is the abode of the ape, especially the islands of the Indian Archipelago. They are dispersed in all parts of Africa, from the Cape of Good Hope to Gibraltar, where the Barbary ape is found. Another species of ape is found in the island of Niphon, which is the northern limit of monkeys, at the eastern extremity of the old world. Bats that live on fruit are found in the tropical and warm climates. The common bat is met with everywhere, except in Arctic America. The vampire is found only in tropical America. Carnivorous animals are distributed throughout the earth, but in unequal proportions. As we near the tropics they increase so rapidly that there are almost three times as many in the tropical zones as in the temperate. The edentata are more numerous in South America than anywhere else in the old world ; but in America their range is more extensive. The pachydermata are very numerous in the old world, and were introduced into America by man. The tapir is the only species of this order that is indigenous to North America, and it is found also in South America. The ruminantia are found everywhere in the tropical and temperate zones in the world, and three species are met with beyond the Arctic circle. The marsupials are almost exclusively found in Australia and New Guinea, though a few species exist in America.

In Europe there are 1*80 wild quadrupeds ; the most remarkable are the reindeer, elk, red and fallow deer, the roebuck, glutton, lynx, polecat, wild-cats, the common and black squirrels, the fox, wild boar, wolf, the black and brown bear, and several species of weazels and rodents. The otter, and rabbits and hares are numerous. The hedge-hog is very generally distributed ; the porcupine is found exclusively in southern Europe ; the chamois and the ibex are found in the Alps and Pyrenees. Asia has 288 species of mammalia, of which 186 are common to it and other countries. Asia minor is a region of transition from the fauna of Europe to that of Asia. The chamois, the ibex, the brown bear, the wolf, fox, hare, and others here mingle with the hyena, the Angora goat, the Argali sheep, and the white squirrel. The hyena, panther, jackal, and wolf are inhabitants of Arabia. The reindeer, elk, wolf, bear, lynx, several kinds of martens, and cats, the fox, ermine, polecat, and weasel are all Asiatic fur-bearing animals. Among the distinctively Asiatic animals are the tiger, panther, tapir, ox, buffalo, elephant, goat, yak, camel, dromcdarv, antelope, musk deer, horse, ass, rhinoceros, leopard, ant-eater, flying squirrels, bats, and many species of the ape and monkev trite.

Africa lias 250 species of mammals exclusively its own. ihe giraffe, antelope, zebra, quagga, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, elephant and hnn- are the important. . Different species of the monkey tribe are found all over Africa, and lions, leopards, and panthers are numerous. . .

America is a rich zoological region, possessing 480 species of mammalia peculiarly its own. Mammals of the Arctic regions furnish excellent fur. The fox, polar hare, brown and white bear, and the reindeer inhabit these regions. The raccoon, black bear, badger, the ermine, the red fox, prairie dog, lynx, beaver, muskrat, and moose-deer are among the animals of America. The musk-ox and the bison are peculiar to North America, and are found nowhere else.

Forty species of the indigenous quadrupeds of Australia are found nowhere else, and the greater number are marsupials, which are distinguished from all other animals by their young bein" nourished in the pouch until they are old enough to take care°of themselves. The kangaroo, phalanger, Hying opossum, wombat, and the wild hog are all found in Australia. Ruminating and pachydermatous animals are not indigenous to Australia, and any that may be found in that country have been introduced from other countries.

Plants are naturally distributed into two great sub-kingdoms, viz.: flowering plants' 'and jlowerless plants. The flowers of the former order of plants contain stamens and pistils, and are all formed of whorls of modified leaves. Their young seeds, termed ovules, are fertilized by the pollen of the stamens. The latter order 'of plants includes ferns, mosses, lichens, sea-weeds, and fungi, whose very minute seeds are of a very different nature, and have no flowers, strictly speaking. The flowering plants are divided into two principal classes, termed monocotyledons and dicotyledons. The former grow from within the stalk, the footstalks of the old leaves always forming the outside of the stem. Their leaves have parallel veins, and the parts of their floral whorls are always in threes or sixes, and their embryo has but one seed-lobe or cotyledon. Grasses, palms, and lilies belong to this class. The dicotyledons have leaves with netted veins, stems with distinct bark, and layers of wood and pith. The parts of their floral whorls are in fours or fives, and the embryo has two seed-lobes. Most trees and woody plants belong to this class. It is the larger of. the two. The classes are variously distributed in unequal proportions, in different zones. Equinoctial America has a more extensive vegetation than any other portion of the earth of equal area. Europe has not more than half the number of indigenous species of plants. Asia, with its islands, has far more than Europe. Australia, with its islands, has almost as many as Europe. Africa has fewer known vegetable productions than any portion of the earth of equal area.

Vegetation depends mainly on the light of the sun, moisture, and the mean annual temperature. It is also in some degree controlled by the heat of the summer in the temperate zones, and by exposure, plants requiring warmth being found at a lower level on" the north side of a mountain than on the south side. Between the tropics, where there is, an absence of rain, the soil is parched and unproductive. In those regions where moisture is combined with heat and light, vegetation flourishes luxuriantly. The forests and jungles of tropical climes are almost impenetrable from the exuberance of vegetation, the result of severe and heavy periodical falls of rain. As we recede from the tropics this rankness of vegetation gradually diminishes. It diminishes progressively as the altitude above the sea-level increases; thus each height has a corresponding parallel of latitude where the flora areBanaloo-ous. Plants are dispersed by currents. Winds also carry seeds to great distances. Birds and quadrupeds, and especially man, are active agents also in the dispersion of plants.

Races of Mankind. - According to the accepted classification among ethnologists, there are five primary races of mankind, from which all the various peoples of the world are sprung; namely, the Caucasian, the Mongolian, the Malay, the Ethiopian or Negro race, and the American. The Caucasian race embraces, (1) the Indo-European, which occupies south-western Asia (its birth-place), the greater part of Europe, the United States of

General View Of The World

America, and the various British colonies, comprising Hindoos, Persians, Caucasians proper, Sclavonians, Teutons, and Celts. This is by far the most highly developed of the races of mankind, and includes all the progressive and civilized nations of the modern world. (2) The Syro-AraUc, occupying Arabia and North Africa, and comprising Syrians, Arabs, Nubians, Copts, Berbers, and Moors. (3) The Indo European mixed races, comprising the Mexicans, Peruvians, and Brazilians. The number of . the Caucasian race is estimated at 026,500,000. - The Mongolian race occupies the whole of Asia except the southwestern parts, extending also along the northern parte of Europe and America, and embraces, in Asia, the Chines::'. Ind i-Ohinese, Tibetans, Japanese, Mongols, Turks, Tungusians, Ivorialcs. Kaintchatdales, Chukchees, Yukkajiri, and Sarnoides; in Kuropo, the Finns, and Lapps; and in America and Greenland, the Esquimaux. Their estimated number is about 460,000,000. - The Malay race inhabits Malaysia, or the East-Indian Archipelago, Madagascar, and the Isles of the Pacific, comprising the Malays proper, the Hawaians, thel.tliitians, and tiie Maoris. Their estimated number is 36,000,000. - The Ethiopian, or Negro race, inhabits the greater part of Africa, and comprises the almost innumerable African tribes, the Papuan Negroes who inhabit New Guinea and New Caledonia, and the Australians. The estimated number of the whole Negro race is 129,000,000 - The American or Indian race still occupy immense tracts of North and South America, embracing many families and tribes, from the Ckippeways of the North to the Patagonians and Fuegians of the extreme South. Their numbers are estimated at 14,000,000 or 15,000,000, but are said to be rapidly decreasing.

