Battle of Kenesaw Mountain

HARPER'S WEEKLY.

JULY 16 1864.]

(Previous Page) the Copperheads, will be content, because they will hope to prostitute the character of the North to a new Union upon terms dictated by slavery. The foreign enemies of the Union will be content ; for they have hated to see a republic which might one day completely vindicate the great truth of equal human rights as the only secure foundation of government. But there can be no real advantage gained by any of these. Davis will have founded a kingdom which civilization will abhor. WOOD will share the fate, a thousand-fold more terrible, of BENEDICT ARNOLD and AARON BURR; while the foreign powers will soon be in worse straits from their quarrels over our remains than they would ever have been from our united policy of peace. The Government of the United States will be overthrown ; there will be universal anarchy upon its late domain ; there will be a universal hopelessness of any new Union upon any honorable terms ; each State, a prey to passionate party-spirit, will fall into civil war, and those who so triumphantly assert that " We can't subdue the rebels," will learn what it is to, be a citizen of a ration utterly shattered, degraded, and despised.

The alternative, as we have already said, is very clear. Either the people must conquer, or the rebellion will. Either the authority of the Government must be maintained unconditionally, or it must be overthrown ; for a Government which allows citizens to dictate the terms upon which they will obey the laws has ceased to be a Government. The talk about negotiation and settlement is idle, and unworthy sensible men. The moment that we tolerate the thought of negotiation we begin to yield the Government. Mr. WOOD and his followers insist that the war must end in compromise, because they know that compromise is the victory of the rebellion, and they wish the rebellion to succeed. For when they insist that the war is wicked and ought to stop, and propose to send commissioners to Richmond to arrange terms " honorable to the South," they propose the destruction of the Government, which is the success of the rebellion.

When such men say, " We can't subdue the rebels," their meaning is as clear as their patriotism. But when the same phrase is used merely in despondency by those who sincerely wish the national honor to be maintained, they should be asked to remember what the prospects of the war were one year ago, and what they are now. Gold is higher, but so is the spirit of the people. The army that drove LEE from Gettysburg now threatens both his supplies and his escape from his own capital. Gold may go still higher, but so will the national determination, and there is no reason to apprehend disaster until there is a cry from the cowed and breaking heart of the American people, " We can't subdue the rebels!" When that cry is heard the rebels may subdue us, and welcome, for there will be nothing left worth fighting for.

HOME FOR THE SOLDIERS.

MR. BENJAMIN FITCH, of Darien in Fairfield County, Connecticut, has done what many a patriotic man in many a town and village throughout the country will doubtless do before this war is over. He has given five thousand dollars, with a tract of land and a building for the founding of a Soldier's Home. The special object of the charity is the support of Connecticut soldiers, and primarily those of the district in which the home is situated. Here is a simple, humane, and patriotic charity which serves no selfish or merely personal end, and is worthy of the widest and most general imitation. The soldiers of this war are henceforth heroes. They will be held in the most kindly and generous remembrance. But gratitude alone will not feed them ; and while the Government will take care that the republic shall not even seem to be ungrateful, the claim upon private bounty and assistance will be necessarily large and emphatic. No man can link his name with a nobler benefit to his fellow-citizens ; and the soldiers' home, the retreat of the disabled men who have given all for the common welfare, may well become one of the proudest and most interesting institutions of our counties and cities.

NEW BOOKS.

THE fourth volume of CARLYLE'S "History of Frederick the Great" is just issued by the HARPERS, and is a wonderful monument of the genius of the author. CARLYLE has set himself an impossible task, and he does it with an incredible power of wit, picturesque narration, sarcasm, and indignation. Out of a century which he denounces as barren' of all good things, and almost destitute of great men, he selects Frederick of Prussia as the great man and a true king. The truth is against him upon both points ; but he gives battle with the pluck of a Titan storming heaven, and his work is as brilliant as Vulcan's hammering iron at his forge. But let him hammer never so strenuously, and in the corruscation of his blows beat his iron to a jelly, yet he can never transform it into velvet. Even THOMAS CARLYLE can not make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. He is clearly conscious of this as he goes on. He has too shrewd an insight not to know that the case has already gone against him. His hero is too much of a charlatan, with all his genius as a soldier—he is too poor a specimen of a king by divine right, and there is no other, crowned or uncrowned, for CARLYLE not to know that, while his work is more prodigious than any he has

