militia and the other of the enrolled Missouri militia, exerted themselves to the utmost to call together a force adequate to the defence of the town, but their most strenuous efforts only sufficed to bring together about 1,100 men, of whom 400 were either convalescents in the hospitals or those who had just been discharged from those institutions, and the remainder were in about equal numbers Missouri State militia and enrolled Missouri militia, almost wholly raw troops. The commissary and quartermaster's stores were sent north toward Bolivar, only enough being reserved to maintain the siege, which were placed in one of the forts. The Confederate force (or rather about one-half of it, not far from three thousand men) appeared before the city about one P. M. on the 8th, and commenced firing with solid shot at once, without giving any notice for the removal of non-combatants. The fighting which followed was irregular, and occasionally the Confederates gained some advantages; but the courage of the new Federal troops seemed to increase under fire, and late in the afternoon they commenced driving the enemy from one position after another, till at night the battle ended, having continued five hours, when the Confederates retreated, carrying with them a part of their wounded. The Federal loss was 14 killed, 145 wounded and 5 missing. The Confederates lost 41 killed, and over 160 wounded, of whom 80 were left in the town as prisoners. The next day the garrison of the town were ready to renew the battle, but found that the Confederates had escaped, and they were too feeble to make a vigorous pursuit.

Before proceeding from Ozark to Springfield, Gen. Marmaduke had detached Gen. Porter with nearly 3,000 men to follow the road south of the Ozark mountains to Hartsville, and having made what captures he could there, to rejoin the main force again at or near Marshfield, having in view, probably, the extension of his expedition either to Lebanon or Bolivar. On the 9th, Gen. Porter occupied Hartsville, but evacuated it that night, and moved toward Marshfield. Gen. Fitz Henry Warren, in command of that Federal military district, sent from Houston on the 9th of January Col. Merrill, with 850 men, to Springfield to reënforce the Federal garrison there. They reached Hartsville on Saturday, the 10th, and learned that Gen. Porter had been there the day previous. Leaving Hartsville at 3 P. M. they marched to Wood's Forks, on the road toward Springfield, by nightfall, and encamped in line of battle. The next morning (Jan. 11th), at daybreak, they encountered Gen. Marmaduke's forces marching from Springfield, and though the Federal position was an unfavorable one, Col. Merrill fought till 9 o'clock A. M., when the Confederates withdrew in a southerly direction. Sending out a pursuing force of cavalry, and himself returning toward Hartsville, Col. Merrill soon found that the Confederates were also

marching toward Hartsville, and, as it afterward appeared, had formed a junction with Gen. Porter's command. Col. Merrill immediately ordered a forced march, and arrived in Hartsville in time to take a strong position, and awaited their attack. Firing commenced on both sides at a little after 11 A. M., and the battle raged till half-past 4 P. M., the Confederates charging repeatedly upon the Federal position, but being met at short musket range by so terrible a fire that they were compelled to fall back each time. At length, finding themselves unable to make any impression on the Federal garrison, the Confederates retreated, going at first toward Houston, but early the next morning they turned their faces southward, and moved rapidly toward the Arkansas line, near the north fork of White river. Their losses had been very heavy; Brig.-Gen. Emmet McDonald, and acting Brig.-Gen. Porter, two colonels, a major, a captain, and two lieutenants being among the killed, and several other officers severely wounded. Their entire loss was over 300 killed and wounded, and 29 prisoners. The Federal loss was 7 killed, 64 wounded, and 7 missing.

A portion of Gen. Marmaduke's force made their way to Van Buren Creek, and 300 of them were taken prisoners, on the Julia Roan, on the 28th of January. The greater part, however, descended the White river, and, with Marmaduke himself, camped at Batesville, Ark., from which town they were driven, after a sharp fight, by the Federal Col. Waring, on the 4th of February, a considerable number of the Confederates being killed and wounded, and a colonel and a number of privates being captured.

