The armor splintered like crushed ice, and Count Bertrich fell prone on his face and lay there. There was instant cry of "Treason! treason!" and shouts of: "No man may draw arms in the emperor's presence."
"My lord emperor," cried the Count of Burg Arras, "I crave pardon if I have done amiss. A man does not forget the tricks of his old calling when he takes on new honors. Your Majesty has said that I am a count. This man, having heard your Majesty's word, proclaims me blacksmith, and so gives the lie to his emperor. For this I struck him, and would again, even though he stood before the throne in a palace or the altar in a cathedral. If that be treason, take from me your honors and let me back to my forge, where this same hammer will mend the armor it has broken or beat him out a new back-piece."
"You have broken no tenet of the feudal law," said the emperor. "You have broken nothing, I trust, but the count's armor; for, as I see he is arousing himself, doubtless no bones are broken. The feudal law does not regard a blacksmith's hammer as a weapon. And as for treason, Count of Burg Arras, may my throne always be surrounded by such treason as yours!"
And for centuries after, the descendants of the blacksmith were Counts of Burg Arras and held the castle of that name, whose ruins to-day attest the excellence of the archbishop's building.
REMINISCENCES OF MEN AND EVENTS OF THE CIVIL WAR.
By Charles A. Dana,
Assistant Secretary of War from 1863 to 1865.
ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS FROM THE WAR DEPARTMENT COLLECTION OF CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHS.
II.
FROM MEMPHIS TO VICKSBURG—THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN.
IT was from Columbus, Kentucky, on March 20, 1863, that I sent my first telegram to the War Department.
I did not remain in Columbus long, for there was absolutely no trustworthy information there respecting affairs down the river, but took a boat to Memphis, where I arrived March 23d. I found General Hurlbut in command. I had met Hurlbut in January, when on my cotton business, and he gave me every opportunity to gather information concerning the operations against Vicksburg. But in spite of all his courtesies, I had not been long at Memphis before I decided that it was impossible to gather trustworthy news there. I accordingly suggested to Mr. Stanton, three days after my arrival, that I would be more useful farther down the river. In reply he telegraphed me:
War Department,
Washington City, March 30, 1863.
C. A. Dana, Esq., Memphis, Tenn., via Cairo:
Your telegrams have been received, and although the information has been meager and unsatisfactory, I am conscious that arises from no fault of yours. You will proceed to General Grant's headquarters, or wherever you may be best able to accomplish the purposes designated by this Department. You will consider your movements to be governed by your own discretion without any restriction.
Edwin M. Stanton,
Secretary of War.
As soon after receiving this telegram as I could get a boat, I left Memphis for Milliken's Bend, where General Grant had his headquarters. I reached there at noon on April 6th. The Mississippi at Milliken's Bend was a mile wide, and the sight as we came down the river by boat was most imposing. Grant's big army was stretched up and down the river bank, over the plantations, its white tents affording a new decoration to the natural magnificence of the broad plains. These plains, which stretch far back from the river, were divided into rich and old plantations by blooming hedges of rose and osage orange, the mansions of the owners being enclosed in roses, myrtles, magnolias, oaks,