ever written, it fails of its intention. Not a heart-beat of love or sympathy, not a throb of admiration as for a benefactor of men, not an emotion of gratitude as to one who uses every opportunity and talent for the best, does this elaborate, magnificent, and truly wonderful portrait, inspire. Yet as a literary performance it is masterly. Characters and events are touched with living light. Even poor old General BRADDOCK reappears upon these pages with pathetic and unfading distinctness. VOLTAIRE is crucified with ridicule in revenge for making the great Frederick seem little to posterity. The book is Carlyle the Great and his protege Frederick against the world. It is a work of exhaustless and irritating attraction, and this volume is of especial interest at this time from its masterly battle-pieces.

The "History of the Rebellion, its Authors and Causes, "by JOSHUA R. GIDDINGS (FOLLETT, FOSTER, & Co.), is a most important contribution to our history. It is properly the political annals of Slavery, from the formation of the Government to the proclamation of emancipation, by a man whose life was passed in the great debate. It is a relation of facts without much amplification, and is compiled from all the authentic sources and from the memory and experience of the annalist. It is not a complete history of the subject in all its aspects ; but all the substantial facts are recorded. The profound conviction and earnestness of Mr. GIDDINGS, joined with the moral heroism which marked his career, invest his story with living interest. He is often very felicitous in brief portraiture, as when he calls Mr. BENTON "an able, earnest man, industrious in his habits, and determined in his purposes. He was, however, distinguished for a degree of self-complacency seldom connected with great moral worth, and in his prejudices he was inexorable." What Mr. GIDDINGS says of the conduct of the long debate by the supporters of Slavery will unquestionably be the final verdict of history upon the point. " This resort to declamation, to the use of epithets, and denunciation against the advocates of liberty, constituted the only supposed justification of Slavery. This practice among statesmen exerted great influence upon the popular mind. It created a general hostility toward all who dared reiterate the undying truths that slaves, in common with the human family, have and hold from the Creator a right to life and liberty." The tone of this work is as temperate as it is decided. The cardinal point of Mr. GIDDINGS'S political creed was the equality of human rights. He believed that it was also the true and intended corner-stone of the Union ; and he died in the faith that the stone so long rejected was about to become, and forever, the head of the corner.

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.

CONGRESS. SENATE—June 29. Mr. Hale's resolution instructing the Committee on the Conduct of the War to what progress has been made in the construction of gun-boats contracted for in 1862 was adopted. There was considerable debate on the policy of printing the documents which had been transmitted from the State Department relative to Mexico. The question was referred to the Committee on Printing. By a vote of 27 to 6 it was resolved that the Senators from Arkansas were not entitled to seats. The amendment to the Pension Act extending to the wives and children of colored soldiers the benefits of this bill, without farther proof than the fact that the parties have lived together for two years, was adopted. The Tariff bill was then passed. A resolution was adopted requesting the President to appoint a day for humiliation and prayer. In the evening session the bill relating to the law of evidence in the District of Columbia was passed. The Enrollment bill then came up. The amendment of the Committee excluding the substitute from bounty was adopted. The period allowed after the call for filling up the quota without draft was reduced from 60 to 40 days. A new section was introduced imposing a special tax of five per cent. on all incomes exceeding $600 for the purpose of paying the bounties provided for in the Enrollment Act.---June 30. The bill to facilitate telegraphic communication between the Eastern and Western continents was received from the House and concurred in. A committee was appointed on the bill to encourage immigration, consisting of Messrs. Sherman, Anthony, and Lane. The Senate disagreed to the amendment to the Pension Act passed by the House on the 29th. The bill for the more effectual punishment of guerrillas was passed.----July 1. The amendment to the Pennsylvania Militia bill, providing for the payment of the officers and men of the Rhode Island, Illinois, and Kansas regiments for their time actually in the service before they were mustered in, was adopted. The joint resolution to repeal the act prohibiting the sale of gold and foreign exchange was passed, 24 to 13. The report of the Committee on the Fortification bill was concurred in. $37,500 were appropriated for a sea-wall at Buffalo. The Boston harbor appropriation was excluded.---July 2. Mr. Sumner made a report from the Conference Committee on the disagreeing amendments to the bill to provide for the more speedy punishment of guerrilla marauders, which was concurred in. Mr. Wilson, from the Conference Committee on the bill further to regulate and provide .'or enrolling and calling out the national forces, made a report that the Committee agreed essentially to the House bill. The bounty is made $100 for one year, $200 for two years, and $300 for three years, instead of $200 for one year, $300 for two years, and $400 for three years ; and the bounty is made payable in three yearly equal installments. Full bounty is not allowed to discharged soldiers. in case of death the bounty is made payable to the children, wife, or mother, but not to the legal representative. Notice of fifty days is required to be given ,before a draft is ordered. The report was at first disagreed to, 18 to 16, and the Senate, by a vote of 28 to 8, resolved to insist on its amendments, and ask for another Conference Committee. This vote was reconsidered, and the bill as modified by the House was passed by a vote of 27 to 8. In the evening session the bill making an appropriation for testing submarine inventions was passed.---July 4. The House bill assessing a special tax on incomes, to provide for the payment of bounties, was passed, 29 to 7. The House bill for the relief of the publishers of the Globe was passed, 27 to 8. At 12 1/2 o'clock the Senate adjourned.   