Gen. Marmaduke now repaired to the headquarters of the Confederate army corps in Arkansas, at Little Rock, and the next two months were spent by the generals of that corps mainly in enlarging and disciplining their force. The guerilla bands in Arkansas and Missouri made frequent dashes into the towns, and occasionally stopped steamers on the Missouri river, and plundered, captured, and murdered Federal citizens and soldiers, as in the case of the Sam Gaty, on the 28th of March, but these were only the acts of the irregular and bushwhacking troops in Missouri, and they generally met with swift retribution from the militia scouts and cavalry parties who patrolled all sections of that State. There was no considerable movement of Confederate troops till the latter part of April.

On the 17th of April, the Confederate general, Cabell, left Ozark, Arkansas, with two thousand men, two pieces of artillery, and three days' rations, to attack Fayetteville, Arkansas, which had been so many times a battle ground, and was then garrisoned by two regiments of Federal troops (the 1st Arkansas infantry and the 1st Arkansas cavalry), under the command of Col. M. La Rue Harrison. The attack was made on the 18th about sunrise, and

after nearly six hours' severe fighting the Confederates were thoroughly defeated and in full retreat for Ozark. Gen. Marmaduke and his superior officer, Maj.-Gen. Sterling Price, having at last collected a sufficiency of troops, mostly Texans, and a large portion of them cavalry, to render an expedition into Missouri probably successful, sought and obtained permission to attempt the capture and destruction of Cape Girardeau, at that time the depot of supplies for a portion of Gen. Grant's army. The Confederate force, which consisted of Price's (1st) army corps of the trans-Mississippi Department, numbering somewhat more than ten thousand men, under the command of Gen. Marmaduke, left Little Rock, Arkansas, about the middle of April, and on the 20th had crossed the State line, and following the course of the St. Francis river, reached Fredericktown, Mo., about the 22d. From this point they marched upon Cape Girardeau, and came before the town on the 25th. The garrison there was under the command of Gen. John McNeil, and consisted of one thousand seven hundred men, mostly militia. Gen. McNeil had reached Cape Girardeau on the night of the 23d, and had taken immediate measures for the removal of the Government stores into Illinois, and had sent to St. Louis for reënforcements. Confident of success, the Confederates, though repulsed in their first attack, demanded on Saturday night (25th) the surrender of the town, the demand being made by acting Brig.-Gen. Carter, whose brigade was in the advance. Gen. McNeil replied at once, declining to surrender, as he believed himself capable of maintaining its possession. Fighting was not resumed till 10 A. M. of the 26th, when Gen. Marmaduke again demanded a surrender, threatening to storm the town in case of refusal. Gen. MeNeil again refused, and after nearly five hours' fighting, in which the Federal artillery, which was admirably served, caused great havoc among the Confederate troops, Gen. Marmadake retreated southward. He was pursued closely by Gen. Vandever and Gen. McNeil, and harassed severely, but succeeded in escaping into Arkansas, on the 2d of May. His loss in the battle of Cape Girardeau was sixty kill ed and about three hundred wounded. In his retreat he also lost a considerable number of killed and wounded, and many prisoners.

On the 6th of May a Federal force of about ne thousand cavalry, and about the same number of infantry, under command of Col. eting brigadier-general) Powell Clayton, left Helena, Arkansas, on an expedition to the reon of Arkansas, lying between the White and Francis rivers, to break up a band of gues, and destroy Confederate stores accumued there. The infantry went only as far as Saitzn's and then returned to Mariana. The valry proceeded to the vicinity of Taylor's Creek, a large detachment, however, going to Mount Vernon, and at these points, on the 11th of May, the two small bodies of cavalry, one VOL. III.-10 A

numbering two hundred and thirty men, and the other seven hundred and twenty-five, had each a severe fight with separate brigades of Marmaduke's division, and both repulsed them with heavy loss to the Confederates.

