University of South Carolina Libraries
lewis jh. gristI proprietor. | ^n: InJwpniitnt Jkmilj Ittfospaptr: Jor % promotion of \\t ^political, Social, ^grintlfnral anb Cotnmtrrial Interests of tjir goutlj. |terms--$2.50 a year, in advance. VOL. 33. YOEKVILLE, S. C.. WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 14, 1887. NO. 50. FREDERICKSBURG. Gen. Burnside's Campaign on the Rappahannock A QUARTER CENTURY AGONU Story of the Sunken Road and the Fatal Stone Wall. Portraits of Leading Generals on Botli Sides?Bnrnslde Arranges His Army In Three Graud Divisions Commanded by Sumner, Franklin and Hooker. Marye's Heights?"A Chicken Could Not Live Upon That Field"?Waves of Men iu Blue Fight and Fall. {Copyrighted by the American Press Association.] Those who have followed somewhat closely the career of Gen. McOlellan cannot fail to be impressed that there was a fate which more than once deprived him of victory at the. moment it seemed surely in his grasp. Jest before the beginning of Pope's campaign in Virginia, while the Army of the Potomac was still on the James below Richmond, McClellan announced himself ready to strike the Confederate capital. Even he seemed to be satisfied that his army was ready and sufficiently large. If he had attacked Rich, .ml just at that time, early in August, 1663, it could have been taken, most likely, for Lee had well nigh stripp i it of defenders to send 10911 ugainst Pope in Northern Virginia. But at the very time McClellan was giving orders to advance on Richmond, Halleck sent bim a peremptory command to quit the peninsula with his army and prepare to cooperate with Pope. Nothing was left but to obey, and McClellan's opportunity was lost. After the battle of Antietam, Sept 17, 1863. there was an interval of doing nothing. McClellan distributed his army along the Maryland side of the Potomac, watching its fords. He evidently thought the used up army of Lee might attempt another invasion of Maryland. He called vigorously for reenforcements, supplies of all kinds. By the last of September he had an army of 100,000 men, still on the Maryland side of the Poto mac. Oct. 6 President Lincoln directed the general to "cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy, or drive him south." But McClellan was not yet ready to do so. While he was waiting, that dashing Confederate cavalry leader, J. E. B. Stuart, made one of his characteristic raids, and, figuratively speaking, tweaked the nose of the whole Army of the Potomac under the eyes of its commander. Oct. 10 ho crossed the Potomac into Maryland with 1 1,800 cavalry, near Williamsport, galloped northward into Chambersburg, 1 Pa., destroyed the public property there, E turned southward, circled around McClellan's array lying on the Potomac, hurried down the mouth of the Monocacy, in Maryland, and then recrossed into Virginia and joined Lee. Thus a second time this bold raider rode ^ around McClellan's whole army. gen. burnside. The weeks went on. Daily, as of old, the newspaper head lines announced, "All quiet on the Potomac." T&eu the old impatience and dissatisfaction broke out anew, and the country began to wonder why it was so quiet along the Potomac. More weeks went on till it was six weeks ; after the battle of Antietam, and nothing done. By that time Lee's army was thoroughly rested and re-enforced, and amounted to 70,000. To the president's orders to move against him early in October McClellan had answered that he must have new cavalry horses. By the last of October he concluded that ho was ready to cross the Potomac. The crossing was actually made Nov. 2. McClellan ordered his main army to concentrate at Warrenton, Va. On this Lee, his army in good trim, his communications with Richmond perfect, resolved to retreat southward. The main portion of the Confederate army marched up the Shenandoah valley, turned off to the Rappahannock and took position at Culpepper. Stonewall Jackson's command, with the cavalry under J. E. 15. Stuart, remained behind to hang upon tho Union army and annoy and delay it as fnr as possible till the main Confederate body should be secure. If one could have stood upon a peak of the 1 Blue Ridge mountains of a bright morning in | thoso early days of November, 1862, he would have seen a sight to thrill gods and men. On the east side of the ridge McClellan's mighty army of over 100,000 men marched with waving banners and gleaming guns south to Warren- [ ton. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton led the advance with the ^j On the west side x. ,/ ''/ of the Blue Ridge JjJEB&S ,^|r he who looketl could have seen at thej^ - . 6amo moment anOther great host moving southward. It was Lee's Army ' of Northern Vir- / \ gin in. Tho two gen*, pleasonton. i hostile forces were sometimes only a few milei I apart in this race southward, but with tht | ridge between them. But Leo moved raor? rapidly. His advance, under Longstreet, hurried forward, crossed the mountains and took position at Culpepper Nov. 3. This rapid marching, however, separated | Lee's army more than was safe. Jackson and j tho cavalry were three days behind him. Perceiving this, McClellan at length detei> mined, of his own free will, to give battle. H? believed that he could now strike a fatal i blow. His army was at Warrenton, Lee's I advance at Culpepper, some ten miles south, j He said afterward of the situation: 'T did expect I could either separate them and beat ; tiem in detail, or else force them to concen. j trate as far back as Gordonsville, aud thui place the Army of the Potomac in positior either to adopt the Fredericksburg line ol ; advance upon Richmond or to be removed tt the peninsula." The good weather of the autumn had by that time passed away. McClellan now. however, seemed to be thoroughly alive anc . f in full vigor of determination. The night ot Nov. 7 there was a heavy rain over the camp of the Army of the Potomac. Gen. McCleh i_.. ?. i.?. .?. IUII bilu 111 UiS ICIll t'UHVIUUIll^ pitlUO tfcliva | ing directions for the great hostile movement ! to be made the next two days. A messenger : brought him a dispatch from Washington. | It was an order relieving him from com- i mand of the Army of the Potomac, and np? ! pointing Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside in hii place. With that the name of Gen. McClel- j lan disappears from American military history. He resigned his commission in th? army; however, not until the day or tha I presidential election in 1884, when he was the j car lidate ngainsc Lincoln. Thus apparently again in the moment of , success, McClellan's adverse fate interposed ! niul snatched it from hiin. BURNSIDE'S CAMPAIGN. Gen. Burnside was a man of fine, soldierly presence, and highly esteemed. He was born j in Libert}', Ind., in 1824, and was graduated at West Point in 1847, just in time to be sent to Mexico. He afterwards resigned from the j army and established a factory for making j a breech loading rifle of his own invention , in Rhode Island. His career was a varied I one, and when the war began, in 1801, ho ; was an officer of the Illinois Central railroad, j Ho immediately joined the Union army as colonel of a Rhode Island regiment, and roso j to be a major general of volunteers inline- j diately after the first Bull Run. He was put to j duty along the Atlantic coast, and Newbern, j Beaufort and Roanoke Island were trophies ! of his military ability. At the beginning of Pope's campaign he was called to Virginia. He performed active j and distinguished service through that and j the Maryland campaign. So well was he [ thought of that the command of the Army j of the Potomac had been offered to him twice | before ho accepted it, and each time he had j refused it. His modesty seems to have been { unequaled in the history of army officers. The Army of the Potomac "had already been the grave of the military reputations of McClellan and Pope. Burnside's name was to add the third to the hapless list After his Fredericksburg campaign he was sent west i and performed distinguished service in the department of the Ohio, freeing east Tennes- 1 see at lengtli from the Confederates. During the final campaign against Richmond ho was in the east again and commanded his old 1 Ninth corps, contributing not a little to the i closing victory. After the war he was three terms gov- I ernor of Rhode Island. He was in Europe i during the Franco-German war, and was ad- i tmitted within the i belligerent lines. 