October 2.
A long letter, which recounts in detail the retreats of Wise and Floyd in Western Virginia, subsequent to the battle of Carnifex Ferry, appeared in the Richmond Dispatch. The authorship of the letter is attributed to Colonel Henningsen, the filibuster. Richmond papers consider it too partial to General Wise, and too severe upon General Floyd.--(Doc. 65.)
A secessionist camp at Charleston, Mo., was broken up, and forty rebels captured.--By a copy of the Mesilla Times, a secession paper published at Mesilla, Arizona Territory, dated August 10, it appears that a complete secession government has been organized at that place, [40] from governor down to justice of the peace — the governor being the notorious John R. Baylor, well known for his violent pro-slavery feelings. The Times calls for troops, in order to enable the traitors to hold the territory, and apprehends an attack by way of Southern California, and by the regular troops still quartered in the New Mexican department, now on the borders of Arizona. Three regiments of these troops are in New Mexico, and it is supposed they could be largely increased from the floating population of the neighboring territory of Colorado. The Times demands the extermination of the whole Indian race. It boasts that, by the abandonment of Fort Stanton by the United States troops, on the 8th of August, property equal to three hundred thousand dollars has fallen into the hands of the traitors, including the fort, and adds that not a single Federal soldier is now left on the soil of Arizona.
In consequence of the secession of the Cherokee nation, and its alliance with the rebels, Colonel McNeil, Assistant Provost-Marshal at St. Louis, Mo., issued a proclamation notifying the St. Louis Building and Savings Association that the sum of thirty-three thousand dollars, being part of an annuity paid the Cherokees by the Government of the United States, now on deposit in that institution, is, under the act of Congress, forfeited to the United States, and confiscated to their use and benefit.
Governor Moore, of Alabama, issued a proclamation, calling attention to the habit of tradesmen and others of charging exorbitant prices for the necessaries of life, and reprimanding the act as wicked and unpatriotic.--The Alta Californian notices the receipt of orders by General Sumner to despatch at once to the east the entire force of regulars on the Pacific coast. This force numbers three thousand two hundred men. It will take a month to collect it from its scattered posts. Volunteer forces are to garrison the forts from which they have been withdrawn.-(Doc. 66.)