HOUSE.—June 29. The House concurred in the Senate amendments to the bill regulating prize proceedings and; distribution of prize-money.—The bill to organize and regulate the Engineer corps in the regular and volunteer army was passed.--The Tariff bill was then passed in the same form as in the Senate.—The House agreed to the amendment of the Senate to the bill to extend the contract for carrying the Overland Pacific mail.--June 30. The House concurred in the Senate's amendment to the bill assimilating the rank of warrant officers in the navy.--The Senate bill to facilitate trade on the Red River at the North was passed.—Mr. Garfield, of Ohio, made a report from the Select Committee heretofore appointed, on motion of Mr. Brooks, to investigate the affairs of the Treasury Department, which was ordered to be painted, and the minority of the Committee were given leave to present their views. —The amendatory Enrollment bill was returned from the Senate with amendments.—On motion of Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, the following resolution was

adopted: Resolved, That, in the opinion of this House, the amendment assessing a special tax on incomes to pay bounties contravenes the clause in the Constitution of the United States relative to originating means for the support of the Government, and an infringement on the prerogative of this House, and that the bill be returned to the Senate with this resolution.--July 1.—The Senate bill providing for the satisfaction of County claims was passed. —The Senate joint resolution requesting the President to appoint a day of fasting and prayer was adopted.—The Senate bill to facilitate telegraphic communication with Idaho was passed.—The bill amendatory to the Enrollment act was taken up. An amendment that one State shall not be authorized to recruit in another was lost, 63 to 65. Mr. Garfield's amendment authorizing recruiting and voluntary enlistments from rebel States was adopted, 58 to 53. The Senate substitute thus amended was disagreed to, and a Committee of Conference was ordered to be appointed.—The Senate bill to repeal the act prohibiting the sale of gold and foreign exchange was passed, 88 to 29.—In the evening session Mr. Stevens's report from the Committee of Conference on the Civil appropriation bill was concurred in ; also, the Senate bill from the Committee of Ways and Means appropriating $300,000 for the erection of buildings for branch mints at San Francisco; and the report of the Committee of Conference on the Northern Route Pacific Railroad bill end on the Central Pacific Railroad bill.—July 2. The Senate bill providing for the collection and sale of captured and abandoned property in the insurrectionary districts, and for preventing and punishing frauds, was passed; also, the Senate bill authorizing Paymaster Brinton to he credited with $2,600,000, that being the amount destroyed by the burning of the steamer Ruth.—The House bill providing for a Republican Government for States usurped or overthrown by rebellion, was taken up as returned from the Senate with merely one section, providing that States declared by the Proclamation of the President to be in insurrection, shall, until their return to their allegiance to the United States, be incapable of casting a Presidential vote or representation in Congress. The House did not concur, but ordered a Committee of Conference.—The report of the Committee of Conference on the bill for the summary punishment of guerrillas was concurred in.--In the evening session a message was received from the Senate stating that they had passed the House bill, without amendment, providing for a republican form of government in the States over thrown by the rebellion.--The report from the Committee of Conference on the Enrollment bill was concurred in. ---July 4. A resolution was passed banking our officers, soldiers, and seamen for their services in suppressing the rebellion, and congratulating them on their successes. Mr. Washburne, in offering the resolution, said that the rebels in this campaign had lost 60,000 in killed and wounded and 16,000 prisoners The House passed the Senate bill to test submarine inventions.—At 12 1/2 o'clock the House adjourned, after the reading of the Declaration of Independence.