1 He returned and i represented Rhode i Island in the Uni- i ted States Senate. . < While serving in I | 1881 he died, re- I came placing him ' at the head of the I 1 fXY" v "*? Army or rue .ro- | * tomac, doubtful gen. parks. still of his capac- ! ! ity for great command, he would have de- j I clined the responsibility if possible. But the , ' peremptory order from Lincoln left him n'o j alternative. < ) He decided that .the Union army Bhould 1 < march on Richmond by way of Fredericks- ; burg, Va. Richmond was to be the object 1 aimed at, and Acquia Creek was to be his 1 base of supplies. Once more the battleground is changed to the cris crossed field of Virginia. 1 Fredericksburg is nearly 100 miles south of J the field of Antietam. It is on the right bank i of the Rappahannock river, n little inland ] from the Potomac, and the railroad leads di- i rectly south from it to Richmond, fifty miles , 1 distant. ] Acquia Creek is a town on the Potomac at ' < the mouth of the creek of the same name. ! i A railroad leads from it to Fredericksburg. On the 15th of November, 1862, Burnside began his grand march to Fredericksburg. He had organized his army into three "grand divisions," right, center and left, commanded, respectively, by Sumner, Hooker and Franklin. They left Warrenton,. Va., as their starting point. By Nov. 19 the three grand divisions were in the vicinity of Fredericksburg, on the east side of the Rappahannock. Sumner's grand division reached Fol- | mouth, directly opposite Fredericksburg, Nov. 17. He was not permitted by Burnside to cross, however, and that very day Lee sent a large body of troops to re-enforce the Confederate garrison there. < Burnside began at once to put in order the railroad from Acquia Creek to Fredericksburg, to make sure of receiving his supplies. Gen. H. J. Hunt was Burnside's chief of ar- | tillery. He posted all the guns on the Federal , side of the Rappahannock, and superintended their tsn transportation JR from Acquia Creek. WXaajp He decided that it was necessary to * Jyj plant guns upon the WmESXYoIh1-'' heights above the left bank of the ^ Rappahannock inI ^ sufficient number^ to cover the entire^^^HP^^^g^/^^^ J length of the oppo- u) \ <t> ' < sing forces on the ' ' right bank. Henry gen. hunt. Jackson Hunt was born in 1821 in Ohio, like 1 his commander a western man, also a West | ' Point graduate. He finished the course of in- | struction there when only 18 years old. During the Mexican war he became major of artillery, and was afterwards especially identi- j fled with that arm of the service. He was 1 McClellan's chief of staff during the peninsu- 1 lar campaign. During the whole war he < served in the Army of the Potomac, and was 1 one of its most faithful and useful officers. 1 R.n.i.ciHo's oliiof envnlrv commander con- ! f tinuea to be Gen. Alfred Pleasonton. Pleasonton was born at W ashineton city, in 1824, i and was the same age as Burnside. He en- | . tered the cavalry service when he left West | < Poiut, in 18-14. and was sent to Mexico. He j 1 remained in the west and southwest on dutv i most of the time till the outbreak of the civil war. At Fredericksburg he held the rank of I brigadier general of volunteers. He saw j severe fighting thero and subsequently at | ' Ckancellorsville nDd Gettysburg. After- I j wards he was ordered west, and his troopers I 1 helped clear Missouri of Sterling Price's men \ , in 1864. In 180S Gen. Pleasonton resigned from the i J army and engaged in mining and other busi- j 1 ness. His advocacy of the blue glass theory is i well known. Burnside's chief of staff was Brig. Gen. f John G. Parke, said to be one of the , handsomest of the accomplished officers , grouped about the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac. Parke was J a Pennsylvanian. born in 1827, and a ! ' West Poiuter of 1849. He entered the engi- [ 1 neer corps. He had been a brigadier general ] on the Isorth CarolinaToast under Burnside, j and, with his old commander, joined the , Army of the Potomac. He afterwards was 1 ordered south and west. He took active part in the siege of Vicksburg, also of Knoxville. He followed the fortunes of Burnside. At the fiual battles before Richmond, and previous to that, in 1864, Gen. Parke, under Burnside, commanded the old Ninth corps. Gen. Parke is now superintendent at West Point. Military critics declare that Burnside should have aimed at Lee's army rather than at Richmond. At all events, he determined to occupy Fredericksburg immediately. Public sentiment and the newspapers demanded that something should be done at once. While Burnside was making a way for the transportation of supplies the Confederates were fortifying Fredericksburg and the heights l?ehind it. Attheendof November Lee's whole armv lay in a crescent around ' Fredericksburg. Its right was at Port Royal, below the town; the left a little distance above. The Confederate fortifications were truly formidatl j, so as to render crossing directly in front of the city hopeless. But pontoon bridges were prepared by Burnside, and he arranged to cross the Rappahannock at Skenker's Neck, twelve miles below. Leo discovered this move in time to frustrate it. There seem to have been ways whereby Burnside's plans were constantly discovered to Lee, and that almost immediately. With a large portion of Lee's" army at DKenKers necs, jDuriiMuu next uiuu^ut uo , could force the passage of the Rappahannock ! and take Fredericksburg under ttie guns of I those who were left. The Union artillery j , was planted upon Stafford Heights, above , Falmouth. It commanded the whole plain of 1 Fredericksburg. Lee was so well informed of all that went j on in the Union army that within twentyfour hours after McClellan had been super- j seded by Burnside he was informed of it. LEE'S GENERALS. Around Lee in that deadly crescent upon | the heights of Fredericksburg were group's! i the tried generals whose stubborn fighting j qualities had enabled him to carry dismay to j the Army of the Potomac more thau once, j Longstreet, Stonewall Jackson, the Hills, i Jubal Early and Stuart, with his cavalrymen, were waiting for the deadly grapple j with Burnside's men. Mov. 17, the day that Sumner reached Fal- j v. mouth, opposite , sp \ Fredericksburg, j fs? Lee sent