Religions of the World. - There are upwards of eleven hundred different creeds professed among mankind; but these are generally classified into four or five great divisions, as Christians, Jews, Mohammedans, and Heathens. The latest reliable estimate of the number of adherents of the principal religions at the present time, is as follows ;

Grand Divisions

THE United States of America lie between latitudes 24deg. 20min. and 49deg. north, and longitudes lOdeg. 14min. east and 43deg. 30min. west, from Washington, or 66deg. 48min. and 125deg. 32inin. west, from Greenwich. They are bounded on the north by British North America, east by New Brunswick, south by the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and Mexico, and west by the Pacific Ocean.

The United States are divided into four great sections : 1st, the Atlantic slope; 2d, the vast basin of 'the Mississippi and Missouri ; 3d, the country between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada ; and 4th, the Pacific slope. These divisions are formed by three mountain ranges - the Appalachian chain towards the east, the Rooky Mountains in the center, and the Sierra Nevada on the west. The Appalachian or Alleghany chain is more remarkable for length than height; it extends from the State of Mississippi, northeast, through the States of Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and Vermont, for about 1,200 miles, at a variable distance of from TO to 300 miles from the Atlantic, and consists of several parallel ranges of an average aggregate breadth of about 100 miles. The mean height of the AUeghanies is not more than from 2,000 to 3,000 feet, about half of which consists of the elevation of the mountains above the adjacent plain, and the rest of the elevation of the latter above the sea. The White Mountains, in New Hampshire, which belong to this chain, reach a height of above 7,000 feet. The Black°Mountain, in North Carolina, is said to rise 6,476 feet above the sea ; and other summits reach 6,000 feet and upwards. The Rocky Mountains are a prolongation of the great Mexican Cordillera. Their average height may be about 8,500 feet above the ocean, but some of their summits attain to from 12,000 to over 15,000 feet. About 10deg. or 12deg. west from the Rocky Mountains is the great coast chain of the Sierra Nevada, or Snowy Mountains, which extends, under different names and with different altitudes, from the Peninsula of California to Alaska. It is of still greater elevation than the Rocky Mountains ; some of its passes (within the United States) being about 9,000 feet, and some of its summits 15,500 feet above the level of the sea. The region between these two vast mountain ranges comprises the eastern and most extensive and sterile portion of Oregon ; the great inland basin of Upper California, elevated from 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the Pacific, and mostly a desert ; and the country drained by the great river, the Colorado, and its affluents. West of the Sierra Nevada is the Pacific slope. The portion of the basin of the Mississippi and Missouri, on their rig^ht bank, is by far the most extensive. It comprises, 1st, a tract of low, fiat, alluvial, and wellwooded land, lying along the rivers, and stretching inwards from 100 to 200 miles or more ; and 2d, the prairie and wild region, extending from 'that last mentioned, by a pretty equal ascent, to the Rocky Mountains. The prairies are of immense extent, but they are not, as is commonly supposed, level. Their surface is rolling or billowy, sometimes swelling into very considerable heights. They are covered with long, rank grass, being interspersed in Texas and the Southern States with clumps of magnolia, tulip, and cotton trees, and in the Northern States with oak and black walnut. The prairies gradually diminish in beauty and verdure as they stretch towards the west, and become more elevated, till at length they imperceptibly unite with and lose themselves in a desert zone or belt skirting the foot of the Rocky Mountains. In the south this desert belt is not less than from 400 to 500 miles in width, but it diminishes in breadth in the more northerly latitudes. The Pacific slope, comprising the country west of the Sierra Nevada, includes California and the best and most fertile portion of Oregon and Washington Territory. Like the Atlantic coast it is, for the most part, heavily timbered.

Rivers, Lakes, and Bays. - The rivers of the United States are of prodigious magnitude and importance. Of those flowing south and east, the principal are the Mississippi and Missouri, which, with their tributaries, the Ohio, Arkansas, and Red River, give to the interior of the United States an extent of inland navigation, and a facility of communication unequaled, perhaps, and certainly not surpassed, in any other country. The Alabama and Appalachicola flow, like the Mississippi, into the Gulf of Mexico ; the Alatamaha, Savannah, Roanoke, Potomac, Susquehanna, Delaware, Hudson, Connecticut, and Penobscot, into the Atlantic ; and the Oswego, Cuyahoga, and Maumee, into the great lakes of the St. Lawrence basin. Of the rivers which have their sources west of the ridge of the Rocky Mountains, and their embouchure in the Pacific, or in some of its arms, the principal are the Columbia, which falls into the Pacific ; the San Joaquin and Sacramento, which fall into the great Bay of San Francisco, and the Colorado,

Next to the great lakes Superior and Michigan, in the basin of the St. Lawrence, the largest lake within the limit of the United States is the Great Salt Lake, in the Territory of Utah, in about 41deg. north latitude, and 113 west longitude. Lake Champlain, between New York and Vermont, is also of considerable dimensions. Numerous small lakes occur in New York, Maine, and especially in Wisconsin and the Minnesota region.

The coast of the Atlantic is indented by many noble bays, as those of Passamaquoddy, Massachusetts, Delaware, and Chesapeake ; and several extensive and sheltered inlets are formed by the islands off the coast, the principal of which are Long Island Sound, near New York, and Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, in North Carolina. The coast of the Gulf of Mexico has, also, many valuable inlets and back-waters; and there arc some, though fewer, on the shores of the great lakes. The great Bay of San Francisco, in California, on the Pacific, is one of the finest basins anywhere to be met with. Altogether, the United States are furnished with some of the best harbors in-the world.

Geology and Mineralogy. - The White Mountains consist of granite, which is also very prevalent in the greater part of New Hampshire and Maine. The Rocky Mountains- and the Sierra Nevada consist principally of granite intermixed with volcanic matter. Sienite, porphyry, and greenstone occur in the northwest part of the Appalachian chain ; gneiss forms the upper regions in New York and New Jersey ; most of the mountain summits south of the Juniata River consist of feucoidal sandstone ; and talcose mica, chlorite, and other slates, with crystalline limestone and serpentine, lie along the west side of the primary belt, in the middle and south parts of the Union. Blue limestone, red sandstone, shales, anthracite, coal-measures, and other transition formations, flank these rocks in many places. Secondary strata occupy by far the largest portion of the United States ; but no strata corresponding in "elate with the new red sandstone or oolitic groups of Europe appear to be present. Tertiary formations, many of which abound with fossil remains, have been found in many parts of the Atlantic slope, in Alabama, and in the southern part of the Mississippi basin ; but they seem to be almost exclusively confined to those reo-ions. The most extensive and remarkable alluvial tract is that around the mouth of the Mississippi. West of the Appalachian chain vast series of coal-beds stretch from the mountains westward through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and parts of Kentucky and Alabama, into the State of Missouri, and even as far as 200 miles beyond the Mississippi. Anthracite coal, or that best suited for manufactures, lies at the northern extremity of this great field, in Pennsylvania, and in the western part of Virginia, the eastern part of Ohio, and Illinois. The beds of Pennsylvania likewise contain immense and apparently inexhaustible stores of mineral oil, or petroleum. Numerous salt springs exist in New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the Western States. Iron is distributed most abundantly through the coal measures in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Tennessee, and Missouri, where the ore contains from 25 to 33 per cent, of metal. It also abounds in the Northwestern States, and in one part of Vermont the ore is said to yield 78 per cent, iron. A large proportion of the ore found in this part of the Union is magnetic. Lead is next in importance: it is found in various places, especially in Missouri, Wisconsin, and Blinois, and in some of the Western Territories. In some parts of Wisconsin the lead ore is so very rich as to yield from 60 to 70 per cent, of lead. Copper has been found in large deposits in the State of Michigan, in the peninsula which stretches into Lake Superior. Immense sheets, or walls, of native copper occur in some of the mines in this district ; and it is a curious tact that, though only recently re discovered, they had evidently been opened and wrought at a remote period by the ancient inhabitants of America. Gold has been found in small quantities in certain parts of Virginia, both Carolinas, Georgia, and Tennessee, and on a large scale in the rivers and ravines at the foot of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, in California. The richest silver mines m the world are in Nevada and the Territory of Wyoming. Quicksilver, copper, zinc, manganese, with lime and building-stone, constitute the other chief mineral products. Substances of volcanic origin appear to be rarely, if ever, found in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains.

