Among the first to enlist in defence of the South was private Thomas. R.

Hotchkiss, and here began a career of military exploits not surpassed in

daring or in romantic incident by that of any of the heroes of the Lost

Cause.

In a short time after enlisting, Mr. Hotchkiss received authority to

raise a separate company. He raised the company; ws made lieutenant at

first, but very soon, through the active exertion of influential

friends, he was raised to the captaincy to which he was originally

entitled. Our limited information does not supply what transpired in

the interval continuing until Capt. Hotchkiss ws taken upon the staff of

the lamented Cleburne, who recognized in the dark flashing eye of the

youthful Captain and in his extraordinary self-possession, the imprints

of military genius; and that sturdy old hero, the Stonewall Jackson of

the South-West whose blows were those of a giant and who never struck a

blow that was not fatal, made Capt. Hotchkiss his Chief of Ordinance

with the rank of Major.

How Major Hotchkiss discharged his perilous duties we should never have

learned from him, for he was a man as modest as he was meritorious; but

fortunately we have other sources of information. Maj. J.W. Green, Gen.

Hardee's Chief Engineer, informs us that at Murfreesboro and at Kennesaw

Mountain he witnessed the conduct of Major Hotchkiss under fire, and he

thinks he never saw such imperturbable coolness and bravery in his

life. At Kennesaw, being in command of the artillery of Cleburne's

Division, as he was also at Murfreesboro, Maj. Hotchkiss was required to

check a sudden advance of the enemy. He posted two or three guns on a

bald hill, under close fire of the enemy, set them to work, and took his

position among the men. Other guns were brought up; while shells,

canister and rifle balls were dealing out death on every hand, until

three batteries were in position and responding to the enemy's fire.

The man without fear then commenced his perilous round from gun to gun,

twirling, as he walked, a small cane in his fingers, unmindful of the

iron and leaden torrent raining about him, and as calm and self-

collected as if it were a promenade he was taking!

At Murfreesboro he was twice painfully wounded. With one foot crushed,

he continued to fight his guns, oblivious of the wound that was to lame

him for life; and he persisted in remaining there until ordered away by

his General. As he was retiring, Major Green met him. Never gave a

hero better evidence of courage than was visible in his emotion — the

tears were streaming down his cheeks; and he seemed almost

heart-broken. The command of his General to retire had occasioned his

grief.

But it was in exploding the Confederate magazine at Nashville, after

that place had fallen and the Confederates had retired to Murfreesboro',

that Major Hotchkiss performed the act that will immortalize his name.

The Daily Chattanooga Rebel, dated January 17, 1863, contains an account

of this deed, and the bare recital (which we will publish next week) is

sufficient to make one shudder. The writer of fiction may turn aside

from the region of romance to that fact, and find in the hazardous

venture of Major Hotchkiss and the circumstances surrounding it, an

episode in human affairs suited to his most ambitious projects.

Riding straight from Murfreesboro' to Nashville, disguised only with a

cloak, Major Hotchkiss went to the public square of the latter city,

thence to a hotel, and there obtained his supper. He rode out of town

to the Arsonal, situated in a glen, "a place tangled, obscure and

wild." The wind was blowing a gale; the moon came and went as the

clouds sailed over it, making shadown that seemed instinct with life;

and above the weeping willows the powder- house reared itself, an object

of terro and fit abode for the messengers of Death. Penetrating the

building, the Major procured powder and fuse for his train; but not

without an acident it thrills one with horror to contemplate. He

carried a pistol cocked in his bosom, that was discharged with a hair

trigger. The floor of the house was covered with loose powder. As he

was opening a box, his pistol fell to the floor! What a moment — what a

life-time in that fall! Closing his eyes as the pistol started from its

place, the gallant officer prepared to see his mission forever closed

simultaneously with the untoward completion of his task. But harmless

the weapon rolled over on the floor and lay at his feet undischarged.

The match prepared and train laid, the daring scout withdrew to be the

solitary witness of the explosion which was soon to make Nashville

tremble and illuminate the heavens. Minutes, that seemed hours, passed,

and the explosion came not. Had he failed? Had he to return, to be,

perhaps, betrayed by some hidden spark?

Cautiously moving toward the house, he looked from an elevation. He

could see the house and the location of his train, but no fire.

Steadily watching, he at last perceived a small spark under a ledge of

rock within a few paces of the building. Then came the race for life.

Just as he reached his horse, a sudden glare of light and an awful

detonation pronounced the work complete, with mid-day splendor and in

thundering tones. That night he reached camp, and around the camp fires

was made, no doubt, to rehearse over and again the story of the

explosion; but only the imagination of the listeners could reckon the

thoughts and feelings of a man in such a perilous situation as that we

have barely sketched.At one point Hotchkiss was captured and escaped , was wounded 4 times , purchased and equipped a battalion of artillery and defended atlanta from sherman.