She ceased speaking and wept and sobbed, and finally she took her grandpa by the hand and led him to his room. CHAPTER XVIII. OPERATIONS OF THE ARMY OF THE CENTER.--GEN. SHERWOOD'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST GATE CITY.--HEAD'S ARMY DESTROYED.--GEN. PAPSON'S GREAT VICTORIES AT FRANKTOWN AND NASHUA. “We die that our country may survive.”--Lyon. “General Silent was now in command of all the armies of the United States, having his Headquarters with the Army of the East, so that he might have the immediate supervision of it. Sherwood, having been placed in command of the Armies of the West, commenced organizing and concentrating his forces for the Spring campaign, under the general plan suggested by Silent and approved by the President and Secretary of War. The condition of things in the North was as heretofore described. Sherwood was kept continually on the alert, in order to meet the many raids that were being made in his Department. “About the 1st of April, Gen. Forrester, with a large cavalry force, again moved north, marched between Big and Little Combination Rivers, and made his way unmolested to Paduah, and there assaulted the Union garrison held by Col. Heck, by whom he was badly beaten. He made his retreat, swinging around to Conception River, and following that down to Fort Pillston, which was held by a very small garrison of colored troops. After capturing the post the unfortunate troops were most barbarously and inhumanly butchered, no quarter being given. The poor colored soldiers and citizens were shot down like so many wild beasts. Some were killed while imploring their captors for mercy; others were tied to trees, fires built around them made of fagots, and in that way burned to death. “The sick and wounded fared no better. Such brutality is seldom resorted to by the most barbarous of the savage Indian tribes. What do you suppose would have been the fate of any Union officer who would have permitted such conduct on the part of his command?” “Why,” said Col. Bush, “the officer would have been dismissed the service in utter disgrace, and would not afterwards have been recognized as a gentleman anywhere in the Northern States.” “No, sir,” said Dr. Adams; “such officers would have been compelled to change their names and to find homes in the mountains, where they would have been unobserved.” “Yes,” said Uncle Daniel, “that would have been so with any of our troops; yet you never hear this fact alluded to. It is lost sight of, and if you should mention it publicly, you would only be criticised for so doing. Our tradesmen and merchants want their Southern customers, and therefore, no matter what their crimes may have been, they are hushed up and condoned. But to return to my story.