Products, - Apples, pears, cherries, and plums flourish in the nortli ; pomegranates, melons, figs, grapes, olives, almonds, and oranges in the southern section. Maize is grown from Maine to Louisiana, and wheat throughout the Union ; tobacco as far north as about latitude 40deg., and in the Western States south of Ohio.

The United States

Cotton is not much raised north of 37deg., though it grows to 39deg. Rice is cultivated in Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, and as far north as St. Louis, in Missouri. The sugar-cane oTOws lis high as 33deg., hut does not thoroughly succeed beyond 31deg. 30mm. The vine and mulberry tree grow in various parts of the United States. Oats, rve. and' barley in all the northern and mountainous parts of the Southern States ; and hemp and flax in the AVestern and Middle States.

History of the United States. - The early history of the colonies which now constitute the United States will be briefly given under the heads of the different States and Territories. The first effort at a union of colonies was in 1643, when the settlements in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut formed a confederacy for mutual defence against the French, Dutch, and Indians, under the title of " The United Colonies of New England." Thev experienced the benefits of united action in 1754, when an English grant of lands to the Ohio Company brought on the French an Indian war - the French claiming, at that period, as the first explorers, Northern New England, half of New York, and the entire Mississippi Valley. George Washington was sent on his first expedition to remonstrate with the French authorities ; and the colonies being advised to unite for general defence, a plan for a general government of all the English colonies was drawn up by Benjamin Franklin ; but it was rejected by both the colonies and the crown - by the colonies, who wished to preserve their separate independence, aud by the crown from a jealousy of their united strength. The colonists, however, took an active part in the war. Under Major Washington, they joined General Braddock in his unfortunate expedition against Fort du Quesne, now Pittsburg; they aided in the reduction of Louisburg, Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Niagara ; and rejoiced in the conquest of Quebec, by which the vast northern regions of America became the possessions of Great Britain.

The principles of a democratic or representative government were brought to America by the earliest colonists. The colonies themselves were founded by private adventure, with very little aid from government. The Plymouth colony was for eighteen years a strict democracy, and afterwards a republic under a charter from the crown. A representative and popular government was established in Virginia in 1620. It was not until the Protectorate and the reign of Charles II. that the colonies were considered as portions of the empire, to be governed by parliament, when navigation acts were passed to give English ships a monopoly of commerce, when the produce of the colonies was required to be sent to England, and duties were levied on commodities sent from one colony to another. Protests were made against these assumptions; Virginia asserted her right of self-government ; and it was not until the English revolution in 1688, that settled and uniform relations with the different colonies were established.

In 1713, by the treaty of Utrecht, England, which, since the reign of Elizabeth, had imported slaves from Africa into her American and West Indian colonies, obtained a monopoly of the slave-trade, engaging to furnish Spanish America, in thirty-three years, with 144,000 negroes. A great slave-trading company was formed in England, one-quarter of the stock being taken by Queen Anne, and one-quarter by the king of Spain, these two sovereigns becoming the greatest slave-dealers in Christendom. By this monopolv, slavery was extended in, and to some extent forced upon, all the American colonies.

In 1761, the enforcement of the Navigation Act against illegal traders, by general search-warrants, caused a strong excitement against tlie English government, especially in Boston. The British Admiralty enforced the law ; many vessels were seized ; and the colonial trade with the West Indies was annihilated. In 1765, the passing of an Act of Parliament for collecting a colonial revenue by stamps caused general indignation, and led to riots. Patrick Henry, in the Virginia Assembly, denied the right of Parliament to tax America, and eloquently asserted the dogma, "No taxation without representation?' The first impulse was to unite against a common danger ; and the first colonial congress of twenty-eight delegates, representing nine colonies, made a statement of grievances and a declaration of rights. The stamps were destroyed or re shipped to England, and popular societies were formed in the chief towns, called " Sons of Liberty."

In 1766, the Stamp Act was repealed, to the general joy of the colonists ; but the principle of colonial taxation was not abandoned ; and in 1767 duties were levied on glass, paper, printers' colors, and tea. This renewed attempt produced, in 1768, riots in Boston, and Governor Gage was furnished with a military force of 700 to preserve order and enforce the laws. In 1773 the duties were repealed, excepting threepence a pound on tea. It was now a question of principle, and from north to south it was determined that this tax should not be paid. Some cargoes were stored in damp warehouses and spoiled ; some sent back ; in Boston, a mob, disguised as Indians, threw it into the harbor. Parliament passed the Boston Port Bill, 1774, by which the chief town of New England was no longer a port of entry, and its trade transferred to Salem. The people were reduced to great distress, but received the sympathy of all the colonies, and liberal contributions of wheat from Virginia, and rice from Charleston, South Carolina.

It was now determined to enforce the policy of the English Government, and a fleet, containing several ships of the line, and 10,000 troops, was sent to America ; while the colonists, still asserting their loyalty, and with little or no thought of separation from the mother country, prepared to resist the unconstitutional assumptions of the crown. Volunteers were drilling in every direction, and depots of provisions and military stores were being gathered. A small force being sent from Boston to seize one ot these depots at Concord, Massachusetts, led to the battle of Lexington, and the beginning of the war of the Revolution, April 19,

1775. The British troops were attacked on their return by the provincials, and compelled to a hasty retreat. The news of this event summoned 20,000 men to the vicinity of Boston. The royal forts and arsenals of the colonies were taken possession of, with their arms and munitions. Crown Point and Ticonderoga, the principal northern fortifications, were surprised, and their artillery and stores appropriated. A Congress of the colonies assembled at Philadelphia, which resolved to raise and equip an army of 20,000 men, and appointed George Washington commander-in-chief. June 17, Bunker Hill, in Charlestown, near Boston, where 1,500 Americans had hastily intrenched themselves, was taken by assault by the British troops, but with so heavy a loss (1,054) that the defeat had for the Americans the moral effect of a victory. After a winter of great privations, the British were compelled to evacuate Boston, carrying away in their fleet to Llalifax 1,500 loyal families.

The British Government now put forth a strong effort to reduce the colonies to submission. An army of 55,000, including 17,000 German mercenaries (" Hessians "), was sent, under the command of Sir William Howe, to put down this " wicked rebellion." Congress, declaring that the royal authority had ceased, recommended to the several colonies to adopt "such governments as might best conduce to the safety and happiness of the people ; " and the thirteen colonies soon adopted constitutions as independent and sovereign States. On the 7th of June, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, offered a resolution in Congress, declaring that "the united colonies are, and ought to he, free and independent States ; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown ; and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." This resolution, after an earnest debate, was adopted by the votes of nine out of thirteen colonies. A committee, consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Slierman, and Robert R. Livingston, was instructed to prepare a declaration in accordance with the above resolution; and the celebrated Declaration of Independence, written by Mr. Jefferson, based upon the equality of men and the universal right of selfgovernment, and asserting that " all government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed," on the 4th of July,

1776, received the assent of the delegates of the colonies, which thus dissolved their allegiance to the British crown, and declared themselves free and independent States, under the general title of the thirteen United States of America. These thirteen States were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia - occupying a narrow line of the Atlantic coast between Canada and Florida, east of the AUeghanies, with a population of about 2,500,000 souls.

