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WAR SI Sieves of tili A. C. Chase i;, Moini.l !i v. many sieges were there in our Civ il war- the War Uetween ( he fs'i I'erhaps >ou cannot answer oil hand, l ut let us pick up a history and settle the matter. The trouble jh the differences and discrepancies of the historic* Me many and sur prising. ?> t instance, Harper's Encyclope dia of Cniled States History gives a list of the sieges id' the war as follows: "Fort l'ickeu.s, Fla., 1801; Corinth, Miss., irid-: Fort I'ulaski, Ga.f 1802; Islac i No. M. Ky., 1802; Fort Wag ner, S. C, ISO.'!; l'ort Hudon, La., LS02 VioUburg, Miss., 180:j; Atlan ta. <ia., Itfdl; Forts Gaines and Morr gao, Mobile, Ala., 1801; Fort Fisher, N. C, IS?l "?, Richmond, Va., 1801 and l'ort Hlakely and Spanish Fort, Mobile, Ala., ISO."), a total of twelve.'' "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War" ches not mention all of the above as -ieges, but further makes mention of the siege of Vorktown, the siege of Lexington, the siege of Charleston and the siege of l'cters btirg. No??, the dictionary defines a siego as "the netting of an army before or around a fortified place for the pur pose of compelling the garrison to sur render, or the surrounding or invest ing of a place by an army, and ap proaching it by passages and advan ced works," to force it to surrender. VLimbers' Encyclopedia tells us that "when the assault of a fortified place Would be too hazardous and costly, and its reduction by blockade too Blow, recourse is had to the regular siege or systematic attack." It will be seen from the above defi nitions that a Btrcnuous effort to com pel the surreuder of a place always enters into tho idea of a siege, fur ther, that the element of time as a necessary factor is essential, and in a true siege the isolation of the place attacked from all channels of relief is understood. Remembering these points, let us cxamino the list, of so called sieges, as given above. Fort Pickens was certainly besieg ed, though tentatively only. It was invested at the very outset of the war for the purpose of forcing the capitu lation of the small garrison there. But as the lack of ships made it im possible for tho Confederacy to pre vent the re-inforcemeat of this garri son by way of the sea, the land forces were soon withdrawn and tho fort left in the enemy's possession. No seri ous effort was ever made to bombard it, since its possession was a moral advantage only to either side It, therefore, may be ruled out of its place on tho list given. Port Sumter, though not mentioned above, is incorreotly placed by Borne historians among the besieged places of the war. True, it was in a modi fied state of siege for a time previous to its bombardment and capture. However, as it was never wholly cut off from relief, and as its power of re sistance was overoome by an attack lasting but 36 hours, this attack can act be classed as a siege. . The first movement uu Corinth was a farce. Hearing that Beauregard was massing the Confederate forces there, Gen. Halleck,' all aglow with his newly conferred honors as ranking commander, decided on moving on that point as soon or he could gather sufficient troops. This was a time when every federal general was shak ing in hin shoes, with fear of the countless myriads of Confederate sol diers concealed behind every knee high breastworks that had been thrown < up in the South. In response to Hal- i lOcV? clamorous demand upon the i p-^esidrnt fer more men to enable him 1 to move omOerinth, Mr. Lincoln re- i plied irupationbly: "I cast no blame I when I tell you that each of our com- i jnanders from Richmond to Corinth 1 believes "himself to be confronted by c numbers superior to bis own." On < the 22nd of April, having amassed a f feiws of nearly 100,000 men, Halleck I advanced "with the pick and shovel," c piuarng every few days to construct t fortifications along his way to grade J the road, to build bridges, never for- i getting after the conclusion of an f elaborate piece of engineering to tele- t graph to President Lincoln that his t army ''was at the enemy's throat." f It was May 29, when he arrived with- i in eight of Corinth. On the following i day, when he was at last ready to t hart his army at the enemy's throat, x he was surprised to find no enemy i C^ere. For Beauregard, having no < desire to see his forces wiped out by '. aa army that'nearly trebled them in i owtnber, had taken oounsel with "the ( better part of valor" and had with- < drawn uuder cover of the night. The second attack on Corinth was made < by Van Dorn on the federals under i ^Etosccrans. During a fight of nearly ; ^<pro days the Confederates took the i ?ujfo^w?rk of the intrenchmcnt, but I X)RIES. e Civil "War. ii- < 'ommcrcial-Appeal. ' were driven hack with terrible slaugh ter before ii:<; inner line of fortifica ti'ti- Correctly speaking, neith er, ol tin >c attacks can be called a : MCtfC. I --, t I'ulaski, held 1 y the Coufed- I crate.