two divis- ) -jfes *ons? under Ale- j |gy| Laws and Ransom, w8?? ^ \ k accompanied by j hW cavalry and artil- I "fw/iJShfitt 1ery, to occupy I < Fredericksburg. ] NSgjt-'1 ^ Ransom took con- 1 snicuous part in ^7? the bloody fighting (,/ OCjajsK^ that afterwards oc'l U curred there. It j ~7 \y may be mentioned [ <;f,n\ ransom. in passing that this j Gen. Ransom is now United States Senator . Matt. W. Ransom, from North Carolina. Gen. Ransom, was a native of North Carolina, born in 1826. He was educated in his own state, became a lawyer, and held variouslocal offices previous to the civil war. Then he entered the Confederate army and passed up through various promotions to the rank of major general. Ho continued in the Army of Northern Virginia till the end, and surrendered with Lee at Appomattox. He is j now serving his third consecutive term in the United States senate. Another Confederate general who has entered Washington by a different route from the one he proposed twenty-five years ago is Wade Hampton, United States senator from -j South Carolina. He too was at Fredericksburg and commanded a brigade of cavalry, W. IL F. Lee commanding another. J. E. , B. Stuart was the division cavalry com- ; mander. " Wade Hampton distinguished himself in ' the Confederate cavalry service. Lee placed him on guard above Fredericksburg to preventBurnside from crossing, while W. H. F. Lee guarded the fords below the x Hampton was born in South Carolina in 1818, and was gi-aduated at ___ South Carolina college. He en- i hered political life at the beginning of < his career, and was _ 1 sleeted to various ^ i state offices. Dur- wade Hampton. ing the war he reached the rank of major gen- j srol. Since then he has served two terms as governor of South Carolina, previous to his j jlection to the United States senate. Senator Hampton's grandfather, also called Wade Hampton, was likewise a soldier ana ponucian. xie was an umcer m iub ievaluticn and a member of congress in 1795. The old man died^tJofcunbia, S. C., in 1834, the richest planter and slave owner in the United States. . r The 'name of Lee was numerously represented in the officers grouped around the j Confederate commander. Brig. Gen. W. H. ] F. Lee, the cavalry commander, was Robert ] E.'s second son. Robert E.'s nephew, Fitz Eugh, also a cavalryman, held a prominent , command in the Army of Northern Virginia, i All of Lee's sons?three of them?served in j the Confederate army. The eldest, G.W. C., i was an aid to Jeff Davis and afterOn the death of his jiKu \ fether G. W. C. succeeded him as B? 1 president of Wash- TyjL i ington and Lee uni- \JflL t ( rersity in Virginia. 1 Eis third son, Rob- . >rt E., Jr., was a^^_ \ staff officer of cav- i :ontinued with the c : 1 Confederate army i up to the final sur- * " 1 render at Appo- GEN- w- H- F- LEE- 1 mattox. Tliey took part in the heaviest Schtine of the Army of Northern Virginia throughout, several times distinguished themselves, yet none of them was killed. : They survived to be estimable, and in some < some cases distinguished, citizens of the t United States. "Fitz," as it was customary < bo call Fitz Hugh Lee, is now the governor of Virginia. 1 Another veteran among Lee's officers was Ben. W. B. Taliaferro. He also was a for- < mer United States ] Taliaferro was a JBjk He had been one of 1 ^oe's stttnc^?st gB, " ^ VF fighters, and was ] at Groveton during 1 Jackson's ' ^ famous r gen. Taliaferro. and had done no e less hard marching than fighting. j Gen. Richard H. Anderson, division com- f mander in Longstreet's corps, had, like all the t others, passed through the ordeal of fighting. c He had aided in the capture of Harper's i Ferry, had been sharply engaged at Antie- ( tam, and now with the rest awaited the shock ] of battle at Fredericksburg. , Gen. Richard H. Anderson was a South Carolinian, a graduate of the United States ? Military academy in 1842. He served in Mexico. When the first probabilities of war 1 began to be talked of ho resigned from the < United States army in March, 1801. Ho en- i iered the Confederate service as soon as it iarae into existence and shortly became a , brigadier general. He was wounded at Antietam, though not mortally like his name- ? sake. Gen. G. T. Anderson. ? The Confederates always spoke of their 1 army under Lee's immediate command as the t Army of Northern Virginia, just as the force c apposed to them was designated throughout ] the war as tho Army of the .Potomac. * ^ TOPOGRAPHY. Lee's plan for the battle of Fredericksburg 1 tvas at once simple and admirable. Long- ] street's corps had been the first to arrive on 1 the ground, and it occupied tho left, with ] Sen. Richard H. Anderson on the extreme i left. Stonewall Jackson was on the rights i ind tho forces of the two joined in tho -enter < ind encircled Fredericksburg. j To understand the fight fully, glance at the iccompanying map. Five miles below Fred- < iricksburg the little Massaponax river ] lowed into the Rappahannock from tho west < A ridge of hills sloped down to the Rappa- < lannock above, the Massaponax, running < from the northwest. Five miles above tba ] Massaponax the ridge retreats from Che river far enough to leave a plain, and upon th'l ] plain tho town of Fredericksburg was built. j 1. ; % * \ ! e, \ : . ^o. \ %. \ i ' \ J FREDERICKSBURG BATTLE GROUND. Below the town the ridgo again approaches close to the river. Behind the first range of hills another rose, as if both were built by nature for the planting of batteries for the protection of Fredericksburg. Burnside could not have selected a worse point for attack or Lee a better one for defense. The railroad from Richmond to tho Potomac river passed through the town. Leo had 7S,000 men after Jackson joined him. These began |to. throw up earthworks in a crescent six miles long, from the Massaponax to above Fredericksburg. They , worked with a will and soon had built those formidable fortifications against which Burnside's hapless hosts were to dash themselves ; like waves against a granite rock. Nearest the Rappahannock, on the north of the Confederate left, was Taylor's hill, about ; which R. H. Anderson's men lay. Next camo i Ma rye's hill, which gained fatal renown in j tho battle. Here were others of Longstreet's j men, Hill, Ransom and McLaws. Across ! Marye's hill ran a stone wall, terracing the hill. Next came Telegraph hill, the highest \ o{ all. Here Lee stood and directed opera- j tions in person. For this reason the crest is now called Lee's hill, and as such is pointed ' out to the visitor. Next after McLaws came Hood's divisiott on the right. Still farther to I the right lay Jackson's men, A. P. Hill, j Early and Tuliaferro. D. H. Hill's command j was upon the extreme right as a reserve. So, on the morning of Dec. 10, 1SG2, lay the j Confederate army awaiting the Federal advance. Stafford heights, occupied by Burnside's artillery on the opposite sido of the I Rappahannock, were higher than the hills orj the Confederate side, but these, again, were ; so far distant as to Ikj practically out oi j range ui iuu uniuu guns. Longstreet says Lee's army bad twenty days to prepare for the battle, and they made good JK, \ use of the time. Mi Jt the best point of rajjjf'. 