After the evacuation of Boston, General Washington, with the remains of his army, thinned by the hardships of winter, hastened to New York. On the 2d of July, General Howe, being joined by his brother, Admiral Lord Howe, and Sir Henry Clinton, found himself at the head of 35,000 men ; defeated the Americans on Long Island, August 27, 1776, compelled the evacuation of New York, and secured the possession of its spacious harbor and the River Hudson. General Washington, with inferior and undisciplined forces, retreated across New Jersey, closely followed by the English, hoping to save Philadelphia. Newark, New Brunswick, Princeton, the chief towns in New Jersey, were taken, and the British awaited the freezing of the Delaware to occupy Philadelphia. On Christmas night, General Washington, by crossing in boats, among floating ice, made a successful night-attack upon a Hessian force at Trenton, and gave new courage to the desponding Americans, who recruited the army, and harassed the enemy with a winter campaign.

sent to France to solicit recognition and aid. The recognition was delayed, but important aid was privately given in money and supplies, and European volunteers - the Marquis de Lafayette, Baron Steuben, Baron de Kalb, Kosciusko, and Pulaski - rendered the most important services. Efforts were made to induce the British colonies of Canada and Nova Scotia to unite in the struggle for independence, and an expedition was sent against Montreal and Quebec, led by Generals Montgomery and Arnold.

The Canadians refused their aid; Montgomery was killed, Arnold wounded, and the remains of the expedition returned after terrible sufferings. In 1777, after several severe actions in New Jersey, generally disastrous to the Americans, the British took possession of Philadelphia ; and "Washington, with the remnants of his army, went into winter quarters at Valley Forge, where they suffered from cold, hunger, and nakedness.

While "Washington was unsuccessfully contending against disciplined and overwhelming forces in New Jersey, General Burgoyne was leading an army of 7,000 British and German troops, with a large force of Canadians and Indians, from Canada into Northern New York, to form a junction with the British on the Hudson, and separate New England from the rest of the confederacy. His march was delayed by felled trees and destroyed roads; his foraging expeditions were defeated; and after two sharp actions at Stillwater and Saratoga, with but three days' rations left, he was compelled to capitulate, October 17; and England, in the midst of victories, heard with dismay of the loss of an entire army. The Americans gained 5,000 muskets and a large train of artillery. Feeling the need of more unity of action, articles of confederation, proposed by Franklin in 1775, were adopted in 1777, which constituted a league of friendship between the States, but not a government which had any powers of coercion.

In 1778 Lord Carlisle was sent to America by the British government with offers of conciliation ; it was too late. France at the same time recognized American independence, and sent a large fleet and supplies of clothing, arms, and munitions of war to their aid; and General Clinton, who had superseded General Howe, finding his supplies at Philadelphia threatened, retreated to New York, defeating the Americans at Monmouth.

The repeated victories of the British arms, the aid afforded by great numbers of Americans who still adhered to the royal cause, and furnished during the war not less than 20,000 troops, and the alliance of large tribes of Indians, who committed cruel ravages in the frontier settlements, did little towards subjugating the country. Portions of the sea-coast of New England and Virginia were laid waste ; but the British troops were worn out with long marches and tedious campaigns, and even weakened by victories. Spain, and then Holland, joined in the war against England, and aided the Americans. Paul Jones, with ships htted out in French harbors, fought desperate and successful battles under the American flag on the English coast, and ravaged the seaport towns.

In 1780, 85,000 seamen were raised, and 35,000 additional troops sent to America, and a strong effort was made to subjugate the Carolinas. Lord Cornwallis, with a large army, marched from Charleston, through North Carolina, pursuing, and sometimes defeating, General Gates, but suffered defeat at King's Mountain, North Carolina; at Cowpens, in South Carolina, and at Eutaw Springs, which nearly closed the war in the South. In the meantime, Admiral de Varney had arrived upon the coast with a powerful French fleet, and 6,000 soldiers of the elite of the French army, under Count de Rochambeau. Cornwallis was obliged to fortify himself at Yorktown, Va., blockaded by the fleet of Count de Grasse, and besieged by the allied army of French and Americans, waiting for Sir Henry Clinton to send him relief from New York. October 19, 1781, he was compelled to surrender his army of 7,000 men - an event which produced such a change of feeling in England as to cause the resignation of the ministry, and the despatch of General Sir Guy Carleton to New York with offers of terms of peace. The preliminaries were signed at Paris, November 30, 1782 ; and on September 3, 1783, peace was concluded between England and France, Holland, and America. The independence of each of the several States was acknowledged, with a liberal settlement of territorial boundaries. In April a cessation of hostilities had been proclaimed, and the American army disbanded. New York, which had been held by the English through the whole war, was evacuated November 25 ; and on December 4, General "Washington took leave of his companions in arms, and on December 23 resigned into the hands of Congress his commission as commander. From the retreat of Lexington, April 19, 1775, to the surrender of Yorktown, October 19, 1781, in twenty-four engagements, including the surrender of two armies, the British losses in the field were not less than 25,000 men, while those of the Americans were about 8,000.

of $8,000,000, a domestic debt of $30,000,000, an army unpaid and discontented, a paper currency utterly worthless, and a bankrupt treasury. The States were called upon to pay their shares of the general expenditures, but they were also in debt, and there was no power to compel them to pay, or to raise money by taxation. In these difficulties, and the failure of the articles of confederation, a convention was summoned by Congress in 1787 to revise these articles. The task was so difficult, that the convention resolved to propose an entirely new constitution, granting fuller powers to a I ederal Congress and executive, and one which should act upon the people individually as well as upon the States. The constitution was therefore framed, and was, in 1787-17S8, adopted, in some cases by small majorities, in eleven State conventions, and finally by the whole thirteen States, chiefly through the exertions and writings of James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton.

George Washington and John Adams, standing at the head of the Federalist party, were elected President and Vice-President of the United States. " The President took the oath to support the Constitution in front of the City Hall in New York; and the government was organized with Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State ; Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury ; General Knox, Secretary of "War; and John Jay, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Congress assumed the war-debts of the several States, and chartered the bank of the United States, though its constitutional right to do so was strenuously denied by the Republican or States' Rights party.

Washington was re-elected to the Presidency in 1792. In 1796, he, worn and irritated by partisan conflicts and criticisms, refused a third election, and issued his farewell address to the people of the United States, warning them against the dangers of party spirit and disunion, and giving them advice worthy of one who was said to be " first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." John Adams was elected President, and Thomas Jefferson, the second choice of the people for the Presidency, became, according to the rule at first adopted, Vice-President. In 1798 the commercial regulations of France, and the assertion of the right to search and capture American vessels, nearly led to a war between the two republics. In 1799 the nation, without distinction of party, mourned the death of "Washington ; and in the following year the seat of government was removed to the city he had planned for a capital, and which bears his name.

The partiality of Mr. Adams for England, the establishment of a Federal army, and the passage of the Alien and Sedition Laws, by which foreigners could be summarily banished, and abuse of the government, by speech or the press, punished, caused great political excitement, and such an increase of the Republican, or, as it was afterwards called, the Democratic party, that the President failed of a re-election in 1801; and there being no election by the people, the House of Representatives, after thirtysix ballotings, chose Thomas Jefferson, the Republican candidate, with Aaron Burr for Vice-President; and the offices of the country were transferred to the victorious party. Internal duties, which a few years before had led to an insurrection in Pennsylvania called the "Whisky Insurrection, were abolished, and the Alien and Sedition Laws repealed. Tennessee, Kentucky, Vermont, and Ohio had now been organized as States, and admitted into the Union. In 1803 the area of the country was more than doubled by the purchase of Louisiana - the whole region between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains - from France, for 60,000,000 francs.