-*, was blockaded by guns on Tybce Island and batteries along the | .Savannah Hiver in the rear, in the Utter part of February, 1Nu at lack was made upon it, however, until April lb, when a demand for its surrender having been refused, 'HI cannon ami mortars opened lire upon it. After a gallant defense of H hous during which the walls of the fort were nearly battered to the ground, it was surrendered. This was a blockade and assault, not a siege. Island No. 10, a strongly fortified islet in the bend of the Mississippi Hiver, below Columbus, was held to I be the key to the navigation of the 1 lower Mississippi, and therefore ltd possession was valued by both armies. Gen. Beaurcgaid was on the island with about 7,001) men. March 15, 1862, Commander Foote, with a fleet of eight gunboats aud ten mortars, began a systematic attack on the forti fications. The bombardment con tinued for several weeks, with no re sult apparently but wasted ammuni tion. During the first week in April Gen. Beauregurd telegraphed to Rich mond that the federal guns had thrown .'?,000 shells and burned 51) tons of gunpowder without damaging our batteries or killing more than one of his men. It was plain that the stronghold could not be reduced by attack on its front solely, wherefore a canal was dug by the federals through the peninsula formed by the bend of the river, thus enabling them to bring a force against the undefended rear of the island. This compelled its surrender April 8. The attack on Island No. )0 was a true siege. The siege of Charleston?part of which was the capture of Fort Wag ner?rnajr bo allowed to retain the name, though, strictly speaking, it was mainly a reduction by blockade. An unsuccessful attack on the i'ortifi catious in April, ISO!}, beg&n the work. Then in the summer came Gen. Gillmoro who, by taking pos session of and fortifying the southern part of Morris Island, by planting batteries not only on all the solid ground within his reach, but also- on the soft surface of the marsh ?(wit ness the famous ''Swamp Angel")?at last reduced the strong fortress of the harbor. Tho famous fortress of Sum tcr was first converted into a "shape less, iiormless mass of rui^o," then all the guns were turned on Fort Wag ner, which, after several thousand tons of scrap iron and shells had been hurled upon it, breaking and toaring its strong sides, was ovaouated by its defenders the night of September G. Taking possession of and repairing the captured forts, Gen. Gillmore began an irregular bombardment of Charles ton itself, which was continued for two months or more, then suspended. The rigorous blockade was sustained, but the city did not fall until the forces of Sherman, IS months later, came upon it from the rear. The siege of Port Hudson, L?., might bo called a part of tho Yicks burg campaign, for it was carried on at the same time and in similar man ner to tho siege of Vicksburg. At this point a line of strong batteries lined the river shore, and were man ned with a garrison of about 7,500 offiocrs and men. On May 27th at tack was made simultaneously by Far ragut with a naval and Banks with a land force. Attempt made at three several times to carry the fortifies .ions by assault only resulted in ter rible loss of life on the part of the )eBiCgers. Port Hudson was not the sent.e of national anxiety and inter est that Vicksburg was during those ateful weeks of May and June, 1863, lut its defense was one of the most tonspicaooB instances of heroism in ho wholo reoord of ( the war. The garrison subsisted on less than half ations for weeks, meanwhile their 'amished nerves were tortured with ho roar of the bombardment day and light, yet they held out with oheer ul fortitude. However, famine was ibout to do what shot and shell conld lot accomplish, and the brave garri ton was almost on the point of sur ender when they heard on the morn ng of July 7th the the enemy's pick its shouting, "Vicksburg is taken!" Fhis occurrence making their further resistance worse tban useless, the ;arrison closed tho bitter siege by lurrender. Vicksburg was, of course, the fceno I g if the great siege of the war, not only ] p n importance, -but in. fact of the ;reat forco brought to subdue it. Tho rule of military scienoe that, in order to render the efforts of a besieged aod of a besieging army equal, the latter hhuubl have four times the force of the former, was fairly fulfilled in this case. Plans for attaek on this city were made a subject of study on the part of the h ading federal generals for months before the siege was begun. Fruitless attempts