'r' ^F] lookout, and to the Confederates *^^'''SjSEal stationed there iMt w: s assigned the task of watching the opposite shore, and announcing to f ('2W Lee's army when 'Tu ^ the first crossing should be nttemDt- u. h. andekson. Bd. Burnside Lad prepared pontoon bridges. Dec. 11 was the day he fixed for the crossing. 1 That morning, before daylight, the bridges were brought down to the shore and the engineers set to work to construct them. As the dawn broke, boom! boom! wentun nnshotted cannon from Maryo's heights, telling Lee and his men that the time was come. Barksdale's sharpshooters within the town of ' Fredericksburg began firing on the bridge builders. They prevented the completion of < the bridges. The batteries from Stafford heights were then trained upon Fredericksburg. They battered it down, yet the sharpshooters were not dislodged. Then Union volunteers to cross the river in open boats and drive out the sharpshooters were called 1 for. This was done with the loss of 300 men, and the Federals took possession of the river front of Fredericksburg, Dec. 11. That evening and the next day Sumner's and Franklin's grand divisions crossed, leaving part of Hooker's center grand division on the Falmouth side. FREDERI.CKSBURG. The battle of Fredericksburg took place Dec. 13. It was a disastrous day to the Union arms. Burnside's plan of attack was for Sumner and Franklin to storm the f^rtiEled Confederate heights above the tow^-fall, .lAnra il.n linn nrid AH rfir fV^nm Ktr ftCMiiilf UUU^ UlD AXXXCf auu ?.?M1 J Iingm vjj ii-muniy * In the midst of u .ense fog, Dec. 12, Sumner's grand division ad crossed at the upper pontoon on the right, Franklin's below on the left. The First. Second, Sixth and Ninth corps were the troops that had crossed. They were commanded respectively by Gens. Reynolds, Couch, W. F. Smith and Willcox. They formed their lines parallel to the river, except Sen. Meade's division of the First corps, tvhich was at right angles to it. Gen. Doublelay's division was stationed as a reserve in the rear of Meade on the left. The fogs of Dec. 12 continued to tho 13th. Added to this, the weather, for Virginia, was bitterly cold. It was tho first experience of ?ome of Lee's soldiers with a northern winter, 1 and the night of the 12th some Confederal sentinels froze at their posts. Fredericksburg is another of the battles of the civil war about which there has been much dispute. It is said on the one hand that Burnside's order to Franklin as to the beginning of the fight was ambiguous in meaning. On the other, Gen. Franklin has been blamed for not pushing the fight solidly on ' the Federal left, at Hamilton's crossing. After crossing the Rappahannock, Franklin was directed by Burnside's order to keep hia whole command in position for a rapid movement down the old Richmond road. Burnside was by no means so well informed of the strength of the force opposed to him as Lee seems to have been about Burnside's army. Franklin's corps began the fight early in the morning, Dec. 13, with Gen. George G. Meade in the advance. There were two linet jf Confederate fortifications along the heights. Franklin's attack was on the Confederate right, against Stonewall Jackson. A fearful storm of shot and shell met the Federals. A. P. Hill's advance Confederate line was driven jack, however, but Gregg, Early and Stuart dosed in and repelled charge after charge. More than 40 per cent of Meade's command 'ell. Reynolds came to his aid with re-enforcements, and Reynolds lost 4,000. But :hey finally drove the Confederates back omewhat to Massaponax creek. The figh* letween tho Federal left and Confederufcight continued two hours. Sumner's grand division formed the Fediral right. To it fell the task of storrainjj ilarye's hill, tho most formidable of the Coeederate works. Lee's officers say that when heir general discovered that Burnside wti ibout to attack his works on Fredericksburg leights he was greatly rejoiced. He felt that bo :ould hold them well nigh against the world. Longstreet's chief of artillery said to him the noming of Dec. 13, as they looked over the jround in front of Marye's hill: "General, we cover that ground now so .?t1 wt'11 vi.nvw'K mo wifli o flna fnnth rVCli tuai ?c rviLi Wiiik/ *w 1*0 iuvu w ?wW?. :omb. A chicken could not live on that Held, vhen we open on it." There is one fact connected with this tin*? vhich renders it exceedingly, difficult to get it the exact truth in its history. The reports ind accounts given by army officers and con;emporarv correspondents are manifestly ;inged. with the pro or unti-McClellan partisanship. The position of neither Pope nor Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac was a pleasant one, and that fact seeds to be borne in mind constantly. Brig. Gen. J. F. Reynolds commanded the First corps in Franklin's left grand division. Franklin considered that three divisions of Reynolds' corps were sufficient to carry out Burnside's order, which he understood to xtean that he should make a reconnoissance rather than a serious attack. To Reynolds was leputed this task, and to bis corps belonged Meade's division. Gen. 0. 0. Howard commanded the Second me of the awful V Marye'shill. Howard was born ind was graduated t itructor in niatbe- ' matics at the Mili- V T V3 ? taiy academy for gen. Howard. some time after his graduation. Ho was actively engaged in fighting from the beginning of iho civil war. Ho commanded a brigade at Bull. Run, nnd was made a brigaiier general in September, 1861. The "empty sleeve" familiar in his portraits has been carried since 1862 at the battle of Fair Oaks, where he lost the right arm that filled it. At Antietam he was in command of Sumner's rorps. In 1863 he had commaud of the Eleventh corps. Gen. Howard distinguishes! himself at Gettysburg. Afterward he was ordered west, participated in the fights of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge and helped relieve Knoxville. During Sherman's march to the sea and up to the time of Johnston's surrender Howard commanded the right wing of the army. After the war he was United States commissioner of the freed men's bureau. TT? ...??IT.,;. LXt? ?1U3 JJIC31UCIII ui Aiui'aiu VUITCIOIVJ LVI Freedmen for a time, and also served as special commissioner to the Indians. He has been especially employed in government educational and benevolent enterprises. In 1886 he was promoted to be one of the three major generals permitted by law In the United States army. He is at present in command of the department of the Pacific. Stoneman's corps of Hooker's grand division was pushed up behind the divisions of Franklin on the Federal left at Fredericksburg in time to aid in the repulse of the Confederates there. His advantage was not [lushed by Franklin. He considered that his orders from Burnside did not justify him in doing so. Burnside, in the course of the day, sent an order for him to attack on the front, but by the time it reached Franklin it was too near dark for it to be obeyed, the latter general considered. So the lighting of the left grand division at Fredericksburg was over. MARYE'S HILL Sumner's right grand division was to do the fighting on Franklin's right. Sumner's task was to assault and y s. carry the frown- f ing crest of Ma- / rye's hill. To begin L*? the fight ho sent fey ^?9 Gen. W. II. 7ft] French's command, immediately followed by that of Hancock, "two never turned their backs to the en- * Q emy," as he said uen. French. afterward. It is rather a strange