pelled to abandon the attempt. The following month, the rebels, under General Hill, laid siege to Washington, on the Tar River. The place had only a small garrison and was but slightly fortified, but General Foster immediately exerted all his energies to strengthen the works so as to repel any assaults until reënforcements arrived from Newbern to raise the siege. On the fourteenth, General Foster succeeded in escaping from Washington, and arrived at Newbern next day. He immediately prepared an expedition to march for the relief of the town, but the rebels suddenly raised the siege, and thus rendered it unnecessary.

In the latter part of May, he sent out an expedition to capture some rebel works at Gum Swamp, which proved successful; and, in July, another expedition was sent against Rocky Mount, on the Tar River, which destroyed the bridge at that place and a large amount of rebel property.

On the eighteenth of July, Major-General Foster was appointed to command the Department of Virginia, in addition to that of North-Carolina, his headquarters being at Fortress Monroe. Immediately afterward, he ordered the recruitment of colored troops and the impressment of colored laborers. At the same. time, he apportioned Roanoke Island among the families of negro soldiers.

On the twenty-eighth, he was relieved by General Butler, and ordered to report to the Adjutant-General of the army. He was not, however, to remain long without an active command. His services were needed on the battle-field, and his own desires led him to seek duty where there was stirring work to be done.

Accordingly, on the sixteenth of November, 1863, he was appointed to the command of the Department of East-Tennessee, in the place of General Burnside, who had requested to be relieved. He arrived at Cincinnati on the twenty-second, and at Cumberland Gap on the thirtieth, where he was joined by the forces previously sent there by General Burnside to defend that important position. Three days later, at Walker's Ford, two miles from the Gap, a fight occurred with Longstreet's cavalry, and General Foster's troops, in attempting to cross the Clinch River, were repulsed, but, on the next day, he drove the enemy back, and went in pursuit. On the seventh of December, he reported, from Tazewell, that the rebels were in full retreat up the valley toward Virginia.

A few days later, on the departure of General Burnside from Knoxville, he assumed the entire command of the forces in East-Tennessee, and neglected no opportunity of personally visiting and inspecting the movements at the front of his army.

On the twenty-eighth of January, 1864, General Foster telegraphed that his cavalry, under General Sturges, had met the rebels at Fair Gardens, and after a fight lasting from daylight until four P.M., had driven them back, taking a hundred prisoners and two of their rifled guns.

Meanwhile the health of General Foster declined. The weather was exceedingly severe, and this caused his old wound to become very painful. It was still further aggravated by an accident that occurred soon after his arrival at Knoxville. One day while riding, his horse stumbled and threw him, thus rendering him almost incapable of fulfilling the active duties of his post. Still he persevered, but finally was compelled to yield, and on the twenty-first of January, an order from the War Office appointed General Schofield to relieve him. On the ninth of February, his successor arrived, and General Foster immediately departed for Baltimore, there to recruit his health by a cessation from all official duties. His active mind, however, would not allow him to be idle longer than was compulsory, and directly he was sufficiently strengthened, he applied for service, and in May was appointed to command the department of the South. He arrived at Hilton Head on the twenty-sixth of May, and relieved General Hatch.

One of General Foster's first acts after arrival was to order the raising of a regiment of militia in Florida, and to direct that all persons having permits to trade in his department, renew them at headquarters immediately. This order had reference to the host of irregular traders that so frequently hang about camps, and help to defraud the soldier.

On the first of July, General Foster despatched an expedition on an extensive scale to carry on movements against the enemy. It consisted of commands under Generals Hatch, Schemmelfennig, Saxton, and Birney, the whole being under General Foster. The troops were embarked in about twenty transports, and on arriving at Seabrook Island a portion were sent on shore. At that place no rebels were discovered, but on visiting John's Island, they appeared in force. More of our troops were landed, and the island was then occupied by us. General Schemmelfennig at the same time moved on James Island, where there was some severe fighting, but the result was in our favor. A fort was captured, and two guns, the rebels being driven into the woods. In this attack, two colored regiments of infantry were in the advance. On the second of July, Fort Johnson was unsuccessfully attacked by our troops. Finally, our forces were withdrawn, the principal object of the expedition-in enticing the enemy away from other places-having been accomplished.

JOHN CHARLES FREMONT.

HE subject of this sketch was born at Savannah, in Georgia, January 21st, 1813. His father was a native of Lyons, and left France for St. Domingo in 1798; but the ship in which he sailed, captured by an English cruiser, was taken into the British West Indies, whence the captive made his way to Norfolk, in Virginia. There he taught his native language for a livelihood, and eventually married the daughter of Colonel Thomas Whiting, of Gloucester county, a gentleman related by marriage to the family of Washington.

At the age of fifteen, young Fremont entered Charleston (S. C.) College. For some time he made rapid progress in his studies; but he fell in love, became inattentive to his collegiate duties, was frequently absent from his class, and for that cause was finally expelled. From his seventeenth to his twentieth year he was employed as an instructor in mathematics in various schools in Charleston, and as a practical surveyor. In 1833, he was appointed a teacher of mathematics on board the United States sloop-of-war Natchez, and made a cruise of two years and a half in that vessel. On his return, he declined the appointment of professor of mathematics in the navy, was employed as an engineer on the railway line between Augusta and Charleston, and subsequently, and until the fall of 1837, as an assistant engineer upon the preliminary survey for a railway between Charleston and Cincinnati. Fremont's part of the line lay in the mountain-passes between South Carolina and Tennessee. This work was suspended in the autumn, and the winter of 1837 was spent in making, with Captain Williams, of the United States army, a military reconnoissance of the mountains of Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee-a work performed in anticipation of hostilities with the Cherokee Indians. In the spring of 1838, he accompanied M. Nicollet, a man of science, employed by the United States government, to the upper Mississippi, and served as his principal assistant in the exploration of that year, and also in that of the next year, of the country between the Missouri and the British line; and afterward assisted in the preparation of the maps and report of the exploration. While upon this expedition, he was appointed, February 7th, 1838, a second-lieutenant in the corps of topographical engineers.

Before Nicollet's maps and report were completed, Fremont was ordered to explore the River Des Moines. After the execution of this service, he returned