In 1805 Mr. Jefferson was elected for a second term ; but Mr. Burr, having lost the confidence of his party, engaged in a conspiracy to seize upon the Mississippi valley, and found a new empire, with its capital at New Orleans. He was tried for treason, but not convicted. The commerce of America was highly prosperous, her ships enjoying much of the carrying trade of Europe ; but in May, 1800, Englaud declared a blockade from Brest to the Elbe, and Bonaparte, in November, decreed the blockade of the coasts of the United Kingdom. American vessels were captured by both parties, and were searched by British ships for British subjects ; and those suspected of having been born on British sod, were, in accordance with the dcetrine, once a subject always a subject, impressed into the naval service. Even American menof-war were not excepted from this process. The British frigate "Leopard" meeting the American frigate "Chesapeake," demanded four of her men, and, on refusal, fired into her, and the surprised " Chesapeake " struck her flag. British ships were hereupon forbidden United States harbors.

Mr. Jefferson, following the example of "Washington, declined a third election; and in 1809, James Madison became President. The French decrees, prejudicial to neutral commerce, were revoked in 1810 ; but the English continued, a source of loss and irritation, while hundreds of American citizens were in forced service in British vessels. The feeling was increased by a night-encounter between the American frigate "President" and the British sloopof-war "Little Belt," May 16, 1811. In April, 1812, an embargo was again declared by Congress, preparatory to a declaration of war against Great Britain, July 10, for which Congress voted to raise 25,000 enlisted soldiers, 50,000 volunteers, and 100,000 militia. General Hull, with 2,000 men at Detroit, invaded Canada; but on being met by a small force of British and Indians, under General Brock, recrossed the river, and made a shameful surrender; and was sentenced to death for his cowardice, but pardoned by the President. A second invasion of-Canada was made near Niagara Falls by General Yan Rensselaer. One thousand American militia stormed the heights of Queenstown, and the British general, Brock, was killed; but reinforcements arriving opportunely, the heights were retaken, and nearly all the Americans were killed or driven into the Niagara.

American disasters on the laud were, however, compensated by victories at sea. August 19. the United States frigate " Constitution " captured the British frigate u Guerriere ; " October 18, the "Wasp" took the "Frolic;" October 25, the frigate "United States" captured the "Macedonian;" December 29, the "Constitution " took the " Java." The Americans in most cases had the larger ships and heavier ordnance ; but the immense disparity in losses showed also superior seamanship and gunnery. American privateers took 300 British vessels and 3,000 prisoners. In 1813, General Proctor crossed the Detroit river with a considerable force of British and Indians, and defeated General Winchester, with the usual results of savage warfare. In April an American army of 1,700 men captured York (now Toronto), and about the same time another American force of 800 men was defeated with great loss by the Indians under Tecumseh ; but the remainder of this campaign was wholly favorable to the Americans. The attempt of the British general, Prevost, on Sackett's Eftirbor was repulsed ; the squadron on Lake Erie, consisting of 6 vessels, 63 guns, was captured by Commodore Perry at the head of an American flotilla of 9 vessels, 54 guns ; and this latter success enabled General Harrison to invade Canada, where he defeated General Proctor in the battle of the Thames, in which the great Indian warrior-chief Tecumseh was killed. In 1813 another mvasion of Canada was attempted ; and York (now Toronto) was taken by General Dearborn ; and an unsuccessful attempt was made to take Montreal. Tillages were burned on both sides. The British also destroyed American shipping in Delaware Bay. At the same period General Jackson defeated the Creek Indians in Alabama and Georgia, who had been excited to make war upon the frontier settlements.

In 1814, Generals Scott and Eipley crossed the Niagara, and sharp actions, with no decisive results, were fought at Chippewa and Lundy's Lane, close by the great Cataract. General Wilkinson also invaded Canada on the Sorel River, but was easily repulsed. A British invasion by Lake Champlain, by General Sir George Prevost, with 14,000 men and a flotilla on the lake, was no more successful. On the 6th of September the flotilla was defeated and captured in the harbor of Plattsburg, while the army was repulsed on shore, and retreated with heavy loss. In August, a British fleet ascended Chesapeake Bay, took Washington with but slight resistance, and burned the government buildings. A subsequent attack on Baltimore was unsuccessful. New York, New London, and Boston were blockaded, and a large expedition was sent against Mobile and New Orleans. On the 8th of January, 1815, General Packenham advanced with 12,000 men against the latter city, which was defended by General Jackson, at the head of 6,000 militia, chiefly from Tennessee and Kentucky, aided by a small force of artillery, recruited from the Barataria pirates. The Americans were sheltered by a breastwork of cotton-bales, and the British assault was met with so deadly a fire of riflemen, that it was repulsed with the loss of General Packenham and several officers, with 700 killed and 1,000 wounded ; while the entire American loss is stated to have only amounted to 71. This illplanned action was fought more than a month after peace had been concluded between England and America, and was followed by two naval actions in 1 ebruary and March. Though during this contest fortune at first favored the Americans on the high seas, she changed sides completely from June, 1813. June 1, the " Chesapeake " was taken by the " Shannon ;" June 3, the " Growler "and "Eagle" were captured by British gun hoats ; the "Argus" taken by the " Pelican," August 14 ; the " Essex," by the "Phoebe" and "Cherub," March 29, 1S14; the "President" by the "Endymion," January 15, 1815; the only counterbalancing success being the sinking of the British sloop " Avon " by the ""Wasp," September 8, 1814. In December, 1814, the Federalists of New England held a convention at Hartford in opposition to the war and the administration, and threatened a secession of the

New England States. In 1815, Commodore Decatur, who had taken a distinguished part in the recent war, commanded an expedition against the Algerians - whose corsairs had preyed on American commerce in the Mediterranean - and dictated terms to Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli.

The Democratic-Republican party having brought the war to a satisfactory conclusion, the Federalists disappeared ; and in 1817, James Monroe was elected President almost without opposition. A rapid emigration from Europe and from the Atlantic States to the richer lands of the West, had in ten years added six new States to the Union. Difficulties arose with the warlike southern Indian tribes, whose hunting-grounds were invaded ; and General Jackson sent against the Seminoles, summoned to his aid the Tennessee volunteers who had served under him against the Creeks and at Kew Orleans, defeated them, pursued them into Florida, took Pensacola, and banished the Spanish authorities and troops. He was, however, supported in these high-handed measures by the President ; and in 1819, Florida was ceded by Spain to the United States.

From the beginning of the government the question of slavery had been a source of continual difficulty between the free and slave States. In 1819-20, Alabama and Maine, a slave and a free State, were added to the Union ; and the question of the admission of Missouri arose in Congress - the question of its admission with or without slavery. At the period of the Revolution, slavery existed in all the States except Massachusetts ; but it bad gradually been abolished in the Northern and Middle States except Delaware, and excluded from the new States between the Ohio and the Mississippi by the terms on which the territory had been surrendered by Virginia to the Union. Under the Constitution, slaves were not counted in full as a represented population ; but by a compromise, three-fifths of their number were added to the whites. The slave States were almost exclusively agricultural, with freetrade interests. The free States were encouraging manufactures by protection. The two sections had already entered upon a struggle to maintain the balance of power against each other. After an excited contest, Missouri was admitted, with a compromise resolution, that in future no slave State should be erected north of the parallel of 36deg. 30min. north latitude, the northern boundary of Arkansas.

During the second term of Mr. Monroe, in 1824, General Lafayette visited America, and was everywhere received with great enthusiasm. In the Presidential election of 1824 there were four candidates - John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and "William H. Crawford. There being no choice by the people, the House of Representatives chose Mr. Adams ; John C. Calhoun being elected Vice-President. Party and sectional feeling became stronger. Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay, who had heretofore acted with the party of Jefferson and Madison, were henceforth identified with what was called the National Republican, and later, the Whig, and finally, in union with the Anti-Slavery party, the Republican party. In 1826, two of the founders of the republic, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, died on the 4th of July, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence - an event which made a profound impression. The four years of Mr. Adams, during which there were violent contests on protection and the powers of the Federal government to carry out public works within the States, ended with an excited election contest, which resulted in the triumph of the Democratic party, and the election of Andrew Jackson, with John C. Calhoun as Vice-President. The bold, decisive, and impetuous character of General Jackson was shown in a general removal of those who held office, down to small postmasters and tidewaiters, under the late administration, and the appointment of his own partisans. An act for the rechartering of the United States Bank was met by a veto of the President, who declared.it unconstitutional and dangerous. In 1832 an Indian war, called the Black Hawk War, broke out in Wisconsin ; but the passing of a high protective tariff act by Congress caused a more serious trouble. The State of South Carolina declared the act unconstitutional, and therefore null and void, threatening to withdraw from the Onion if an attempt were made to collect the duties on foreign importations. The President prepared to execute the laws by force ; Mr. Calhoun resigned his office of Vice President, and asserted the doctrine of State-rights, including the right of secession, in the Senate. A collision seemed imminent, when the affair was settled by a compromise bill, introduced by Henry Clay, providing for a gradual reduction of duties until 1843, when they should not exceed 20 per cent, ad valorem.

The popularity of General Jackson caused his re-election by an overwhelming majority against Henry Clay, the leader of the Bank, Protection, and Internal Improvement party ; and he entered upon his second term, with Martin Van Buren, of New York, as Vice- President. The removal of the Government deposits from the United States Bank to certain State banks, led to the failure of the State ; but they were told that he " had no power to oppose The opposition to the annexation of Texas, and to the war and the exercise of the sovereignty of any State over all who may be the acquisition of the newly-acquired territory, became now comwithin its limits ; " and the Indians were obliged to remove to the plicated and intensified by sectional feelings and the opposition to territory set apart for them west of the Mississippi. In 1835 the slavery. The Northern party demanded that slavery should never Seminole war broke out in Florida ; and a tribe of Indians, insig- be introduced into territories where it had not existed ; the South nificant in numbers, under the crafty leadership of Osceola, kept claimed the right of her people to emigrate into the new territories, up hostilities for years, at a cost to the United States of several carrying with them their domestic institutions. During thedebates thousands of rrien, and some fifty millions of dollars. on the acquisition of the Mexican territories, Mr. Wilmot, of In 1837 Martin Van Buren succeeded General Jackson in the Pennsylvania, introduced an amendment, called the " Wilmot Pro- Presidency. His term of four years was a stormy one, from the viso," providing that there should be neither slavery nor involungreat financial crisis of 1837, which followed a period of currency- tary servitude in the acquired territory. This was voted down, expansion and wild speculation. All the banks suspended payment, but became a party principle.

and the great commercial cities threatened insurrection. Mr. Van In 1849 General Taylor, the "Rough and Ready" victor of Buren was firm in adhering to his principle of collecting the Buena Vista, became President, with Millard Fillmore as Vicerevenues of the government m specie, and separating the govern- President. The Free-Soil party had nominated Martin Van Buren, ment from all connection with the banks. His firmness in acting with Charles Francis Adams as Vice-President ; the Democratio against the strong sympathies of the Northern and "Western States candidate being General Lewis Cass. The Liberal party in 1840 with the Canadian insurrection of 1837-1838, also damaged his had cast 7,009 votes; in 1844 it had 62,300; Mr. Van Buren, in popularity. 1848, received 291,263 - so rapid was the growth of a party soon In 1840 the election of General Harrison, with John Tyler for destined to control the policy of the government. September 1, Vice-President, was one of unexampled excitement, characterized 1849, California, rapidly peopled by the discovery of gold, adopted by immense popular gathering's, political songs, the nse of symbols, a constitution which prohibited slavery. Violent struggles and and the participation of both sexes, to a degree hitherto unknown debates in Congress followed, with threats of secession, and protests in America. The Whigs triumphed in nearly every State; General against interference with slavery. The more zealous abolitionists Harrison was inaugurated March 4, 1841 ; and the rush to Wash- of the North denounced the Constitution for its support of slavery, ington for offices was as great as the election had been exciting and its requirement of the return of fugitive slaves to their owners, and remarkable. Worn down with the campaign and the office- and threatened separation. The South denounced the violation of seekers, General Harrison died in a month after his inauguration, the Constitution by interference with slavery - a domestic instituand was succeeded by John Tyler, who, having been a Democrat, tion of the States - the carrying off of negroes secretly by organwas no sooner in power than he seems to have reverted to his ized societies, and the passage of personal liberty bills in several former political principles. He vetoed a bill for the establishment States, which virtually defeated the requirements and guarantees of a national bank and other measures of the party by which he of the Fugitive Slave Law. Mr. Clay introduced a compromise had been elected. His cabinet resigned, with the exception of into Congress, admitting California as a free State, and introduc- Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, and others, Democratic or ing a new and more stringent law for the rendition of fugitive neutral, were appointed in their place. Daring Mr. Tyler's admin- slaves. President Taylor, more used to the rough life of a fronistration the northeastern boundary question, which nearly occa- tier soldier than the cares of state, died July 9, 1850, and was sucsioned a war with England, was settled by Mr. Webster and Lord ceeded by Mr. Fillmore.

Ashburton; a difficulty, amounting almost to a rebellion, was The election of Franklin Pierce in 1S52, against General Scott, settled in Rhode Island ; but the most important question agitated was a triumph of the Democratic, States' Rights, and Southern that of the annexation of Texas. This annexation was advo- party. Jefferson Davis, a Senator from Mississippi, a son-in-law cated by the South, as a large addition to Southern and slave of General Taylor, and who had served under him in Mexico, was territory; and, for the same reason, opposed by the Whig and appointed Secretary of War. New elements were .ded to the anti-slavery parties of the North. Besides, the independence of sectional controversies wdiieh agitated the country, by the repeal Texas, though acknowledged by the United States, England, and of the Missouri Compromise and the passage of the Kansas- France, had not been acknowledged by Mexico, and its annexation Nebraska bill of Senator Douglas, which left the people of every be a eaaue leM with that power. The recent admission of Territory, on becoming a State, free to adopt or exclude the insti- Iowa and Florida into the Union had kept the balance of power tution of slavery. The struggles of Kansas, approaching even between the North and South, but Texas would be an advan- a civil war between the Free-Soil and Pro-Slavery partage to the Sonth. But the gain of territory, and a contempt for ties in that rapidly growing Territory, resulted in the exclu- Mexico, overcame these objections, and in 1845 Texas wasformally sion of slavery. A brutal assault upon Mr. Sumner, Senator annexed, and James K. Polk, of Tennessee, succeeded Mr. Tyler in from Massachusetts, by a Southerner, named Preston Brooks, in the Presidency. consequence of a severe speech on Southern men and institutions, M. Almonte, the Mexican Minister at Washington, protested increased the excitement of both sections. The formation of an against the annexation of Texas, as an act of warlike aggression ; Anti-Foreign and No-Popery party, called the " Know-Nothing and to guard against a threatened invasion of Texas, General party, acting chiefly through secret societies, was a singular but Zachary Taylor was ordered, with the troops of his military not very important episode in American politics, though it doubtdistrict, to its southern frontier. The Mexicans crossed the Rio less influenced the succeeding election.