whim of fate that the name of so bravo and accomplished a general as William Henry French should be so little known to his countrymen. Some of the bloodiest fighting of this or uny war was uui;.e uy him ami niiiic'iuK s uivj i sions that day at Fredericksburg. They lost fully two-fifths of their men. \V. H. French was born in Maryland in 1815. He was a graduate of West Point, and fought in the Indian war in Florida in 1837; also in the Mexican war. He was first in command at Key West during the civil war, but was transferrer! to the Army of the Potomac. He became a major general of volunteers in 1802. After the war ho was in the artillery service on the Pacific coast. Gen. French died in 1881. As the fog lifted in the course of the forenoon Longstreet beheld from the heights of Marye's hill French and Hancock advancing in two columns to the assault. They cume by two parallel roads, the Orange plank road and the Telegraph road. The Telegraph road led to Richmond. A deep ravine separated the advancihg troops from the foot of Marye's hill. The Telegraph road 6kirted along the foot of Marye's hill. The road, indeed, had been cut out of the hill's side and was twenty-five feet Wide. On one side of it was the hill, upon the Other a high stone wall had been built. This in Wall was as high as a man's shoulders. f THE TERRIBLE STONE WALL. Df In every great battle there is somo point ri; BDout which the slaughter is thickest. At jK Fredericksburg it wa3 the stone wall upon ?ho outer edge of Telegraph road. Behind this wall the road was pxactically a sunken ; ^j one. It was quite invisible to the advancing Federals. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ w V THE STONE WALL. V] Longstreet perceived at once the advantage s> of this position. Behind the high wail las stationed some 2,500 soldiers, under command of Gens. Kershaw and T. R R Cobb. Thus, of like Antietam, Fredericksburg, too, had it* CC sunken road. \y Up toward the fatal stone wall and tfcr. (j j sunken road came the columns of the Union a[ army. They massed upon the narrow plain at ^ the foot of Marye's hill. Abovo them, tlva moment they came within range, the Confed- . erato artillery upon the heights poured hot fire into them. It cut great holes iii thei* Sl^ ranks?gaps which could bo seen a mil% Longstreet says. In a moment the gaps were ?)' closed again, however, and the devoted men J1' marched on. ;u Half the narrow plain at the foot of in Marye's hill was crossed, when, lo! it seemed SU as if all the thunders and lightnings of heaven to burst upon them. A living sheet of lirt m blinded their eyes, an infernal din roared in \v their ears, and when it passed hundreds of til brave men lay upon that plain, never more to fe see or hear aught with earthly eyes or ears tr n?rnin. t: O * tl' The deadly lightnings shot forth from ^ Longstrcet's hidden guns behind the stone ftj wall in the sunken road. . Against that fire no living thing could R. stand. French's soldiers fell hack. Hancock's came on gallantly. Another sheet of living fire, another infernal roar, and hun- p< dreds of .other bodies were piled upon those je that already lay upon the ghastly plain. One 1 n brigade after another came on, each in its dl turn to be mown down and hurled back, us Those W1.0 saw the assault of Mnrye's hill at 0f the sunken road one and all speak of it as a V( succession of waves of living human beings m in turn dashed and broken against the stone wall. aj After French's and Hancock's divisions were repulsed, Howard's threw itself against the wall. It, too, was driven back, broken und P bleeding. That iluished the available strength of the Second corps, Gen. Couch's. Then y* Sturgis' division of the Ninth corps was af ordered forward. The charge at Balaklava pt is famed in history. Moro than twenty W charges like Balaklava would not have com- to passed the destruction wrought beforo the d* stone wall at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, "iSC2. n( Six distinct waves of troops assaulted the til works and fell back. At one moment Lee, Ul watching the light from Lee's hill, expressed w apprehension to Longstreet that the position might be token, so never ending seemed to be the lines of blue that advanced against it. Longstreet replied: "General, if you put every man now on the * other side of the Potomac on that field to ap- ar proach mo over the same line, and give mo ;u plenty of ammunition, I will kill them all bo- in foce the}' reach my line." su Samuel Davis Sturgis was born in Penn- 20 sylvania in 1822. Graduated at West Point, .30 was in the Mexican oli war and was capVista, but was ex- m the rank of captain jButc^P [j[ fighting Indians on W war of '61 lie ^ in command of Fort 4gjy^jB|Mp m every one of his16 ^ subordinate officers J J ft* abandoned him and >3? Sh entered the Confed- gen. sturgis. w erate service. 8turgis remained in tlio Union cfl service, and took an active part in tho war of from the first. Beginning with Lyons in p. Missouri, ho at length caine east and had charge of the fortifications at Washington, Ql then commanded a division in the Potomac . f army. He was afterward chief of cavalry in the department of Ohio. Ilis rank at Fred- ,, ericksburg was thnt of brigadier general of 1 volunteers. Sturgis' division furnished its ? quota of dead men to the fatal stone wall, ^ 1,028 out of two brigades, and fell back. r(1 GriiBn's division of the Fifth corps fol- '>( lowed Sturgis, advancing gallantly. It lost W 818 men and retreated behind a knoll. Sixth 3D and last, Humphreys' division of Hooker's ar corps was ordered to the assault Hooker, tr seeing the uselessness of thus slaughter, begged p( Burnside to countermand the order, but th Burnside replied: "The crest must be carried to-night," and ordered Hooker across jn with two divisions, Humphreys' and Sykes'. jn Humphreys is said to have been the ablest . officer on the field of Fredericksburg. By the time ho advanced on Marye's hill the ammunition of the Confederate artillery upon the heights was exhausted, and thus one galling fire to which his predecessors 68 had been exposed was stopped. His men HA gained a point some yards in advance of fo those who had gone before. in Perceiving the uselessness of firing at the wall, iiumpureys orciereu ms men to cnargo jy bayonets. * They prepared to do so, though it fo wus'hopeless, when the satne sheet of flame flashed into their faces, and spite of all efforts re to rally them they turned backward. Nearly half of their 4,000 fell in fifteen minutes. Then night closed. . Andrew A. Humphreys was n Pennsvlva- ,. nian, a graduate of ,( West Point, and a famous fighting \ i man. He was \ ]e Meade's chief of .HBg^ '(' staff when that iKWjgpc 7 Y th general command- CC cd the Potomac fo Thus French, _ is Hancock, Howard,S?s|Efe^- ()(J S t u r g i s, Gri ffl n|^ w and Humphreys^ Si; charged successive-* A- W v w ly upon Marye's V.) ^ Heights, and sue- Y.. cessively their men ' , wore mown down ^.Humphreys. dl like blades of grass before a reaper. Night ct only closed the slaughter. When it settled J*1 down over that smoking, bleeding field there were 15,000 fewer effective soldiers of the W Army of the Potomac than there had been in th the morning. ti Burnside wished to renew the contest next hi day, Dec. 14, but his officers dissuaded him t'C from it. That night be crossed back to