Progress of the war.
reports from Washington — affairs at Fortress Monroe--letter from a New York volunteer, &c., &c., &c.[Dispatch to the N. Y. Express.]
Washington, May 16th.
--The State Department construes the foreign news not as a partial recognition of the rebel Government to issue letters of marque.
The word ‘"belligerents,"’ used by Lord John Russell, is treated as meaning ‘"pirates."’ Others, however, are in doubt, and regard it as part of a British game to help on, rather than stop, our troubles.--There is naturally some anxiety on this score.
The Washington stone cutters are disappointed to-day, by the ordering a suspension of all further work for the present upon the National Capitol.
It is certain that the Confederate troops are making steady approaches to the Capital.--We hear of their fortifications on the Rappahannock, near Fredericksburg, on the line of the railroad, and of the daily augmentation of troops by companies and regiments from the South.
So far, Gen. Lee gives out that he acts only to protect Virginia from defence, and nothing more.
How happens it, then, that he has allowed the Harper's Ferry Secession troops to cross over into Maryland?
Jefferson Davis, besides, is the superior officer in command.
The Maryland Secessionists are understood to have a hand in these forward movements.
G. A. Scott will not allow any fortifications to go up on the Virginia shore, in the vicinity of the city or on the Potomac.
The Secession forces at the Point of Rocks are reported as mainly Maryland Secessionists.
As the seceders have 9 howitzers and 8 thirty-one pounders on the line of the railroad, the Ringgold battery is to-day put up at the Relay.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad have tendered their road to the Government, as a military highway, and Gen. Scott will accept it, when needed.
An incident to-day confirms me that no aggression is meant upon the rebellious States, unless provoked.
The Secretary of War wrote yesterday to a friend: ‘"General Scott says he does not want any cavalry, nothing now but infantry and riflemen,"’ which means that the Government do not intend to carry the war into the interior of the seceded States, which cannot be done without cavalry.
The spies and rebels in and about Washington are annoying.
They watch the troops on the lines, and annoy them all they can. Those in the city have also destroyed a number of Government cattle.
Martial law will be declared if these annoyances are not ended.
The reported removal of Washington's remains from Mount Vernon by Virginians, is a Herald canard.
All communication between Washington City and Mount Vernon by the Potomac is suspended.
Senator Douglas is down in Egypt, Illinois, doing immense service to the Union cause there.
From Fortress Monroe.
By the steamer A. H. Bowman, which arrived at New York on Thursday, with the women and children from Fortress Monroe, the papers of that city have the following: ‘ The news form Fortress Monroe is remarkable, though not altogether definite, as the men returned from there seem to understand the state of affairs only so far as the general opinion and apprehensions went. As near as can be ascertained from them, it appears that the Secessionists assumed quite a threatening attitude on last Monday. They had been in partial possession of Hampton Bridge, at the rear of the fortress, but about nine o'clock on that morning they sent over to Col. Dimmick, and made formal demand for entire possession of it, which was refused. Two companies of the Massachusetts volunteers were then sent with a field piece to protect the bridge, and prepared for their work by planting the gun so that it could sweep the bridge. The Secessionists had mean while appeared in considerable force on the other side. Col. Dimmick gave their commander ten minutes in which to withdraw. At nearly the expiration of that time, Col. Dimmick gave orders to prepare for action, which was not had, however, the Secessionists prudently withdrawing. Colonel Dimmick then sent two hundred men from the fortress to take possession of a well on the other side of the bridge, which the Secessionists had abandoned possession of on their retreat. When the Bowman left, everything was in good order at the Fortress, but some apprehension existed of a land attack. The Vermont volunteers, 840 strong, landed there on Monday--the same day the Secessionists made their unsuccessful demand. The Bowman left the Fortress on Tuesday afternoon, when the number of men in the fort the captain thinks, was about 2,500. ’The other side.
A Hampton correspondent of the Norfolk Argus makes a statement of the circumstances above alluded to, a portion of which we copy: ‘ About eleven o'clock A. M. the tranquility of our town was suddenly disturbed by the startling intelligence that the enemy were advancing from Fortress Monroe--that the invaders would in a few moments be upon us. The men spread through the town, and almost in the twinkling of an eye the people were in arms, and waiting for the foe. There was no gasconading, no vaporing, and no pale cheeks or trembling knees were seen. That exalted and resolute courage, which the defenders of their own firesides alone can feel to its fullest extent, was depicted in the face of every man and every boy — for boys were there, too, with guns on their shoulders, by their grandfathers' sides. An anxious half hour passed, and though eager eyes were strained to catch the first glimpse of the invader, no enemy was seen — and came not. The officer of the day soon rode up from the direction of the fort, and reported that a body of soldiers, commanded by Capt. Dimmick, in person, had taken possession of the bridge, and of a pump on the premises of Captain Clarke, a quiet citizen of Virginia, who has heretofore held his beautiful cottage, as his castle, under the protecting agis of the laws of the State. This intelligence relieved the apprehensions of our citizens, and the people went back to their homes, and laid their firelocks aside. Had the invasion been attempted, the Hampton bridge would have been classed in history with the bloody bridge of Lodi. No cost would have been counted — no odds would have been collated. I cannot close this communication without paying a passing tribute to the ‘"officer of the day"’ above mentioned. He was none other than our friend, Dr. W. R. Vaughan, of this town. Visiting the picket-guard, on this side of the Mill Creek Bridge, and within musket-shot of the Fort, Dr. Vaughan's attention was called to a body of men advancing under arms. He reigned up his horse, and with his spyglass coolly observed their movements. When within sixty or eighty yards of him, they halted, and a single soldier approached Dr. V., saluted him, and opened a conversation relative to this movement of men. Dr. V. asked if he was a commissioned officer. The soldier answered no, ‘"I am, sir," ’ said V., ‘"and I can confer with none other than a commissioned officer."’ The Sergeant —— for such he proved to be — retired, and soon returned, saying that Col. Dimmick, who was leading the men, would be pleased to see the officer of the day. Dr. V. immediately rode up to the Colonel, and disputed his legal right to take possession either of the bridge or of the pump. Having no force to resist, he could do no more. After an interview of ten or fifteen minutes with Col. D., Dr. V. rode off, removed his guard, and came up to Hampton to report. ’Northwestern Virginia.
