[Footnote: The Savannah was the first privateer which got to sea, but this vessel was captured after having taken only a single prize. The Petrel, also from Charleston, bore down upon the United States frigate St. Lawrence, which the captain mistook for a merchant ship; his vessel was sunk by the first broadside of his formidable antagonist. The Sumter, under Captain Semmes, captured and burned a large number of Federal ships, but, at last, it was blockaded in the Bay of Gibraltar by a Union gunboat, and, being unable to escape, was sold.] Two joint naval and military expeditions were made during the year. The first captured the forts at _Hatteras Inlet_, N. C. The second, under Commodore Dupont and General Thomas W. Sherman, took the forts at _Port Royal Entrance_, S. C., and Tybee island, at the mouth of the Savannah. Port Royal became the great depot for the Union fleet. [Footnote: During this engagement the ships described a circle between the forts, each vessel delivering its fire as it slowly sailed by, then passing on, and another taking its place. The line of this circle was constantly changed to prevent the Confederates from getting the range of the vessels.] THE TRENT AFFAIR.--England and France had acknowledged the Confederate States as _belligerents_, thus placing them on the same footing with the United States. The Southern people having, therefore, great hopes of foreign aid, appointed Messrs. Mason and Slidell commissioners to those countries. Escaping through the blockading squadron, they took passage at Havana on the British steamer Trent. Captain Wilkes, of the United States steamer San Jacinto, followed the Trent, took off the Confederate envoys, and brought them back to the United States. This produced intense excitement in England. The United States government, however, promptly disavowed the act and returned the prisoners. [Illustrations: ADVANCE UPON ATLANTA. SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA. CAMPAIGNS IN KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, ETC. CAMPAIGNS IN MISSOURI. RED RIVER EXPEDITION, ETC.] [Illustration] GENERAL REVIEW OF THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.--The Confederates had captured the large arsenals at Harper's Ferry and Norfolk. They had been successful in the two great battles of the year--Bull Run and Wilson's Creek; also in the minor engagements at Big Bethel, Carthage, Lexington, Belmont, and Ball's Bluff. The Federals had saved Fort Pickens* and Fortress Monroe, and had captured the forts at Hatteras Inlet and Port Royal. They had gained the victories of Philippi, Rich Mountain, Booneville, Carrick's Ford, Cheat Mountain, Carnifex Ferry, and Dranesville. They had saved to the Union Missouri, Maryland, and West Virginia. Principally, however, they had thrown the whole South into a state of siege--the armies on the north and west by land, and the navy in the east by sea, maintaining a vigilant blockade.