Fal- ]ii month, withdrew liis whole army to Stafford \y heights anil left Leo to possess Fredericksburg, what there was left of it He himself passed the night in a state of mental ugony hard to describe. .. The battle of Fredericksburg was fought ., 011 a Saturday. Burnside had 100,000 effective men in his army, Leo 78,000 in his fortified heights. The Union loss was about 15,000; the Confederate, 5,400. On the Confederate W side Gens. Gregg and T. It. It. Cobb were to killed; on the Union side, Gens. George SU Bayard and C. Feger Jackson. Burnside e) had resolved to cross the Rappahannock ti again below Fredericksburg. The move- re ment was to commence Dec. .10. when sud- \y denly Burnside received an order from Presi- il dent Lincoln to malce no general movement . without first informing him of it. White Burnside had been preparing to cross the Ol Rappahannock, several of his generals had nl been to the president and represented to him k( that they thought Burnside's plans were ruinous folly. " So nothing was done till Jan. 20, 1803. U| Burnside had decided to make another at- in tempt to cross the Rappahannock, six miles sj above Fredericksburg. But it seemed that ?. not only his own officers, but the fates, were against him. His army had no sooner started m up the river than a great storm set in. Snow, n< rain and sleet came dowu all together and rendered the march impossible. The soldiers said it seemed as if the bottom had fallen but _ , of the roads. The troops could not go forward. A few deed reached the river after long delay, ; dy to find the Confederates ready for them the crossing. The expedition was a failure. Officers 1 the Army of the Potomac six>ke of it desively as the Mud March. Burnside was sxt relieved from command of the army "at s own request," the government records y. Whatever his military capacity or the ck of it. he was one of the most unselfish ul patriotic of all the Union gein-raN. PHE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. The message of President Cleve- 1 ?d, read in both houses of Congress 1 Tuesday of last week, is pronounc1 by the press of nil parties to be a i asterly document, bold and vigor- 1 is in its conception, and fearless in 1 s treatmentof the questions of tariff < id taxation, to which it is mainly mfined. A feature of the message its brevity and the terseness with hich the President expresses his : iews. We give below a complete 1 mopsis of the paper. The President sets out by saying : 1 You are confronted at the threshold < your legislative duties with a indition of the national finances 1 hich imperatively demands immeate and careful consideration. The nountof money annually exacted I rough the operations of the present ws from the industries and necessies of the people, largely exceed the im necessary to meet the expenses ' the government. When we conder that the theory of our instituons guarantees to every citizen the II enjoyment of all the fruits of his dustry and enterprise, with only ich deduction as may be his share wards the careful and economical aintenance of the government hich protects him, it is plain that 1 ie exaction of more than this is inde- 1 nsible extortion and a culpable beayal of American fairness and jusre. This wrong. inflicted upon 1 lose who bear the burden of nationtaxation, like other wrongs, multi- 1 ies a brood of evil consequences, lie public treasury, which should ily exist as a conduit conveying the < ;ople's tribute to its legitimate ob- i ct of expenditure, becomes a hoard- ; g place for money needlessly with- ; awn from trade and the people's le, thus crippling our national en- i gy, suspending our country's dedopment and preventing investent in productive enterprise. i This condition of our treasury is not 1 together new, and it has more than < ice of late been submitted to the i ;ople's representatives in Congress, ho alone can apply a remedy, and it the situation still continues with rgravative incidents more than ever esaging financial convulsion and ide spread disaster. It will not do neglect this situation because its 1 uigers are not now palpably irnmi?nt and apparent. They exist none ie less, certainly, and await the lforeseen and unexpected occasion hen suddenly they will be precipi- : ted upon us. On the 30th day of June, 1885, the ccess of revenues over public exinditures, after complying with the inual requirements of the sinking : nd excess, was $17,850,735.84. Durgthe year ending June 30th, 188G, ich excess amounted io $49,405,545.- ' ', and during the year ending June th, 1887, it reached the sum of $55,7,849.54. The annual contribution to the nking fund during the three years )ove specified amounting in the agegate to $138,058,320.94, and deleted from the surplus as stated, ere made by calling for that pur)se outstanding 3 per cent, bonds of ie government. During the six onths prior to June 30, 1887, the ! irplus revenue fcad grown so large / repeated accumulations thatitwas area the withdrawal of this great ( im of money needed by the people , ould so affect the business of the , mntry that the sum of $79,864,100 such surplus was applied to the , lyment of the principal and inter- ! tof the three percent, bonds still itstanding, and which were then lyable at the option of the govern- ( ent. The precarious condition of lancial affairs among the people ill .needing relief, immediately afr the 30th day of June, 1887, the mainder of the three per cent. >nds then outstanding, amounting ith principal arul interest to the im of $18,877,500, were called in id applied to the sinking fund conibution, for the current fiscal year, ^withstanding these operations of ie Treasury Department. Representations of distress in busess circles, not only continued but icreased, and absolute peril seemed hand. In these circumstances the intrihutions to the sinking fund for ie current fiscal year was at once mpleted by the expenditure of $27,14,283.55 in the purchase of governent bonds, not yet due, bearing ur and four and a half per cent. 1 iterest. the premium paid thereon /eraging about twenty-four per cent, r the former and eight per cent, r the latter. In addition to this ie interest accruing during the curntyear upon the outstanding bondI indebtedness of the government as to some extent anticipated ana mk9 selected as depositories of pub2 money were permitted to somehat increase their deposits. While ie expendientsthus employed to rease to the people the money lying le in the Treasury, served to avert ie dangers, our surplus reserves have intinued to accumulate, the excess rthepresentyear,amountingonthe i st of Decern ber to $55,208,707.10, and estimated to reach the sum of $113,10,000 by the 30th of next June, at hich date it is expected that this im, added to prior, accumulations, ill swell the surplus in the treasury 1 i $1-10,000,000. There seems to be ) assurance that, with such a with- : awal from use of the people's cirilating medium, our business com- < unity may not, in the near future, |: ; subjected to the same distress j hich was quite lately produced from ; ie same cause, and while the func-!! ons of our National treasury should I i i few and simple, and while its best!' mdition would be reached, I be-! eve, by its entire disconnection i ith private business interests, yet, i hen by a perversion of its purposes, I < idly holds money uselessly sub- j