General Seymour

MARCH 12, 1864.]

HARPER'S WEEKLY.

173

GENERAL TRUMAN SEYMOUR.

THE WAR IN FLORIDA.

WE publish on the preceding page three sketches illustrating the late movements of General SEYMOUR'S forces previous to the great battle on the 20th of February. The town of Sanderson was occupied by our advanced force. The main infantry force was in the vicinity of Barber's House. The artist who sends us these sends also a third sketch, giving the scene of the conflict on the 11th, at the bridge over Big Creek, near St. Mary's River. This bridge was carried by Colonel HENRY, assisted by Major STEVENS, with a loss of one man killed, three mortally and twelve severely wounded.

ESCAPING UNION OFFICERS
SUCCORED BY SLAVES.

THE sketch on page 164 represents a party of the Union officers who lately escaped from Libey prison, under the guidance and protection of negroes living in the environs of Richmond. They are conducted by one of these poor slaves to his cabin for temporary safety and provision against cold and hunger. The attitude of the negroes assembled in the cabin, the apprehension shown on the faces of the prisoners who in every sound hear the tramp of Confederate cavalry, and the anxious but determined look of their guide tell the story better than could any verbal description. We are tempted, however, to say one word in favor of these poor negroes. Both in the South and the North they are helping us—helping our soldiers that escape from rebel prisons, and going from our midst to help them fight our battles for us. Hunted to death by the mobs in our cities, they retaliate by joining our armies, and they do their duty on the battle-field. In the late reverse at Olustee the First North Carolina and the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts—both negro regiments—stood their ground with unflinching bravery and perfect coolness. "The Fifty-fourth," says the Herald's correspondent, "sustained the reputation they had gained at Wagner, and bore themselves like soldiers throughout the battle."

GENERAL SHERMAN.

WE give on page 161 a portrait of GENERAL SHERMAN, whose late advance from Vicksburg toward Montgomery has been one of the best executed and most important movements of the war.

WILLIAM T. SHERMAN was born in Ohio in 1818. He graduated at West Point in 1840, in the same class with General Thomas, and was promoted to the First Lieutenancy in 1841. He served in California during the Mexican War, and was brevetted Captain for meritorious conduct. At the commencement of hostilities with the South he offered his services to the Government, and was appointed Colonel of the Thirteenth infantry, which regiment he commanded in Bull Run. Afterward appointed a Brigadier-General, he succeeded General Anderson in command of the Department of the Ohio. He was removed because he said that 200,000 men would be needed to fight the rebels successfully in Kentucky. This statement—afterward found to be true—was at that time suggestive of insanity. At the battle of Shiloh he took so prominent a part that Halleck reported to the War Department that the

final success of that battle was mainly due to him. Having been promoted to a Major-Generalship he was placed in command of the Fifth Division of General Grant's army, and took an important part in the siege of Vicksburg. The movement in which he is now engaged, taken in connection with the approach of Farragut's fleet, was at first supposed to be directed against Mobile; but this was probably no more than a feint to cover a more important aim in connection with movements from Chattanooga. Selma, where Sherman was stationed at last accounts, is on the Alabama River midway between Mobile and Dalton.

GENERAL SEYMOUR.

WE give on this page a portrait of GENERAL TRUMAN SEYMOUR, commanding the Florida expedition. He is a native of Vermont, and was appointed to the First Artillery from that State, July 1, 1846. He

served through the Mexican War, and was made Captain by brevet. He was one of the officers of the garrison under Major Anderson's command at Fort Sumter, and has been engaged from that time in the work of suppressing the rebellion. His expedition to Florida was a perfect success up to the time of the occupation of Lake City. But the movement was of so much importance that the enemy concentrated a large force of 15,000 men at Olustee, on the Jacksonville and Tallahassee Railroad, and upon the advance of our forces against that point, with a greatly inferior force, General Seymour was compelled to retire with considerable loss.

WRECK OF THE "BOHEMIAN."

IN our news column last week we gave an account of the wreck of the steamer Bohemian off Cape Elizabeth, near Portland, Maine. We give below, this week, a sketch representing the wreck as it

appeared on Tuesday morning—the next after the vessel sunk. The steamer lies about a quarter of a mile from shore, in Staple's Cove, where she sunk in four fathoms of water, on a sandy, pebbly bottom, with her bow off shore and two anchors out. The greater portion of the hurricane-deck and officers' quarters have broken up, but the main-deck and hull remain firm. As the baggage was stowed on the upper-deck and under the bridge, it was all washed overboard, and will undoubtedly be a total loss. The sea has swept every thing clear from that quarter.

Captain Borland, we learn, reports that he was entirely misled by the hazy state of the atmosphere, and supposed that he was some four miles further off than he proved to be. He also says that he was steaming but one and a half knots per hour at the time, as he was anxiously looking for a pilot, and had been throwing rockets and burning blue-lights for half an hour.

None of the officers were lost, but the loss of passengers is now reported at twenty-six; besides five of the crew, thirteen more than was at first supposed. Fifty-four mail-bags have been recovered, leaving but one to be accounted for.

A WISH.

DREARY are the nights in winter,

When the north winds blow,

Shouting, shaking at the casement,

With a mighty woe—

Panting, sobbing through the darkness

Like a child that grieves;

Moaning at the doorway—creeping

Low, about the eaves.

But to-night the snow is lying

In a still moonlight

O my Love—whom Death has hidden,

Visit me to-night!

Can you hear me through the raptures

Of the shining fields?

Where the waste of rose and lily,

Breath of Eden yields;

Where you walk with troops of spirits

Purged from earthly tears—

Can you hear? For one short vision

I would linger years.

Come, my Love! the snow is shining;

You may walk in white,

As upon the floor of heaven,

If you come to-night

Not a print of mortal treading—

It is chastely meet—

You may walk, nor fear the soiling

Of your gentle feet.

Come! the dawn will shine upon it,

The great face of day—

Like a dream—in tears and silence,

It will melt away.

WRECK OF THE "BOHEMIAN" AS SEEN THE MORNING AFTER SHE SUNK.