SECRETARY CHASE'S RESIGNATION.

Perhaps the most important item of domestic intelligence this week is the change which has taken place in the Treasury Department. The resignation of Secretary Chase took the public by surprise. The President nominated Ex-Governor Tod, of Ohio, to fill the place thus vacated; but the appointment not being accepted by Governor Tod, William Pitt Fessenden was appointed, and has accepted. The new Secretary was sworn into office on July 5, Mr. Chase being present at the ceremony.

GENERAL GRANT'S CAMPAIGN.

Up to the close of this week's record there has been no important engagement. General Hancock resumed the command of his corps on the 28th ult. The Federal left had swung around the previous day, taking possession of the Weldon Road. The raids by which the enemy's lines of communication have been broken up in every direction have, most of them, assumed it form in which they may be presented to our readers in detail.

Kautz started from Bermuda Hundred on the 21st ult., and at Prince George Court House came up with Wilson. The next morning simultaneously with the movement of the Second and Sixth Corps toward the left—the two commands crossed the Weldon Road at Reams Station, eleven miles from our extreme left. No enemy appeared ; the depot and the public buildings were burned and the track torn up for several miles in each direction. The track was laid with a strap-rail. On the afternoon of the 23d a force reached the junction of the Lynchburg and Danville Road. The rebel infantry stationed to guard this place fled at the approach of the Federals, who destroyed the road and large quantities of stores. At Price's, Meherrin's, and Keeseville Stations the road was destroyed; and on the 25th the column moved through Drakes, and thence to Roanoke Station, on the Staunton River. It was intended to destroy the bridge over this river, but it was protected by artillery; and the Federals, exhausted both by marching and hunger, returned to Roanoke. Wilson and Kautz then moved east and struck the Weldon Road again at a point twelve miles below Reams, toward which they proceeded, expecting to find there reinforcement. On Tuesday, the 28th, when within about three miles of Reams, they were surrounded by rebel cavalry, under Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee; an engagement followed. Nearly all day the Federal force withstood the enemy, but at dusk were compelled to fall back. Information of the situation soon reached the main army, and the next day the Sixth Corps, followed by a division of the Second, proceeded to Reams Station to create a diversion. Kautz, from his knowledge of the country, was able to reach our lines on the 30th, retreating by way of Stony Grove. Wilson went around by a more circuitous route, striking the Weldon Road twenty-five miles south of Reams Station, and crossing the Blackwater, and returned on Friday night, July 1. In regard to the results of this expedition, General Grant's dispatch says :

"Sixty miles of railroads were thoroughly destroyed. The DanviIle Road, General Wilson reports, could not be repaired in less than forty days, even if all the materials were on hand. He has destroyed all the blacksmith- hops where the rails might be straightened, and all the mills where scantlings for sleepers could be sawed. Thirty miles of the South Side Road were destroyed. Wilson brought in about four hundred negroes, and many of the vast number of horses and mules gathered by his force. He reports that the rebels slaughtered without mercy the negroes they retook. Wilson's loss of property is a small wagon train, used to carry ammunition, his ambulance train, and twelve cannon. The horses of our artillery and wagons were generally brought off. Of the cannon, two were removed from their carriages, the wheels of which were broken, and thrown into the water, and one other gun had been disabled by a rebel shot breaking its trunnions before it was abandoned. He estimates his total loss at from 750 to 1000 men, including those lost from Kautz's division."