were made to reach its rear by cutting a caoal and by tailing down the Va/.oo Hiver, both scheme- proving impossible. Finally the only common sense plan occurred to Gen. Grant, and he cross ed the river above the Vicksburg guns arid went down on the Arkansas side below them, came back to the Missis sippi ?h?re and marched northward to t he doo med city. When he massed his army on three i-ies (A Vicksburg, cutting oil from it all supplies and reinforcements, tirant had such imperfect knowledge of the strength of the city s defenses that he fancied they could be readily carried by assault. Nearly his entire force was brought up, therefore, to make the storming attack on May 22, an incident to be remembered with horror, not only because of the useless murder of thousands of brave men, but because for some reason of care lessness never explained, the heroes who perished iu this mad assault lay r.uburied and uncared for from the time they fell, on May 22, uutil li p. in. on May LT), in full view of their iricnds and brothers of the federal army. A private soldier, writing of the occurrence, said: "The dead lay for all th.s time, decaying under a burning sun. Tho stench wan unbear able; the sight was horrible. Tho recking bodies lay all blackened and swollen, and some with arms ex tended as if pleading to heaven for the burial that was denied them by mau." There is no doubt that many help less wounded men'that might have been saved perished through this neg lect. Aud, at the last, it was not their friends that moved first to end the scene of horror. It was tho Con federate Gen. l'omberton, wboscnt a flag of truce to the union lines, ask ing for a truce of two hours and a half to bury the dead and caro for the wounded, if any still lived, offering to do it all himself if necessary. Of course the truce was granted. May LS the siege of Vicksburg be gan, and lusted 47 days. During this time shot aud shell were thrown into the city incessantly, day and uight. It was a terrible experienco for the non-cdinbatauts in the city. Hun dreds of caves were dug for shelter of women aud children; for the steady fire had made of the city's buildings uj-'iu heaps of ruins. Thoro was no , longer the remotest hope that relief could make its way through the fed eral lines. Famine began to press hard upon all. Mines laid by the in vadiug army under tho d?fensive works were exploded, tearing them to ruins. At last Gen. Pembcrton asked for a cessation of hostilities July 3, and on the following day be surrendered. And thus ended what ivas really the greatest siege in the biprary of the American republic. return to the quasi-sieges de soribed in the histories. There was the siege of Lexington, Mo., for in stance, ooourring in September, 1861, which was a succession cf sharp fights I anly. A garrison of some 4,000 fed arals had fortified a hill between Lex ington and tho river, their earthworks covering about 18 acres. Price's army surrounded them Sept. 18 and opened Ire against them. The commander of Lhc small garrison thought that if he jould hold out till the 20th it was possible that reinforcements oould each him. By that day, however, , lis ammunition was exhausted and no tid had come, wherefore he was foned o capitulate. The siege of Yorktown was oven a greater farce than the first battle of Jorinth. A division of the Army of he Potomao encamped April 5, 1862, ?efore Yorktown, Va., which village he Confederates had fortified. The ederuls began the construction of tarallol redoubts beforeHhe Confed rate works. These were the days of .eliberation, when the end of the war ras so near at hand that it was not rorth while to push anything. A oung soldier of this division before 'or k town wrote home that the war rould oertainly be over before fall, nd he wanted to engage the village chool for the winter. At last these oldiers had corduroyed every road nd bridged every oreok, and put all heir guns in position. May 3, 1862, hey fired several shots. That night he Confederates inside the works rithdrew to a more deoided point of antage, aod this was all there was ? the Yorktown siege. The fall of Atlanta was aocomplish d not by siege, but by a series of radual 1 approaches, made. with the rimary purpose of destroying the nemy's railroad communications, herman's ultimate purpose was to ake the oity by cutting it off from onneotion with otaer poires, and this uvposc he aooomplished, though be ad to fight for every step (hat he ained. After he had made a com ic te circuit of the oity, destroying or Utting guards over the railroads, lood's army being cat off from sup-1 lies, was at the invader's meroy. F )n the night of Sept. 1 that army.I juin amsJU&Aijy/LI 11V1'?'. evacuated Atlanta and Sherrys CS the next day took possessioa of the city. Tort Fisher, the lock of the last gate that could afford retreat for the blockade runners (off Wilmington, N. C j was takcu by combined assault from sea and land Junuary 15, 181m. The warships began the bombardment on the 14th and continued it through the following day. The assault of the land forces began at V, p. in. on the 15th, and six hours Inter the assail ants had forced their way through the breaches made by the shot and shell of guns into the fort. A two day siege would be an anomaly, and this capture must therefore be taken from the list above noted. 1'ortB Gaines and Morgan were de fenses in Mobile bay. both of which were taken at the time of the ?rst "Bay Tight." August 5, 1864, was the ?rst day of this fight, during , which Farragut disabled the famous ram Tennessee and literally took pos session of the waters of the bay. August 7 Fort Gaines was taken by a sharp bombardment, and in the same manner Fort Morgan was captured August 2;i. Since Mobile was effect ually blockaded by the federal fleet that held the bay, no attempt wa8 made against the city, which still re tained communication by >land with tho armies of the Confederacy. But in March, 1H65 the Federal land and sea forces moved against it. On the same day, March 27, 1865, FortBlake ly, ten miles r.orth of the city, was invested by Gen. Stcele's forces, and Spanish Fort, seven miles east, was surrounded by Canby's army. The last named of thesj strongholds was taken by assault April 8, the former April 9. The city of Mobile surren dered April 12. The final oper ations against Mobile bay may fairly be ranked with the sieges, tho others cannot. The siege of Petersburg and the so called siege of Richmond were identi cal. The Confederate works at Petersburg were partly invested in July, 1864, and from that time there was a gradual encroachment upon them and a destruction of the defen ses, the much greater army of tho fede rals paying for every step of their ad vance with terrible loss of life. Leo succeeded by superhuman effort in keeping his line of communication with Richmond open, and thus was able to sustain his army through the winter, during which time little was done. But in March fighting began again, the federal army having increas ed its numbers by large bands of fresh recruits. March HO Grant made a general assault along the whole Con federate line with such disastrous re sult that Qen. Lee telegraphed to President Davis to order the ?vacua I tioD of Richmond. Lee Litnself hoped to escape with the bulk of his army to the mountains, but finding his force ?|uitc surrounded, he gave up and ended the long sad drama of war. To recapitulate: We find tb?t of the 17 or more engagements of the Civil war that have been ranked by the histories as sieges, only six can correctly be classed thus, to wit: Is land No. 10, Port Hudson, Vicks burg, Charleston (or Fort Wagtier), the Mobile forts and Peter&burg. All the others aro more accurately placed in the list with battles, reduction by blockade and assaults. The Legond of Tha Two Sacks. An ancient legend describes an old man traveling from place to place with a sack hanging behind his back and another in front of him. In the one behind him ho tossed all the kind deeds of his friends, which were soon quite hidden from view and forgotten. In the one hanging around his neck, under his chin, ho threw all the sins which his acquaintances committed; and these he was in the habit of turn ing over and looking at as he walked along day by day, which necessarily hindered his oourse. One day, to his surprise, he met a man also wearing two sacks. "What have you here?" he asked. "Why, my good deeds," replied number two. "I keep them all before me, and take them out and air them often." "What is in the other big saok? It seems weighty." "Merely my little mistakes. I el ways keep them in the saok hanging over my back. Presently the two travolers were joined by a third, who strange to say, aiso carried two saoks,, one under his chin and one on his back. "Lot us see the contents of your sacks," said the first two travelers. "With all my heart," quoth the stranger, "for I have a goodly assort ment, and I like to show them. This Hack," said he, pointing to the one hanging in front of him, "is full of the good deeds of others." "Your sacks looks heavy; it must be very full," observed the old man. "There you are mistaken," replied the stranger; "they are big, but not heavy. The weight is only such as sails are to a ship. Far from being a burden, it helps me onward." "Well, youx saok behind can be of little use to you," said number two, "for it appears to be empty. And I see it has a great hole in the bottom of it." 1 "I did that on purpose," said the stranger, "for all the evil I hear of people I put in there, and it falls through