March
March 1.
President Lincoln signed the bill creating a Lieutenant-General of the Army of the United States, and immediately after nominated Major-General Grant for that position.--the English steamer Scotia was captured while endeavoring to run the blockade of Wilmington, N. C.--Francisco Garde, while riding two miles from his residence, two miles south of the village of Kinderhook, Illinois, was waylaid and shot by a party of rebel sympathizers.--the British schooner Lauretta, with a cargo of salt, was captured by the National bark Roebuck, two miles from the entrance of Indian River, Florida.
March 2.
General Custer's expedition, which left Culpeper on the twenty-eighth of February to cooperate with the forces under General Kilpatrick, returned this day with only four men wounded slightly, and one rather badly. He captured and brought in about fifty prisoners, a large number of negroes, some three hundred horses, and destroyed a large quantity of valuable stores at Stannardsville, besides inflicting other damage to the rebels.--(Doc. 133.)
President Lincoln directed that the sentences of all deserters who had been condemned to death, by court-martial, and that had not been otherwise acted upon by him, be mitigated to imprisonment during the war at the Dry Tortugas, Florida, where they would be sent [49] under suitable guards by orders from the army commanders.--Captain Ross and twelve of his men, deserters from General Price's rebel army, arrived at Van Buren, Arkansas.--Colonel A. D. Streight made a report to the Committee on Military Affairs, of the lower house of Congress, in relation to the treatment the Union officers and soldiers received from the rebel authorities at Richmond and elsewhere in the South.--(Doc. 106.)
March 3.
The rebel schooner Arletta or Martha, was captured and destroyed off Tybee Island.
March 4.
The English steamer Don, while attempting to run the blockade of Wilmington, N. C., was captured by the National steamer Pequot.--Michael Hahn was installed as Governor of Louisiana, at New Orleans. An address was made by General Banks, and other interesting ceremonies performed.--orders requiring the draft to be made on the tenth instant were suspended.
March 5.
Yazoo City, garrisoned by one white and two negro regiments of National troops, was attacked by a body of rebels under the command of Ross and Richardson, who were repulsed after a severe contest.--(Doc. 109.)
A large force of rebel cavalry attacked ninety-three men of the Third Tennessee regiment at Panther Springs, East-Tennessee. The Union loss was two killed and eight wounded and twenty-two captured. The rebels had thirty killed and wounded.
March 6.
A cavalry force, sent out from Cumberland, Md., under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Root, of the Fifteenth New York cavalry, returned, having effectually destroyed all the saltpetre works near Franklin, in Pendleton County.--the English steamer Mary Ann, while attempting to run the blockade of Wilmington, N. C., was captured by the Union steamer Grand Gulf.--the sloop G. Garibaldi was seized at Jupiter Inlet, Florida, while trying to run the blockade with a cargo of cotton.
March 7.
The first negro prisoners of war arrived in Richmond, Va., and were placed in Libby Prison. The Examiner thus noticed the fact: “They were genuine, sure members of the original Corps d'afrique, ranging in color from gingerbread-brown to tobacco-black, greasy and loud-smelling, encased in blue uniforms, close buttoned up to the chin. They were captured on the second instant, within a few miles of Williamsburgh, with arms in their hands, having been pushed forward by Massa Butler with a negro command on a foraging and thieving expedition. Their names and military connection were recorded as follows: James W. Cord and P. F. Lewis, Fifth United States volunteers; R. P. Armstead and John Thomas, Sixth United States volunteers. As they claimed to be ‘Butler's pets,’ and it being understood that a great affection and fondness for each other existed between them and the officers captured from the recent sacking and plunder expedition, Major Turner very considerately ordered that they be placed in the cells occupied by their white co-patriots, each being accommodated with a sable boon companion. We are glad that our officials are inclined to carry out Greeley's idea of amalgamation of the races, so far as it affects the Yankee prisoners in our care. It will result in mutual good. The only party likely to be seriously affected, either in status or morals, is the negro. The Yankee cannot be degraded lower; the negro probably can be.”
Under the caption of “A premium uniform,” the Richmond newspapers published the following: “Recently Mrs. White, of Selma, Alabama, went through the lines to Lexington, Kentucky, and being a sister (Todd) of Mrs. Lincoln, was permitted to go on to Washington. On her return, several weeks ago, she was allowed to carry nothing back, save a uniform for a very dear friend of hers who was battling in the Southern cause. The uniform arrived in the Confederacy several days since, and on inspection all the buttons were found to be composed of gold coin--two and a half, five, ten, and twenty-dollar gold pieces, set in the wooden button and covered with confederate cloth. The gold thus brought through is valued at between thirty and forty thousand dollars--all sewed upon a uniform.”
Considerable excitement existed in Frederick and Washington counties, Md., growing out of rebel movements on the Virginia side of the Potomac, supposed to be premonitory of a cavalry raid through the upper counties of the State.
Decatur, Alabama, was captured by the National forces under the command of Brigadier-General Dodge.
March 8.