acted from the channels of trade, i lere seems to be reason for the claim i lat some legitimate means should i > rlaiiicml K,. fho imvopntinont ro. I 1 ore, in an emergency, without i aste and extravagance, such money I! i its place among the people. If1 ich an emergency arises there now j i cists no clear and undoubted execu- > ve power of relief. Heretofore the j ] idemption of three percent, bonds, ! i hich were payable at the option of < le government, has offered a means i r the disbursement of the excess of ir revenues, but those bonds have 1 1 been retired, and there are no i )nds outstanding, the payment of ] hich we have the right to insist i aon. The contribution to-the sink- 1 ig fund which furnishes the occa- 1 on for the expenditure inthepurmse of bonds, has been already ! ade for the current year, so there is i j outlet in that direction. f It has been suggested that the pres- l it bonded debt might be refunded i a less rate of interest, and the dif- 1 ference between the old and new securities in cash, thus finding use for the surplus in the treasury. The success of this plan, it is apparent, must depend upon the volition of the holders of the present bonds, and it is not entirely certain that the inducement which must be offered would result in more financial benefit to the government than the purchase of bonds, while the latter proposition would reduce the principal of the debt by actual payment instead of extending it. The proposition to deposit the money held by the government in bonds throughout the country for use by the people is, it seems to me, exceedingly objectionable in principle as establishing so dose a relationship between the government treasury and the business of the country, and too extensive a collection of their money, thus fostering an unnatural reliance in private business upon public funds. If this scheme should be adopted it should only be done as a temporary expedient to meet an urgent necessity. Legislative and executive effort should generally be in the opposite direction, and should have a tendency to divorce as much and as fast as can safely be done the treasury department from private enterprise. Of course it is not expected that unnecessary and extravagant appropriations will be made for the purpose of avoiding the accumulating of an excess of revenues. Such expenditure, besides the demoralization of all just conceptions of public duty which it entails, stimulate a habit of reckless improvidence not in the least consistent with the mission of our people, or the high and beneficent principles of our government. 1 have deemed it my duty to thus bring to the knowledge of my countrymen as well as to the attention of their representatives charged with the responsibility of legislative relief, the gravity of our financial situation. The failure of theCongress heretofore to provide against the dangers, which it was quite evident the very nature of the difficulty must have necessarily produced, caused a condition of financial distress and apprehension since your last adjournment, which taxed to the utmost, ail the authority and expedients within executive control, and these now appear to be exhausted. If disaster results from the continued inaction of Congress, the responsibility must rest where it belongs. Though the situation thus far considered, is fraught with danger, which should be fully realized, and though it presents features, which portend wrong to the people as well as peril to the country, it is buta resultgrowi ng out of a perfectly palpable and apparent cause, constantly representing the same alarming circumstances. Our scheme of taxation by means of which this needless surplus is takeq from the people and put into the public treasury, consists of a tariff or duty levied upon importations from abroad and internal revenue taxes levied upon the consumption of tobacco, spirits and malt liquors. It must be conceded that none of the things subject to internal revenue taxation are, strictly speaking, necessaries. There appears to be no j ust eomplaint of this tariff by the consumers of these articles, and there seems to be nothing so well able to bear the burden without hardship to any portion of the people. But our present tariff laws, the vicious, inequitable and illogical source of unnecessary taxation ought to be at once removed and amended. It is not proposed to entirely relieve the country of this taxation. It must be extensively continued as a source of the government's income, and in a readjustment of our tariff the interests of American labor, engaged in manufacture, should be carefully considered, as well as the protection of our manufactures. It may be called protection, or by any other name, but relief from the hardships and dangers of our present tariff laws should be devised with reference to providing againstimperiling the existence of our manufacturing interests. The reduction of taxation demanded should be so measured as not to necessitate, or justify, either the loss of employment by the workingman, nor the lessening of his wages, and the profits still remaining to the manufacturer after a necessary readjustment should furnish no excuse for the sacrifice of the interests of his employees, either in their opportunity to work or in the dminution of their compensation. Nor can the workers in manufactories fail to understand that while a high tariff is claimed to be necessary to allow the payment of remunerative wages, it certainly results in a very large increase in the price of nearly all sorts of manufactures, which, in almost countless forms, he needs for the use of himself and family. He receives at the desk of his employer his.wages, and perhaps before he reaches his home is obliged, in the purchase of an article for family use, of an article which embraces his own labor, to return in the payment of the increase in price which the tariff permits the hard earned compensation of many days of toil. The farmer and the agriculturist who manufacture nothing, but who pay the increased price which the tariff imposes upon every agricultural implement, upon all he wears and upon all he uses and owns, except the increase of his flocks and herds and such things as his husbandry produces from the soil, is invited to aid in maintaining the government, and he is told that a high duty on imported wool is necessary for the benefit of those who have sheep to shear in order that the price of their wool may be increased. They, of course, are not reminded that the farmer who has no sheep is by this scheme obliged, in his purchases of clothing and woolen goods, to pay a tribute to his fellow farmer as well as to the manufacturer and merchant. Nor is any mention made of the fact that sheep owners themselves must wear Nothing and use other articles manufactured from the wool they sell at tariff' rates, and thus consumers, us well, return a share of this in creased price to the tradesman. Discussing the increased cost to the consumer of our home manufactures resulting from a duty laid upon i m ported articles of the same descri ption, the fact is mentioned that competition among our dealers produces sometimes the effect of keeping the price of their products below the highest limit allowed by such duty. The considerations that have been presented touching our tariff laws \re intended only to enforce an earnest recommendation