Hunter's expedition against Lynchburg has also been concluded. On Friday, June 10, Crook and Sullivan—the latter having the old Sigel division—both commands being under Hunter, marched out from Staunton toward Lexington. A rebel force—M`Cansland's brigade—was met and dislodged in front of the town. The bridge across the James was destroyed, and the town having been captured the Institute buildings were burned, also Governor Letcher's house. Captain Blazer, with a company of scouts, found some canal-boats nine miles from the town, which he burned. In them were six cannon—two 6-pounders, one 12-pounder, and three mountain-howitzers—9000 rounds of artillery ammunition, a ton and a half of powder, and commissary stores in great variety and abundance. General Duffle, in the mean time having marched through Waynesborough and destroyed a portion of the Charlottesville and Lynchburg Road, joined the main column on Monday, June 13. The next day Hunter's force effected a junction with Averill's at Buchanan. Here the cutter had captured the Confederate navy records for 1861-1862, with twelve more canal-boats laden with provisions. On the 16th Hunter entered Liberty, on the Virginia and East Tennessee Railroad, about 20 miles west of Lynchburg, having passed through a gap in the Blue Ridge at the Peaks of Otter. Here the whole command halted, and engaged in the demolition of the rail-road in both directions, including a bridge 700 feet long. Averill, in the mean while, had marched to New London, a short distance southwest from Lynchburg, where he confronted a large rebel force. Immediately the main column pressed forward by a road north of the railroad, crossing

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the latter at James Church, and, threatening the rear of the enemy, compelled him to fall back on Lynchburg.

At 4 o'clock an attack was made, and the rebels retreated to their breast-works. During the night the enemy was strongly reinforced. On Saturday, the 18th, the rebels attacked, but were repulsed and driven by the Federals into and beyond their breast-works. Finding the enemy's position too strong, Hunter withdrew during the night of the 18th, General Crook bringing up the rear. They were followed by the rebels under M'Causland. The line of retreat was along the railroad 'westward to Salem, and thence north on the road over Catawba Mountain to Newcastle. On the 23d at Sweet Springs, at White Sulphur on the 24th, and Meadow Bluffs on the 25th. Hunter's command, finally, on the 27th, met a train with wagons containing abundant rations, and rested from its sixteen days' fatigue.

GENERAL EARLY'S RAID.

General Early, who was sent against Hunter in the Shenandoah, not being able to compel an engagement, marched northward in the direction of Martinsburg, threatening a raid across the Potomac. General Sigel fell back forthwith from Sheppardstown to Maryland heights. Rebel forces have been reported at Williamsport, Falling Waters, Hagerstown, and other places, but the only forces which at the latest advises were known to have crossed the Potomac are about 2500 cavalry under General Ransom and 5000 infantry under Early. Its object is, doubtless, to divert Grant's army from its purpose, or at least to prevent reinforcements being sent to that army. The President, however, in his proclamation of July 5, calling out 12,000 militia from New York and the same number from Pennsylvania, speaks of the rebel force as from 15,000 to 20,000 strong, and as having taken Martinsburg and Harper's Ferry.

GENERAL SHERMAN'S CAMPAIGN.

For a month (i.e., during the whole of June) Sherman has been operating against Johnston, with a view of turning his strong position on the Kenesaw, without abandoning his own line of communication, and has at length succeeded. He might have earlier compelled the evacuation of Marietta (two or three miles from Kenesaw) by an extensive flank movement, but this would have tempted the enemy to destroy the railroad. When our forces reached Ackworth, June 6, they still kept the line of the railroad to Atlanta (the Western and Atlantic Railroad), leaving Altoona some miles in the rear. On the 11th Sherman reached Big Shanty Station, having Kenesaw in front and on his right. Here there was a delay of four days. On the 15th Sherman's line ran as follows: Hooker on the left, then Howard and Palmer, while M'Pherson held the centre, and Schofield the right. There was skirmishing all day; in one of the early engagements Polk was killed on the top of Pine Mountain. At night our lines ran parallel with and south of the Marietta Road, the rebels being intrenched along the line of the Kenesaw, Pilot Knob, and Lost Mountain.

On the lath a heavy cannonade opened all along the line, and before noon both armies were engaged. The country was most unfavorable to a force acting offensively; not more than a single division could at any one time be brought to bear at any given point. About one o'clock Hooker had gained some advantage, driving the enemy from a good position at the base of Lost Mountain. Then Schofield was thrown around from the right to the left, giving Hooker, Howard, and Palmer the centre a portion of M'Pherson's Corps was also transferred to the left. A severe fight followed. The centre was pushed forward, Geary in the advance; Logan's Division and Schofield's Corps became warmly engaged, and the rebels were driven from their first line of works, at the base of the Kenesaw; Hooker, in the mean time, carrying Lost Mountain, capturing two guns and 700 prisoners. The nature of the country prevented Sherman from following up the advantage with sufficient rapidity. Hence another delay of nearly a fortnight. On the 27th the line from left to right was: Blair, Dodge, Logan, Hooker, Palmer, Howard, and Schofield—Stoneman's cavalry covering the left and Ganard's the right flank. On the 27th an unsuccessful assault was made on the positions of the rebels at Kenesaw Mountain.

