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Show FIRST ENGAGEMENT OF CIVIL WAR WAS ON WAY 24, 1861 i TIIH war proper may bo said to havo opened on the twenty-fourth twenty-fourth of Alay, 1801. Tho engagement en-gagement was at Itethel Church, where (Jen. 11. F. Butler was In command, nnd In western Vlrglnlu, Gen. Qoorgo It, McClellan began to bo u conspicuous figure. In tho latter part of May General Morris won nn engagement nt l'hlllppl, and on tho eleventh of July General McClellnn gained u victory nt ltlch mountain. On the tenth of August, Genernl Itose-crniiH Itose-crniiH drove out a detachment of the enemy nt Carnlfnr Ferry. On tho eleventh of June, Col., Lewis Wallace made n successful onset nt Itomncy, Thee, and other minor engagements occurred up to the sixteenth of July, when began tho first battle of Hull Hun. On that day tho Federal army mnvarf forward and an lmportnnt engagement en-gagement took place between Center-vtllu Center-vtllu and null Hun. They pressed forward for-ward and on the twenty-first day of July found the enemy strongly posted between Dull Hun and Manassas Junction. Junc-tion. General McDowell, successful ut first, wuh driven back by tho re-enforcements. Missouri now became n battlefield for the contending armies. Captain Nathaniel Lyon acted promptly at Camp Jackson, near St. Louts, and saved tho arms nnd stores. Lntcr, General Ljon gained u decided advantage ad-vantage at Hooucvtllo nnd on the fifth of July the Federal, troops under, Col. Franz Slgel were again successful at Carthago. On the tenth of August the hardest battle fought thus far In the West occurred nt Wilson's creek, whtrc General Lyon was killed. Gen. John C. Fremont followed tho enemy us fur as Springfield, HU and was there superseded by Genernl 'Hunter. The enemy led u strong detachment Into the stntc of Kentucky nnd captured cap-tured the town of Columbus,' whero they planted butterlcH so as to, com-mnnd com-mnnd the Mississippi nnd tho Ml&iouri. In order to dislodge them. Coll Ulysses S. Grunt wns sent with n brgnd& of three thousand Illinois troops, by way of Cairo Into Missouri, where ho mndo n Mgnrous nnd successful attack at Ilelmont. Thus closed military operations opera-tions In the Wert for 18(U. General Scott was unable to bear longer the burden resting upon him and Gen. Gvorgo 11. Mc'cllan was brought from West Virginia to tnko command of the Army of the Potomac. Ah an organiser and disciplinarian tho .MintiK cominnndrr had no mperlor. From the first It wr.s feen by the Tod-erstt Tod-erstt government that the commnnd of the sencoost was nn ronctitlnl of success suc-cess nnd n Hom hlncktido wns placed upon all Southern ports. At tho beginnlns of 1802 Uio Federal foices nmnlered about -150.000 men. Genernl McClellnn, commanding HOO,-000, HOO,-000, and General Buell, who commanded command-ed nnotlier army at LuUvllK Ky., began be-gan tlx first of tlv colossal military movements. |