Grande, and commenced hostilities April 26, 1845. General Taylor In 1856 the Republicans, composed of the Northern. Free-Soil, moved promptly forward, and won the victories of Palo Alto, and Abolition parties, nominated John C. Fremont for the Presi- Resaca de la Pa'lma, Monterey, Saltillo, and finally, against great dency, while the Democratic and States' Rights party nominated odds - 20,000 against 4,759 - the hard-fought battle of Buena James Buchanan. Ex-President Fillmore received the Know- Vista - a victory that excited great enthusiasm. In the meantime Nothing nomination. The popular vote was - for Buchanan, General Wool bad been sent on an expedition to Chihuahua, in 1,838,169; Fremont, 1,341,264; lillmore, 874,534. Mr. Buchanan Northern Mexico ; General Kearney to New Mexico ; and Captain was inaugurated March 4, 1857, with John C. Breckinridge, after- Fremont and Commander Stockton took possession of California, wards a General of the Confederate army, as Vice-President. March 9, 1847, General Scott landed at Vera Cruz, which he took A difficulty with the Mormons, which caused the President t.i on the 29th, after a siege and bombardment by land and water, send a military force to Utah, was settled without bloodshed. The Marching into the interior with a force of about 9,000 men, he efforts of the government to execute the Fugitive Slave Law kq>t found General Santa Anna intrenched on the heights of Cerro up an irritated feeling. There were savage fights between the Gordo with 15,000 men. On April 18 everv position was taken Northern and Southern parties in Kansas, and on the western by storm, with 3,000 prisoners, 43 cannon, 5,000 stand of arms, etc. borders of Missouri. Resolute and well-armed settlers svere sent Waiting at Puebla for reinforcements until August, General Scott out by New England emigration societies. In October, 1859, advanced with 11,000 men towards Mexico, near which General John Brown, known as " Ossawattamie Brown," who, with his Santa Anna awaited him with large forces and in strong positions, sons, had been engaged in the struggles in Kansas, planned am I On the 19th and 20th of August were fought the battles of Con- led an expedition for freeing the negroes in Virginia. He made treras and Churubusco, in which 9,000 Americans vanquished an his attempt at Harper's Ferry, on the Potomac, where, after a, army of over 30,000 Mexicans in strongly fortified positions. After vain attempt to induce the negroes to join him, he and his small a brief armistice hostilities recommenced on the 7th September, party took possession of one of the government workshops, where and after a series of sanguinary actions the American army, he was taken prisoner by a party of United States soldiers, and reduced to about 8,000, entered the'eity of Mexico, which ended the handed over to the authorities of Virginia, tried and executed,

In 1860, the Democratic party, which, except at short intervals, had controlled the Federal government from the election of Jefferson in 1800, became hopelessly divided. The Southern delegates withdrew from the convention at Charleston, and two Democratic candidates were nominated, Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, and John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky; while the Kepublicans, or United Whig and Abolition party, nominated Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois ; and the Union or American party nominated John Bell, of Tennessee. The Eepublican convention adopted a moderate and even conservative "platform" of principles, denounced the John Brown raid, and put forward as a principle, " the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively." Still, the country was sectionally divided, and all who had labored to limit or destroy the Southern institution of slavery were acting with the Eepublican party.

At the election of November, 1860, Mr. Lincoln received every Northern vote in the electoral college (excepting three of New Jersey, which were given to Mr. Douglas), 180 votes ; Mr. Breckinridge received 72 electoral votes ; Mr. Bell, 39 ; Mr. Douglas, 12. The North and South were arrayed against each other, and the South was beaten. Of the popular vote, Mr. Lincoln received 1,857,610 ; Mr. Douglas, 1,365,976 ; Mr. Breckinridge, 847,951 ; Mr. Bell, 590,631. Thus, while Mr. Lincoln gained an overwhelming majority of the electoral votes given by each State, the combined Democratic votes exceeded his by 356.317, and the whole popular vote against him exceeded his own by 946,948. A small majority, or even plurality, in the Northern States was sufficient to elect him.

The South lost no time in acting upon what her statesmen had declared would be the signal of their withdrawal from the Union. On the 10th of November, as soon as the result was known, the Legislature of South Carolina ordered a State convention, which assembled December 17, and on the 20th unanimously declared that "the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of the United States, is hereby dissolved ;" giving as a reason that fourteen of these States had for years refused to fulfil their constitutional obligations. The example of South Carolina was followed by Mississippi, January 9, 1861; Florida, 10th; Alabama, 11th; Georgia, 19th; Louisiana, 26th; Texas, Feb. 1 ; Virginia, April 25 ; Arkansas, May 6 ; North Carolina, 21st ; Tennessee, June 8. Kentucky and Missouri were divided, and had representatives in the governments and armies of both sections.

On the 4th of February, 1861, delegates from the seven then seceded States met at Montgomery. Alabama, and formed a provisional government, under tne title of the " Confederate States of America." A constitution was adopted much like that of the United States, and the government fully organized, February 18, 1861 ; President, Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi ; Vice-President, Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia ; and May 24, established at Eichmond, Virginia.

President Buchanan, doubting his constitutional power to compel the seceding States to return to the Union, made a feeble and ineffectual attempt to relieve the garrison of Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, closely besieged by the forces of South Carolina. Commissioners were sent to Washington to negotiate for the settlement of claims of the Federal government, and great efforts were made to effect compromises of the difficulties, but without result.

On the 4th of March, 1861, President Lincoln was inaugurated at 'Washington. In his address, he said : " I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the' States where it exists. I believe that I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." On the 7th of April, a naval expedition set sail froinNew York for the relief of Fort Sumter ; and its arrival off Charleston Harbor was the signal for the commencement of a bombardment of the fort by the Confederate batteries of General Beauregard. The surrender of the fort, April 13, was followed by a sudden outburst of indignation in the North. The government called out 75,000 volunteers, large numbers of whom were in a few days marching to the defence of Washington. April 18, the Confederates seized the government arsenal at Harper's Ferry, and took or destroyed a large quantity of arms and machinery. On the 20th, the navyyard, near Norfolk, Va., was destroyed by the Federal officers, and five large men-of-war burned or sunk, to prevent their falling into the hands of the Confederates. Opposed to the Federal volunteers assembled at Washington, the Confederates took up a position at Bull Eun, a few miles distant from the Potomac, under General Beauregard, where they were attacked by General

McDowell. A severe action resulted in the repulse and complete panic of the Federals, who hastily retreated to Washington. Congress saw that it must act in earnest, and that the rebellion was not to be put down in ninety days by 75,000 volunteers. It voted to call out 500,000 men. The Confederate States had a population of 5,582,122 free inhabitants, and 3,519,902 slaves; total, 9,102,024 ; and though the negroes were not called into the field except as laborers, they were not less useful in supplying the armies, by carrying on the agricultural labor of the country. The Confederates had also the strong sympathy and aid of the four slaveholding border States, prevented by their position from seceding - Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri.

Holding their position in Virginia, the Confederates erected fortifications on the Tennessee and Cumberland Eivers, and on important points of the Mississippi, from Columbus, in Kentuoky, to its mouth. They also made a strong effort to secure the State of Missouri, as well as to defend the seaports through which they must receive their most important supplies from abroad. The Federal government, on its side, blockaded the whole line of coast from Virginia to Texas, and sent large forces to secure the doubtful States. Gunboats were rapidly built for the rivers of the West, and vessels purchased and constructed for the navy. In December, 1861, the Federals had 640,000 men in the field; and the Confederates had 210,000, and had called for 400,000 volunteers.

The first important operation of 1862 was the taking the defences of the Cumberland and Tennessee Eivers (February 6 and 16), which led to the occupation of Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, henceforth held by the Federals - Andrew Johnson, formerly Governor and Senator, having been appointed Military Governor. Eoanoke Island was also captured, on the coast of North Carolina. In March, General McClellan, who had succeeded the aged Lieutenant>General Scott as commander-in-chief, commenced a movement on Eichmond, the seat of the Confederate government, now defended by General Lee.