On the 20th of May, the Federal forces, about one thousand two hundred in number, under the command of Col. William A. Phillips, near Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, were attacked by the Confederates, under Col. (acting brigadier-general) Coffey, commanding a force of five regiments. After a desultory fight, in which, through the cowardice of the Creek regiment, the Federal troops lost a part of their cattle, Col. Phillips succeeded in driving the Confederate troops over the mountain, and finally, in complete disorder, across the Arkansas river. The loss on the Federal side was about twenty-six in killed, wounded, and missing; that of the Confederates considerably larger. There were repeated skirmishes in this and other portions of the department, but no severe fighting in the Indian Territory, till July 15th, when Maj.-Gen. Blunt crossed the Arkansas river near Henry Springs, in that territory, and on the 16th attacked a superior force of Confederates under Gen. Cooper, which he completely routed, they leaving their dead and wounded on the field. The Federal loss was seventeen killed and sixty wounded, while that of the Confederates was one hundred and fifty killed (buried on the field by the Federal troops), four hundred wounded, seventy-seven prisoners, and one piece of artillery and one hundred stand of arms captured. After several subsequent skirmishes with the Confederates, Gen. Blunt descended the Arkansas river, and on the 1st of September occupied Fort Smith, Arkansas. The army of the frontier having been greatly depleted to furnish reënforcements to Gen. Grant, while he was engaged in the siege of Vicksburg, the Confederate generals in the Trans-Mississippi Department took advantage of the fact to make an attack on Helena, Arkansas, where the Federal general, Prentiss, was in command, with a force of about four thousand troops. Here again Gen. Sterling Price and Gen. Marmaduke found scope for action. The Confederate attack was made on the 4th of July, with a force of about fifteen thousand men. It was commenced about daylight, and, at first, they were successful in capturing a small fort forming a part of the outworks, but the gunboat Tyler, coming up opportunely, and opening upon them with its heavy guns, they were compelled to abandon it with severe loss. Determined not to relinquish their purpose, the Confederates fought desperately, charging repeatedly, and with. large masses, upon the defences of the town, attacking now the north, and now the south side, but everywhere they met with the same terrible resistance from the Federal fire at short range, and from the large missiles from the gunboat; and at length, utterly foiled at every point, having lost over one thousand in

killed and wounded, and more than one thousand one hundred prisoners, the Confederates fell back, and though remaining for a day or two in the vicinity, in hope of an opportunity to renew the attack, finding the Federal garrison reënforced, retreated to the interior of Arkansas.

After the surrender of Vicksburg, the Federal Gen. Steele was sent to Helena, with a considerable force, and instructed to form a junction with Gen. Davidson, who was moving south from Missouri, by way of Crowley's Ridge, west of the St. Francis, and with the combined force drive the Confederates south of the Arkansas river. Having effected this junction and established his depot and hospitals at Duvall's Bluff, on the White river, Gen. Steele, on the 1st of August, advanced against the Confederate army, which fell back toward Little Rock. After several successful skirmishes, he reached the Arkansas river, and threw part of his force upon the south side, to threaten the Confederate communications with Arkadelphia, their depot of supplies, and flank their position at Little Rock. Gen. Marmaduke was sent out with a cavalry force to beat the Federals back, but was completely routed. Seeing what must be the inevitable result of this movement of Gen. Steele, the Confederate Gen. Holmes destroyed what property he could, and after a slight resistance retreated with his army in great disorder, pursued by the Federal cavalry, and on the 10th of September Gen. Steele, with the Federal army, entered the capital of Arkansas. His entire losses in killed, wounded, and missing, in this whole movement, did not exceed 100. He captured 1,000 prisoners, and such public property as the Confederates had not time to destroy. The Federal cavalry continued to press the retreating Confederates southward; but a small force, which had eluded pursuit, and moved eastward, attacked the Federal garrison at Pine Bluff, on the Arkansas, south of Little Rock, hoping to recapture it and thus cripple the Federals, and break their communications. The attempt, which was made on the 28th of October, was repulsed with decided loss on the part of the Confederates, and the same day the Federal cavalry occupied Arkadelphia, and the Confederates retreated toward the Red river. This completely restored Arkansas to the Federal authority, except a small district in the extreme southwest, and the region of Northwest Arkansas, over which the guerilla and other irregular troops of the Confederates continued to roam, in their plundering excursions into Missouri, Kansas, and the Indian Territory. Some of these were conducted on a large scale, and were accompanied by acts of most atrocious inhumanity. On the 20th of August, one of the guerilla leaders, who had assumed the name of Quantrell, or Quantrile, with a force of 800, entered the city of Lawrence, Kansas; murdered in cold blood 125 of its citizens, and burned the greater part of the