The Wheeling Union, of Thursday, makes the following statement: ‘ On Monday last, a prominent States-Rights man, in conversation with two Republicans, remarked that two hundred men from this city could take the two thousand stand of arms deposited by the Federal Government at Wellsburg, but that he would not counsel any such movement. The other gentlemen referred to understood him to say that there were four hundred men ready to go and seize the arms, and by the time the canard reached our doughty postmaster, or perhaps by him enlarged in a geometrical proportion, he in his zeal, without discretion we are told, sent a special messenger on horseback to Wellsburg, to warn the submissionists there to prepare for immediate action, that two thousand men were on the way to attack them. The whole town was soon in a great state of excitement, and the depot of arms was soon guarded by some two hundred men, and by way of additional precaution, the bridge over Buffalo creek was rendered impassable, and the brave Wellsburgians stood on guard until daylight rewarded their apprehensions. The whole was simply ridiculous, and might well be illustrated by Æsop's fable of the three black crows. Still it has had the effect of inducing the authorities of Ohio and Pennsylvania, no doubt by telegraphic dispatches setting forth the imminent peril of the Ordnance department, to send each a company of volunteers to be quartered upon the soil of Virginia, which we, with all loyal Virginians, do most earnestly protest against. ’The National Intelligencer of foreign recognition.
The Washington Intelligencer, of Saturday, says: ‘ Much speculation has been indulged in by the contemporary press with respect to the precise bearing and significance of the remark which Lord John Russell is reported to have recently made in the British House of Commons on American affairs. Those remarks are said to have been in substance as follows: "Relative to the blockade, he said it could only be recognized when effective. Regarding the letters of marque issued by the Southern Confederacy, the Government were of opinion that the Southern Confederacy must be recognized as belligerents." In the absence of definite information on the subject, we presume that the latter observation implies a probable purpose, on the part of the British Government, to treat the Southern Confederacy as a belligerent Power, competent to grant letters of marque. We are reminded by a Southern contemporary, the Oxford (Miss) Intelligencer, that in our Revolutionary war the Continental Congress granted letters of marque, which were held to be perfectly valid, two years before we were recognized by any foreign Power, and under which our privateers captured, during the first year , five hundred and thirty British vessels, valued, with their cargoes, we presume, at five millions of dollars. The British Government will not treat the Southern privateers as pirates, and will thus far recognize the competency of the Confederate States to issue letters of marque. This appears to be the purport of Lord John Russell's intimation, so far as we can infer it from the imperfect report we have of his views, which, it is to be remembered, are held, in some respects, subject to revision and modification, in accordance with the opinion which the law officer of the British Government is preparing for the advice and direction of the Ministry. ’Inside view of a Hessian Camp.
The following authentic letter, (says the New York News,) was written by a private in the New York Sixty-ninth Regiment, at Georgetown, to his wife, detailing the privations and mis-treatment to which he and his comrades are subjected, and which, it would seem, they are prevented from making generally known to the public, by a system of espionage over their letters sent home:Georgetown Heights College,
Washington,D. C., May 9, 1861.
Sixty-Ninth Regiment. Dear Wife:
I received your very kind and affectionate letter, and am glad to find you and the child are well, which is more than I can tell you I am. My dear wife, we are in a most wretched state with hunger and weakness, and bordering on a state of starvation.
Our rations are stinking pork and biscuit once a day, which we refused to eat, and which the dogs would not come near.
Two of our officers were taken and confined in the guard house, from the afternoon until twelve o'clock next day, for reporting to the Colonel and Quartermaster that the meat stunk, and was not fit for dogs, and that the men were not able to come to drill with hunger and weakness.
One of those officers was Captain McIver.
The Colonel called a court-martial on the other, who was a Lieutenant, and turned him out of the regiment and kept his sword, sash and belt, which belonged to himself.
A great number of our men would not swear in to the Government in consequence of their treatment, and sixteen in number were stripped stark naked on the square before the regiment, and all the Government clothes taken from them.
Father Mooney (the Chaplain) interceded as much as possible for them, but to no use. He was not able even to ge something to eat along the road, or g pass. The Colonel said the tre oo good for the d — d Secessionists ton, Capt. McIver, Capt. Cavana rgeant Birmingham are very kind se we return our most sincere thanks and shall never forget their kindness.
They have saved our lives many a time by giving us money to buy provisions and giving us a kind word, which we could not get from any of the rest of the officers; but if we complained we were sick or hungry, we were locked up in the guard-house.
That was our redress.
We were lying on the floor like hounds in a kennel in the Old Country, and then were told it was too good for us.
Over three hundred men have left the regiment, for the muskets are all here and none to claim them, so that's the way we find out the number that's gone.
There is but few of the old members here.
Sixty-Ninth Regiment. Dear Wife:
