Blue and Gray Weekly, No. 11

# Catalog Note: Blue and Gray Weekly, No. 11, October 21, 1904

"Hemmed In; or, She Boys in Blue's Hard Fight" by Lieut. Harry Lee follows the Fairdale Blues, a Union company of young New York soldiers under Captain Jack Clark, as they execute a special commission from General Grant during the February 1862 Tennessee campaign. Tasked with capturing Colonel Carew's plantation south of Fort Henry to establish a telegraph outpost, the Blues march southward and encounter Confederate defenders led by a man named Bishop. After Clark's initial demand for unconditional surrender is refused, the company establishes a siege using deceptive campfires to suggest overwhelming numbers. When Confederate cannons fire, Clark's rifled six-pounder dismounts the enemy gun, killing the gunners. The story introduces personal complications: Clark receives mail revealing his former sweetheart Nellie Prentiss works as a Confederate spy, while his sister Bessie will serve as a nurse nearby. The narrative breaks off as Clark and his lieutenant Hal Martin rest beneath an oak following their first night of siege operations.