city, destroying property to the value of over $2,000,000. He was pursued as soon as troops could be raised, and forty or fifty of his men killed. The Confederate Gen. Cabell, collecting together as many of the guerillas and Indians as possible, and some of the routed troops, driven from Little Rock and its vicinity, started with a force variously estimated at from 4,000 to 10,000, in the latter part of September, from the Choctaw settlements of the Indian Territory, crossed the Arkansas river east of Fort Smith, and on the 1st of October, a detachment of his troops, under Gen. Shelby, joined Coffey at Crooked Prairie, Mo.. intending to make a raid into South-western Missouri. This combined force, numbering 2000 or 2,500 men, penetrated as far as the Mis souri river, at Booneville, but were pursued by the Missouri militia, and finally brought to a stand, about eight miles southwest of Arrow Rock, on the evening of the 12th of October. Gen. E. B. Brown, who commanded the Fel eral troops, fought them till dark that evening, and, during the night, having detached a smal force to attack them in rear, renewed the battle the next morning at eight A. M. After a sharp contest they fled, completely routed and broken up, with a loss of several hundred in killed. wounded, and prisoners. They were pursued to the Arkansas line, and prisoners gleaned ali the way. Gen. Marmaduke, who seems to have been with Gen. Cabell, attempted to advance from Fayetteville, Ark., to reënforce them, bat found them so thoroughly disorganized that the case was hopeless.

Early in October, a desperate effort was made to capture and murder Gen. Blunt and his stafi who was at this time marching toward Fort Scott, Kansas. Three hundred Confederate soldiers in Union uniform, approached him as he with his escort was in advance of his wag ons. The escort, consisting of a hundred met broke when the Confederates commenced firing on them, and seventy-eight of the hundred including Major Curtis, a son of Gen. Curtis were captured, and murdered after their capture. Gen. Blunt succeeded in rallying fifteen of the escort, and with these he advanced on his assailants, who retreated, till he found an opportunity of moving south, and joining the remainder of his command. These men, whe thus murdered their prisoners, were under the command of Quantrell. The Confederates sup posed that Gen. Blunt had been killed, and greatly rejoiced over his death. On the 20th of October, Gen. Blunt was relieved from the command of the Army of the Frontier, and Gen. McNeil appointed his successor.

With these last convulsive throes, the active existence of the Confederate authority in Ar kansas died out. On the 12th of November, meeting was held at Little Rock, to consult o measures for the restoration of the State t the Union, and was succeeded by others i different parts of the State.

The Department of the Northwest was no

without its disturbances, though the wholesale massacres of the previous year were, happily, not repeated. During the spring and early summer, there were occasional outrages on the part of the Sioux of Minnesota and Dakota, who penetrated the lines, although a guard of 2,000 men were stationed along the frontier, and murdered about 30 persons. About a dozen of these assassins were captured or killed. Early in June General Sibley started with a force of between two and three thousand men for Devil's Lake, in Dakota Territory, 500 miles from St. Paul's, and sent General Sully, about the same time, with a large body of cavalry, up the Missouri, to cooperate with him in cutting off the retreat of the savages. On the 3d of July, Little Crow, the principal chief of the Sioux, who had been actively engaged during the winter and spring in endeavoring to raise the Sioux and Yanktonais to make another attack upon the settlers in Minnesota, and had endeavored to obtain guns and ammunition from British America, was killed by Mr. Sampson, about six miles north of Hutchinson, Minnesota. He was not fully identified till some time after. The cavalry force under General Sully failed to connect with General Sibley, and that general encountered the Indians, near Missouri Conteau, on the 25th of July, and engagements followed between that date and the 29th, at Big Mound, Dead Buffalo Lake, Stony Lake, and on the banks of the Missouri. In these engagements between 60 and 70 of the Indians were killed and as many more wounded. The loss of General Sibley's troops was five killed and 4 wounded. On the 3d of September, General Sully encountered and defeated a body of Indians at Whitestone Hall, about 130 miles above the Little Cheyenne. A part of these Indians had previously been engaged against Gen. Sibley. A large number of them were killed and wounded, and 156 taken prisoners. Gen. Sully's loss was 20 killed and 38 wounded. The Indians fled across the Missouri, and most of them, it is believed, took refuge in Idaho Territory, where they were, late in the year, guilty of some outrages.