On July 3 Sherman sent the following dispatch: The movement on our right caused the enemy to evacuate. We occupied Kenesaw at daylight, and Marietta at 8:30 A.M. Thomas is moving down the main road, toward the Chattahoochie, and M'Pherson toward the mouth of the Nickajack, on the Sandtown road. Our cavalry is on the extreme flanks, Whether the enemy will halt this side of the Chattahoochie or not will soon be known. Marietta is almost entirely abandoned by its inhabitants. More than a mile of the railroad iron has been removed between the town and the foot of the Kenesaw."

FROM THE SOUTHWEST.

General Steele, hearing of a movement by the rebel General Shelby near the mouth of the White River, sent forward a brigade under General Carr, which confronted the enemy on the 27th, between Sheldon and St. Charles, and a fight ensued, resulting in the capture of 200 prisoners, and of the guns of the recently captured Queen City, and four mountain-howitzers. Rebel reinforcements approaching, under Marmaduke, Carr fell back to Clarendon, 20 miles below Duvall's Bluff, where he received reinforcements.

General Canby's forces in Louisiana, it is confidently reported, have embarked on an important expedition— probably for a movement against Mobile, in cooperation with Admiral Farragut's fleet. It was thought also that the iron-clads on the Mississippi would join in the undertaking.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The following are the names of Union officers now in Charleston under the range of the Federal guns: Brigadier-Generals Seymour, Wessels, Scammon, Shaler, Hickman; Colonels T. G. Grover, R. Hawkins, R. Harrismon, J. H. Lehman, O. H. Legrange, W. J. Lee, R. White, H. C. Bolinger, H. L. Brown, E. L. Dana, E. Fardell; Lieutenant-Colonels E. S. Hays, N. B. Hunter, F. N. Higginbotham, G. C. Joslin, W. E. M'Makin, D. Miller, W. C. Maxwell, J. D. Mayhen, S. Morfitt, E. Alcott, J. Potsley, G. F. Rogers, J. H. Burnham, C. B. Baldwin, W. G. Bartholimer, W. R. Cook, C. J. Dickerson, J. T. Fellins, G. A. Fairbanks, W. Glenn, T. B. Shafforcl, W. W. Stewart, F. W. Swift, A. W. Taylor, W. P. Lascelle; Majors C. H. Bures, W. F. Baker, E. W. Bates, J. E. Clarke, D. A. Carpenter, W. Crandall, H. D. Crank, J. Hall, J. N. Johnson.

In retaliation the rebel generals Gardner, Stuart, Johnson, Archer, and another general whose name is not given, together with forty colonels have been sent to General Foster, to be kept under fire of the rebel batteries until the Federal officers above named shall have been relieved.

The United States gun-boat Lavender was wrecked on Cape Lookout shoals, June 11.

On the 4th June the steamer Lynx, Captain Ried, arrived at Bermuda with 621 bales of cotton.

On the 7th, the steamer Index, Captain Marshall, arrived, with 803 bales of cotton and 208 boxes tobacco. On the 8th, the steamer Atalanta, Captain Howe, arrived, with 536 hales of cotton, 155 half tierces and 527 boxes tobacco.

FOREIGN NEWS.

EUROPE.

THE Conference held a long session, June 18th, without any result looking toward peace. Indeed the Dano-German question assumes a more threatening aspect than at any previous period. Hostilities were to be resumed on the 27th. Earl Russell in the House of Lords, and Lord Palmerston in the House of Commons each distinctly stated on the 26th, that the British fleet was prepared for any service which, may be required of it. The Conference would meet for the last time on the 25th and then dissolve; if before that Austria had not concluded to accept England's proposition, made on the 18th, viz., to refer the whole question to the arbitration of neutrals, it is quite probable that England may offer material aid to the Danes.

MEXICO.

Maximilian and his party have arrived in the Capital. Santa Anna was preparing to assume his new position as the first Grand Marshal of the empire.