Doc.
98.--capture of U. S. Troops by Col. Van Dorn, at Saluria.
Col. Van Dorn arrived at
Indianola with about 800
Texas volunteers, on Wednesday afternoon, 24th April, and having taken possession of the U. S. steamers
Fashion and
United States, and the propeller
Mobile, without delay placed his forces on them, and about nine o'clock at night, came down to Saluria and anchored within about half a mile of the schooners having on board the U. S. troops, numbering 450, under the command of
Major C. C. Sibley, 3d Infantry;
Adjutant-Lieutenant Phillips, 1st Infantry; Ass't
Surgeons Lynde and
Byrne,
Capts. Granger and
Wallace, 1st Infantry ;
Capt. Bowman, 3d Infantry;
Capt. Jordan, 8th Infantry;
Lieut. Green, 1st Infantry, and
Lieuts. Hopkins and
Lay, 3d Infantry.
The troops consisted of the band of the 1st Infantry, and Companies G and K of that Regiment, Companies A, F, and I, 3d Infantry, and Companies A and D of the 8th Infantry.
Capt. Wallace had his lady and child, and
Dr. Lynde his two children, on board the vessels.
Notwithstanding some thirty-five soldiers and their wives had been left on shore, there were some ten or twelve women and children on board.
About three o'clock in the afternoon a severe norther sprang up, and a heavy sea raged from that time till the afternoon of Thursday.
Nevertheless, at about six o'clock on that morning,
Col. Van Dorn sent a message to
Major Sibley requesting an interview at such point as might be convenient.
Accordingly, the parlor of
Judge Hawes, on Saluria Island, was selected, and at ten o'clock the parties met.--The commission on the part of the U. S. Army consisted of
Major Sibley and his two
senior officers,
Capts. Wallace and
Granger; and on the part of the
Confederate States,
Col. Van Dorn.
At about 12 o'clock M., the conference ended in the surrender of the entire command as prisoners of war — the officers to be released on parole, and the men on their oaths that they would not take up arms against the Southern Confederacy,--surrendering their arms and all company property; such of the men and officers to be
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received into the Confederate army as may desire it; private property not to be molested; the soldiers not to be permitted to leave the
State except by way of
Galveston and the
Mississippi River.
At one o'clock, P. M., the steamer
Gen.
Rusk,
Capt. Leon Smith, having on board
Gen. E. B. Nichols with 150 volunteers from
Galveston, appeared off the bar. She came to near the pilot house, and upon the pilot coming on board learned the good news of the surrender which was then being carried into execution without a resort to the use of arms.
Before the
Rusk crossed the bar the officers on board, with their glasses, could distinctly see the troops on the two schooners, as also the three steamers with steam up having on board soldiers, (the
Texas volunteers,) and as they could not suppose
Col. Van Dorn had had time to concentrate his forces there, the conclusion with them was that the U. S. troops had been reinforced from the west by companies known to be coming down, and, consequently, that the men on the
Rusk had a pretty fair prospect of a fight.
The
Rusk remained at anchor until 10 o'clock, P. M., when she went up to
Indianola, put out her mails, and went down to Saluria at sun — up yesterday morning, when, after taking on board
Capt. W. R. Bradfute, bearer of dispatches from
Major Van Dorn to
Montgomery, as well as a considerable number of passengers, crossed the bar at 10 o'clock, and came into this port at 12 o'clock last night.
The 450 United States troops who had surrendered were on the schooners
Horace and
Urbana in charge of
Col. Van Dorn when the
Rusk left last night.
They had gone down the bay on these schooners with a view of being embarked on the
Fashion, but this steamer was deemed unseaworthy, and the
United States was not in a much better condition, while the propeller
Mobile was too small for their accommodation.
It is expected that they will go on shore again to-day, and that most of them will enlist in the army of the
Confederate States.
We see from
Gen. Nichols' report to
Gen. Sherman, that in less than an hour after the
Rusk took position so as to command the schooners with the U. S. troops on board, he reported himself to
Col. Van Dorn, and received in reply, that the surrender had just been agreed on.
Major Larkin Smith, who, we believe, was second in command at
Indianola, resigned immediately on hearing of the secession of
Virginia; and we learn his example was followed by some six or eight other
United States officers.--
Galveston (
Texas)
News, April 27.