In January, 1863, roving bands of Indians committed some thefts, robberies, and murders in the western part of what is now called Idaho Territory, in the vicinity of Bear river. Acting Brig. General Connor, in command in that region, marched with a force of 275 men to Bear river, a distance of 140 miles, through deep snows, in which 76 of his men were disabled by frozen feet, and, with 200 men, attacked the Indian stronghold, in which 300 Warriors were assembled, and after a hardfought battle of four hours, destroyed the entire band, leaving 224 dead upon the field. His own loss was 14 killed and 49 wounded. Since that time the Indians in that quarter have been quiet.

At the close of 1863 the Federal armies had made large progress. The State of Missouri was placed beyond the danger of an invasion.

The military power of the enemy in Arkansas was broken, and the greatest portion of the State made subject to the army of the Union. The occupation of the mouth of the Rio Grande, in Western Texas, has destroyed one outlet from the Confederacy to foreign countries, and the commerce which thereby existed. The capture of Vicksburg and Port Hudson removed from the banks of the Mississippi every military station of the enemy, by which the navigation of that river could be closed. It broke up the facilities for communication between the States east and west of that river, and, with the occupation of the eastern part of Tennessee, gave to the Federal arms the entire control of that State. It brought under the same control a part of the States of Mississippi and Louisiana on the shores of the river. In the East there was no material change in the position of military affairs. No operations of any magnitude had taken place in the Departments of Virginia and North Carolina. And with the exception of the siege of Charleston, the same is true of the Department of the South, embracing the States of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. The territory thus lost by the enemy embraced some of the most important districts for producing grain and cattle in the Southern States. It also contained some valuable deposits of nitre, used for the manufacture of gunpowder. The Secretary of War, in his annual report, in December, said: "The success of our arms during the last year has enabled the Department to make a reduction of over two hundred millions of dollars in the war estimates for the ensuing fiscal year."

ASIA. Asia has, at present, only three great countries, which are purely Asiatic: China, Japan, and Persia. Each of these is now in constant intercourse with the countries of Europe and America. China and Japan, in particular, are undergoing a transformation which bids fair to become one of the prominent events in the history of the nineteenth century. (See CHINA and JAPAN.)

Persia has an area of about 546,000 English square miles, with a population of nearly ten millions. Its intercourse with the countries of Europe has, of late, become more frequent, and the Government has adopted in the administration of affairs some of the forms of European countries. A Persian newspaper has been established in the capital. A telegraph line has been completed between Teheran, Tabreez, and Reshd, and encouraged by its success, the Government has ordered the construction of a new line, to connect the Persian capital with Bagdad, and thus with Europe. The Persian army, in June, 1862, consisted of 95,000 infantry, 500 regular cavalry, 29,030 irregular cavalry, 5,000 artillery, and 380 “Zambareks" (to serve artillery drawn by camels). In 1863 the Persian Government sent 20,000 men to the frontier of Affghanistan, because the ruler of that country, the celebrated Dost Mohammed, had attacked Herat, a principality,

the autonomy of which had been guaranteed by both England and Persia. Dost Mohammed captured Herat on May 26th, but died three days later, May 29th. The governor of Herat, Ahmed Khan, took refuge in the Persian camp at Khourivan. It was expected that this would lead to a war between the Persians and Affghans, but up to the end of the year no hostile movements had taken place. The Affghans were masters of the whole province of Herat, and were even preparing to invade Khorassan.