and is lost. So, you see, I have no weight to drag me baok wards." i Population of the World. An interesting piece of information has just been issued by the census bu reau relative to the theory that the world is fast becoming so crowded that at no distant date stauding room will bo at a premium, and difficulty will be felt iu feeding the increasing multitudes. A close scrutiny of tho conditions existing in all parts of the world has J shown that in no country?not even I in Belgium?has the maximum of pop I ulation been reached beyond which it (would be difficult to make the soil sup port the people. It is estimated that China can eas ily support three times the number of people now occupying that territory; that the capacity of British India has by no means been reached, and that every country of Europe is capable of sustaining more than twice the amount of people now crowded into what appears to be comparatively limited areas. As for the capacity of the United States and Russia, they are estimated to have hardly been touched, and-, while it is believed that the next con I tury or two will show a great increase both in European and Asiatic Russia, I it is believed that the greatest field I for development lies through the United States and in northwestern Canada. I To give an idea as to how scattered is the population of the world, it has been shown that all the people now living in the world could be easily packed upon the Isle of Wight, a tiny speck of land off the coast of Great Britain, so small compared with other countries that it is hardly diaoernable upon the map. The total population of the world is now estimated at 1,500 millions. Al lowing two square feet for each, all could be crowded into a space of 67, 000 acres. The area of the Isle of Wight is 04,341 acres, and it will, therefore, he seen that the entire population of the earth could be gath ered there and much vacant space be left aside. Such comparisons are, of course, made only for drawing illustration, but to Americans, who have been un able to understand how Great Baitain or Japan could sustain their' com paratively dense populations with out actual crowding, it affords a somewhat striking proof of the as yet still untouched resources of the world. The population of the United States is now estimated at somewhere be tween eighty and ninety millions. It is calculated that this country oan easily support a population of 1,000 millions, and even ther. the population will Dot be a6 deuse as it is in certain portions of China in the valley of the , Ganges or in the countries surround ing Antwerp in Belgium. The French republic has a popula tion of something like thirty-five mil lions. Its acreage is not one-half ! that of Texas, and little larger than I the State of Illinois. Japan, with an j acreage but little larger than that of the State of Kentucky, supports a ! population of forty millions against 1 something over two millions in our ! State. j .Many cities in Europe with a sup porting country not comparable to that around Louisville have popula ! tions ranging from half ? million up ward, while in. China there arc oitios I of over a million closer together than I Louisville and Lexington. It is true that in'such countries as France and Belgium and in the fer tile districts of China and India, every foot of available ground is under con stant cultivation, while in Kentucky and elsewhere throughout thp United States it is not an unaccustomed sight to sec two-thirds of the arable ground idle. It is plain, however, that while even at the present time the United States is the greatest power in the world it is only in its infanoy as far as popu lation is concerned. How strong will be the relative position of this coun try to the rest of the world when the United States is populated as densely as are portions of Europe it is impossible to estimate.?Louis ville Post. Hannibal Hamlin's Client. Hannibal Hamlin, for many years ? United States senator from Maino, and vice president during the Civil war, was wont to tell the following story on himself, says the Boston Herald: An Englishman by the nftmo of Pear son while passing along the main street in Bangor stepped in a hole in the sidewalk, and falling, broke his leg. He brought suit against the city for $1,000 and engagad Hamlin for counsel. Hamlin won his case, but the city appealed to the Supreme Court. Here, also, the decision was for Ham lin's client. After settling up the claim, Ham lin sent for his client and handed hint $1. "What's this?" asked the English man. * "That's yonr damages, after taking out my fee. the cost of appeal, and ' several other expenses," said Hamlin. The Englishman looked at the dol lar, and then at Hamlin. "What's the matter with this?" he said, "is it bad?" I Do IC; 11