that the surplus revenue of the government be prevented by the reduction of our customs duties, and at the same time to emphasizeasuggestionthatinaccora- J plishing this purpose we may discharge a double duty to our people by granting to them a measure of relief from tariff taxation in quarters where it is most needed and from sources where it can be more fairly and justly accorded, nor can the presentation, made of such considerations bo with any degree of fairness regarded as evidence of unfriendliness toward our manufacturers' interests or of any lack of appreciation of their value and importance. These interests constitute a leading and most substantial element of our National greatness and furnish the proud proof of our country's progress. But if in the emergency that presses upon us our manufacturers are asked to surrender something for thfi nnhlif* confl. and tn avart disas ter, their patriotism, as well as a grateful recognition of the advantages already afforded, should lead them to willing co-operation. No demand is made that they shall forego all the benefits of governmental regard; but they cannot fail to be admonished of their duty as well as enlightened as to their self-interest and safety, whenjfoey are reminded of the fact that financial panic and collapse?to which the present condition tends?afford no greater shelter or protection to our manufacturers than to other important enterprises. The opportunity for safe, careful and deliberate reform is now offered ; and none of usshould be unmindful of a time when an abused and irritated people, heedless of those who have resisted timely and reasonable relief, may insist upon a radical and sweeping rectification of their wrong. The difficulty attending a wiseand fair revision of our tariff laws is not underestimated. It will require, on the part of the Congress, great labor and care, and especially a broad and national contemplation of thesubject, and a patriotic disregard of such local and selfish claims as are unreasable and reckless of the welfare of the entire country. Under our present laws more than four thousand articles are subject to duty. Many of these do not in any way compete with our manufactures, and many are hardly worth attention as subjects of revenue. A considerable reduction can be made in the aggregate by adding them to the free list. The taxation of luxuries presents no feature of hardship, but necessaries of life, used and consumed by all the people, the duty on which adds to the cost of living in every household, should be greatly cheapened. The radical reduction of the duties imposed upon raw material used in the manufactures, or its free importation is, of course, an important factor in any effort to reduce the price of the necessaries, and would not only relieve them from the increased cost caused by the tariff on such material, but the manufactured product being thus cheapened, that part of the tariff now laid upon such products as compensation to ou r manufacturers for the present price of raw material, could be accordingly modified. Such reductions or free importations would serve besides to largely reduce the revenues. It is not apparent how such a change can have injurious effect upon manufactures. On the contrary it would appear to give them a better chance in foreign markets with the manufacturers of other countries who cheapen their wares by free material. Thus our people might have the opportunity of extending their sales beyond the limits of home consumption, saving them from the depression, interruption in business and loss caused by a glutted domestic market, and affording employees more certain and steady laoor and its resulting quiet and contentment. The question thus imperatively presented for solution, should be approached in a spirit higher than party anxiety, and considered in the light of that regard for patriotism which should characterize the action of those entrusted with the weal of a confiding people. But the obligation to declare a party policy and principle is not wanting to urge prompt and effective action. Both of the great political parties now represented in the government have by repeated and authoritative declarations condemned the tariff which permits the collection from the people of unnecessary revenue, and have in the most solemn manner promised its correction, and the deliberate violation of these pledges will not be condoned. Our progress toward a wise conclusion will not be improved by dwelling on the theories of protection and free trade. The question of free trade is absolutely irrelevant, and the persistent claim made in certain quarters that all efforts to relieve the people from unjust and unnecessary taxation are schemes of the so-called free traders, is mischievous and far removed from any consideration for the public good. The simple and plain duty which we owe the people is to reduce taxation to the necessary expenses of an economical provision of the government, and to restore o the businessof the country the money which we hold in the treasury through the power of the government. This can be done with safety to all our industries, without danger to the opportunity for remunerative labor, which our working men need and with benefit to them, and all our people by cheapening their means of subsistence and increasing the measure of their comforts. The constitution provides that the President "shall, from time to time, give to the Congress information of the state of the Union." It has been the custom of the executive, in compliance with this provision, to annually exhibit to the Congress at the opening of its session the general condition of the country, and to detail with some particularity, the operations of the different executive departments. It would be.especially agreeable to follow this course at thepresenttime,and to call attention to the valuable accomplishments of . these departments during the last fiscal year; but I am so much impressed with the paramount importance of the subject to which this communication has thus far been devoted that I shall forego the addition of any other topic, and only urge upon your immediate consideration the "state of the Union," as shown in the present condition of our treasury and our general fiscal situation, upon which every element of our safety and prosperity depends. . The reports of the heads of departments which will be submitted, contain full and explicit information touching the transactions of the business entrusted to them, and such recommendations relating to the legislation of publicinterest as they deem advisable. I ask that these reports and recommendations have the deliberate examination and action of both legislative branches of the government. There are other subjects not included in the department reports demanding legislative consideration and which I should be glad to submit. Some of them, however, have been earnestly presented in previous messages, and it is not necessary to repeat prior recommendations. As the law makes no provisions for any report from the Department of State, a brief history of the transactions of that important department, together with other matters which it may hereafter be deemed essential to commend to the attention of Congress, may furnish the occasion for a future communication. Grover Cleveland. Washington, I), C., Dec. Oth, 1887.