The Sultan of Bokhara, a country in Central Asia, which has long been celebrated for the hostility of its rulers to all foreigners, imprisoned four Italians who had entered the country for the purpose of making investigations into its silk cultivation. The fact having come to the knowledge of the Russian Government, the emperor at once instructed the governor-general of East Siberia to use all means within his power to obtain the release of the travellers.

The British rule in India was, during the year, again threatened with new danger. Another insurrection broke out among the warlike tribes of the mountains of the north-western provinces, and for some time appeared to assume alarming proportions; at the close of the year, however, the Government felt confident that it would soon be suppressed. England now rules in India over a native population of, at least, 137,000,000 inhabitants, of whom only about 4,000,000, including the native Christians, the Parsees, the so-called East Indians (of mixed European and Indian descent), are supposed to be friendly to the preservation of British rule. There is, however, no doubt that India is making more rapid progress in civilization, in education, and material prosperity, than any other part of Asia. (See INDIA.)

France is making extraordinary efforts to extend her territory in Asia. A new insurrection broke out against her rule in Cochin China, but it was soon suppressed. Admiral La Grandière, who is at the head of the French administration in Cochin China, visited the king of Cambodia, the declared enemy of the Emperor Tu-Duc, of Anam, and the result was most satisfactory. The French obtained by treaty the rights of commerce with that vast country; they were authorized to work all the immense forests gratuitously, if for the service of the French Government, and on payment of a small royalty for private commerce. A French resident agent was to be established at Ilondon, and that post was confided to a surgeon in the navy well acquainted with the habits of the people, and who will exercise a twofold influence by his diplomatic relations, and by the practice of his surgical skill. The admiral visited in detail the copper mines of Ancorre, which in extent are far beyond anything of the kind to be met with in Europe. A letter to the Paris Moniteur de l'Armée, dated Saigoon, Cochin China, September 6th, 1863, stated that by the treaty concluded between

the king of Cambodia and the French admiral, the whole kingdom had been placed under the French protectorate, and that the main stipulations were: 1. Cambodia recognizes the supre macy of France, entering into the same relation to France in which it formerly stood to the emperor of Anam. It is admitted by the official French paper, that the king of Siam also claims the rights of a protectorate over Cambodia; but it is said to result from indisputable documents that his claims are not so old as those of the king of Huc (Cochin China), into whose place France has now stepped. 2. France obtains the right to establish a settlement in Cambodia, on the banks of the river Mei Kong (also called Cambodia), at Nam-Van. This is a point of the greatest strategic importance, and will make the French masters of the largest and most important river in Farther India. The treaty also contains liberal stipulations in favor of the Roman Catholic religion. English papers in India express the opinion, that in less than a quarter of a century the English and French frontiers will meet somewhere between Burmah and Siam.

The war of the Circassians against Russia continued with various vicissitudes throughout the year. (See RUSSIA.) The Russians are constantly extending their territory in Central Asia. It is particularly reported that they have retaken the fortress of Pishpek, on the river Tohu, one of the strongest places in the Sultanate of Khokan, the capture of which seems to augur unfavorably for the independ ence of the martial Turcomans. The place had been captured by the Russians once before, about three years ago, but subsequently was retaken by the Khokandese.

As to the religious denomination of the Asatics, the number of Christians may be estimated at about 15,000,000. Of these about 7,000,000 are Roman Catholics, who are quite numerous in the Spanish possessions (5,000,'000), India (1,000,000), Farther India (520000), and China, 337,000. The progress of the French in Farther India, and the influence of the same power in China promise to the Roman Catholic Church a considerable increase of numbers. Protestant Christianity is strongest in India and Farther India, in both of which countries there are many indications of its rapid progress.

ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA AND PROGRESS. The year 1863 has been marked by no small degree of activity and success on the part of those engaged in prosecuting this department of science. In the main, the ques tions that have been most prominent are the same with those named in our record of the preceding year; a larger share of attention, however, having been given to the new form of investigation of the heavenly bodies, by means of observations upon the spectra afforded upon prismatic decomposition of their light, which will be noticed more fully on a future occasion.