On the 8th of March, the Confederate iron-clad "Virginia," constructed from the United States steamer " Merrimac," which had been sunk at Norfolk, and raised by the Confederates, attacked the Federal fleet in Hampton Koads, and in forty minutes sunk the "Cumberland," and set on Are and captured the " Congress " (frigates) ; while the other vessels took refuge in shoal water or in flight. The next day the "Monitor," a warvessel of entirely novel construction, low and flat, with a revolving turret, invented by Captain Ericsson, engaged the " Virginia." The battle ended in the repulse of the " Virginia." On the 6th of April, a sanguinary but indecisive battle was fought near Corinth, Alabama, the Federals being protected by gunboats. Soon after, Admiral Farragut, with a fleet of forty-five vessels, carried the forts at the mouth of the Mississippi Eiver, and took New Orleans ; while the armies and gunboats captured the fortifications on the upper part of the river as low as Memphis, Tennessee. In the meantime General McClellan had besieged and taken Torktown, and fought his way up the peninsula of the James Eiver, until within five miles of Eichmond, when he was beaten in a series of sanguinary battles, and driven, with a loss, in six days, of 15,000 men, to the shelter of his gunboats ; while Generals Banks and McDowell, sent to co-operate with him in the Shenandoah Valley, were defeated and driven back by General "Stonewall" Jackson. On the 1st of July, the President called for 300,000 men, and August 4th, 300,000 more men for the Federal army. Congress abolished slavery in the District of Columbia, prohibited it in the Territories, and passed a resolution to compensate the masters in any State that would abolish slavery. They also authorized the President to employ negroes in the army, and'to confiscate the slaves of rebels. In August, the Federals were a second time defeated at Bull Eun, and General Lee crossed the Potomac into Maryland, creating great alarm in Washington, and even in Philadelphia. General McClellan made a rapid march, and met him at Sharpsburg or Antietam. The battle resulted in the defeat and retreat of General Lee, covering an immense train of provisions, horses, cattle, etc., which was probably the object of his expedition. A Confederate invasion of Kentucky, about the same time, was attended with similar results. Another advance on Eichmond was led by General Burnside, who had superseded General McClellan ; but he was confronted by General Lee at Fredericksburg, and defeated in one of the most sanguinary battles of the war.

Shortly after this, President Lincoln issued the " Emancipation Proclamation," declaring the freedom of all the slaves in the rebel States. This measure, though not strictly constitutional, was justified by military necessity. While the army of the Potomac was vainly endeavoring to advance on Eichmond, the army of the Tennessee, under General Eosecrans, with its base at Nashville, was trying to sever the Atlantic from the Gulf States, and out off the railways that supplied the Confederate armies in Virginia At Murfreesborough, Tennessee, the Confederate Generaf BraW attacked General Eoseorans, but was repulsed in the battle of Stone River, and fell back to Tullahoma.

Fnrlv in May, lwci, fiimeml Hooker, who had succeeded GeneralBurnside in the command of the army of the Potomac, crossed the Rappahannock, and was defeated by General Lee at Chancellorsville with great slaughter ; but this victory was dearly bought by the loss of General Jackson, mortally wounded in mistake by his own soldiers. General Lee now took the offensive, and invaded Pennsylvania, advancing as far as Harrisburg; but being met by General Meade, the new commander ol the army ot the Potomac, he attacked him in a strong position at Gettysburg, was defeated, and compelled to recross the Potomac. In the meantime, the two principal fortresses of the Mississippi, Vicksburg and Port Hudson, attacked by land and water, after a long siege, were starved into capitulation, and the entire river was open to Federal gunboats. Charleston, blockaded since the beginning of the war, was now strongly besieged-ite outworks, .Forte Gregg and 'Wagner, taken, Fort Sumter battered in pieces, but still held as an earthwork, and shells thrown a distance of five miles into the inhabited part of the city. In September, General Rosecrans had taken the strong position of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and penetrated into the northwest corner of Georgia, where he was checked by General Bragg at the battle of Chickaniauga At this period there were great peace-meetings in the North, terrible riots in New York ao-ainst the conscription and the negroes ; while the banks having Suspended specie payments, the paper-money ot both Federals and Confederates was largely depreciated, ihe Confederates were, however, out off from all foreign aid, except what came to them through the blockade ; and their own resources, both of men and material, were becoming exhausted, the railways were worn, many destroyed or occupied by the ledenis, and it became difficult to transport supplies and feed armies. Ihe Federals had command of the sea, and access to all the markets ot

EUAtPthe,commencement of 1864, the Federals held, including the garrisons on the Mississippi, nearly 100,000 prisoners of war. Ihe Southerners also had about 40,000 Federal prisoners, whom they could feed with difficulty, and who suffered great hardships. General Ulysses S. Grant, who had been successful at Vicksburg, was appointed commander-in-chief of the Federal armies, and commenced a vigorous campaign over an immense area-in Virginia, the Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, and Arkansas - with the determination " to hammer continuously against the armed forces of the enemy and his resources, until by mere attrition he should be forced to submit." Of the Confederates, General Lee defended Petersburg and Richmond ; General J. E. Johnston opposed the army of Tennessee at Dalton, Georgia ; General Forrest was in Mississippi; General Taylor and kirby Smith commanded in Louisiana and Arkansas. In February, General Sherman marched from Vicksbur°\ making a destructive raid across Northern Mississippi to Alabama. In March, the Federals had 1,000,000 of men raised and provided for. The entire Confederate forces probably numbered 250,000. The army of the Potomac, commanded by General Meade, under the personal superintendence of General Grant covered Washington, and advanced towards Richmond. General Butler advanced from Fortress Monroe up the James River- General Sigel marched up the Shenandoah. Sherman united the armies of Tennessee, Cumberland, and Ohio, at Chattanooga, where he had nearly 100,000 men and 250 guns. General Banks had 61,000 men in Louisiana. In March General Banks moved up the Red River, towards Shrieveport, but was defeated on the 24th, and driven back to New Orleans. In May, the campaign of Virginia commenced, and the army of the lotomac fought a series of battles at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Courthouse, Jericho's Ford, North Anna, and Cold Harbor, with terrible losses. After each battle the Federals took up a new position further South, with a new base, until they had made half the circuit of the Confederate capital. General Breckinridge defeated General Sigel in the Shenandoah Valley, and once more threatened Washington. General Sheridan, with a strong cavalry force, drove back the Confederates, and laid waste the valley. In September, General Sherman, advancing with a superior force, captured Atlanta. General Hood superseding Johnston in the command of the Confederates, was out generaled and beaten. Whde he marched west to cut off General Sherman's base, and attack Nashville, where he was defeated, Sherman burned Atlanta, destroyed the railway, and marched boldly through Georgia to Savannah. The Confederates made strong efforts, but they were unable to gain anv advantages.

In 1865! the Federals made a new draft for 500,000 men. Expeditions were organized against Mobile. Wilmington, the most important Confederate port, was taken by a naval and military expedition. Savannah and Charleston, approached in the rear by Sherman, were evacuated. Cavalry raids cut off the railrear uy ouermau, were .« - . V, - J wavs and canal that supplied the Confederate army in Petersburg and Richmond. Finally, on March 29, 1S65, a series of assaults was made upon the Confederate works, during ten days of almost continual fighting, until the Confederates were worn down with fatigue. Richmond and Petersburg were evacuated April 2 ; and on the 9th, after several conflicts, General Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse, his army numbering 2S.000. At this period, it is said that there was not lead enough remaining in the Confederate States to fight a single battle. On the 12th Mobile surrendered with 3,000 prisoners and 300 guns. Then General Johnston, in North Carolina, surrendered a few days after to General Sherman; and the Trans-Mississippi Confederate army - followed his example.