Four Yankee negro soldiers, captured in James City County, were brought to [50] this city yesterday and delivered at the Libby, where they were distributed, as far as they would go, into the solitary cells of the Yankee officers captured during the recent raid. This is a taste of negro equality, we fancy, the said Yankee officers will not fancy overmuch. The negroes represent themselves as James W. Cord, company C, Fifth United States volunteers; P. F. Lewis, company I, Fifth United States volunteers; R. P. Armistead, company H, Sixth United States volunteers; John Thomas, ditto.--Richmond Whig.
The rebel steamer Sumter was captured on Lake George, Florida, by the National steamer Columbine, under the command of Acting Master J. C. Champion.--Forty-eight Union officers and over six hundred prisoners arrived at Fortress Monroe from Richmond, Va., for exchange.--the steam-tug Titan, which was captured near Cherry Stone Point, Va., was burned at Freeport on the Piankatank River.
March 9.
A fight took place near Suffolk, Virginia, between a force of rebels and a portion of the Second Virginia colored regiment, commanded by Colonel Cole, resulting in a loss of twenty-five rebels, and twenty killed, wounded, and missing of the Nationals.1
Forty of the Thirtieth Pennsylvania cavalry were captured by guerrillas about a mile and a half from Bristoe Station, Virginia. They were surrounded and compelled to surrender. Several of them afterward escaped.
The steamer Hillman was attacked by a gang of guerrillas, stationed on the Missouri shore opposite Island No.18 in the Mississippi River, and several persons were killed and wounded.
President Lincoln this afternoon formally presented to Major-General Grant his commission as Lieutenant-General. The ceremony took place in the Cabinet chamber in the presence of many distinguished personages. General Grant having entered the room, the President rose and addressed him thus: “General Grant: The nation's appreciation of what you have done, and its reliance upon you for what there remains to do in the existing great struggle, are now presented with this commission constituting you Lieutenant-General in the army of the United States. With this high honor devolves upon you also a corresponding responsibility. As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely need to add that with what I have spoken for the nation, goes my own hearty personal concurrence.” To which General Grant replied as follows: “Mr. President: I accept this commission with gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies that have fought on so many fields for our common country, it will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving on me, and I know that if they are met, it will be due to those armies, and, above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men.” The President then introduced the General to all the members of the Cabinet, after which the company were seated and about half an hour was spent in conversation.
Major-General Peck, in general orders, issued the following from his headquarters at Newbern, N. C.:
The moment when we are threatened with an advance by the enemy, is the proper time to remind the gallant officers and soldiers of this command of the results of the recent operations in North-Carolina. Besides the repulse of General Pickett's army at Newbern, the following have been captured: Six officers, two hundred and eighty-one prisoners and dangerous rebels, five hundred contrabands, two hundred and fifty arms and accoutrements, one hundred and thirty-eight horses and mules, eleven bales of cotton, one piece of artillery, caisson complete, one flag, many saddles, harnesses, and wagons. Much property of the rebel government has been destroyed from inability to remove it, as appears by a partial list: Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds of pork, eighty barrels of lard, seventy-five barrels of meat, twenty thousand bushels of corn, thirty-two barrels of beef, five hogsheads of sugar, five thousand empty sacks, one corn-mill, ten wagons, one ton of tobacco, eighteen mules, two ware-houses of salt, and two extensive salt manufactories. Thousands of deserters have entered the lines, and resumed their allegiance to the Federal [51] Union with joy and gladness. These valuable services will be appreciated by the Government and the people, and this brief allusion to them should stimulate all to renewed energy in the final campaign against the revolutionists.
March 10.
A party of “over one hundred citizen guerrillas” entered Mayfield, Ky., and after pillaging the stores and severely wounding one of the citizens, left, carrying away their booty.
Governor Joseph E. Brown's annual message was read in the Legislature of Georgia. It concluded as follows:
Lincoln has declared that Georgia and other States are in rebellion to the Federal Government, the creature of the States, which they could destroy as well as create. In authorizing war, he did not seek to restore the Union under the Constitution as it was, by confining the Government to a sphere of limited powers, They have taken one hundred thousand negroes. which cost half a million of whites four thousand millions of dollars, and now seek to repudiate self-government — subjugate Southern people, and confiscate their property. The statement of Lincoln, that we offer no terms of adjustment, is made an artful pretext that it is impossible to say when the war will terminate, but that negotiation, not the sword, will finally terminate it. We should keep before the Northern people the idea that we are ready to negotiate, when they are ready, and will recognize our right to self-government, and the sovereignty of the States. After each victory, our government should make a distinct offer of peace on these terms, and should the course of any State be doubted, let the armed force be withdrawn, and the ballot-box decide. If this is refused even a dozen times, renew it, and keep before the North and the world that our ability to defend ourselves for many years has been proved.
Pilatka, Florida, was occupied by the Union forces under Colonel Barton. The force, consisting of infantry and artillery, left Jacksonville on the transports General Hunter, Delaware, Maple Leaf, and Charles Houghton last evening, and, under the direction of good pilots, reached Pilatka at about daylight this morning. The night was densely dark, and a terrible thunder-storm added not a little to the difficulty of the passage of the boats up the tortuous channel. The troops disembarked at sunrise, and found but few of the enemy. The rebels probably had only a small cavalry picket in the town, and on the approach of the Nationals it was withdrawn, and the place given up without firing a shot on either side. The town was found entirely deserted, except by three small families, who professed Union sentiments, and desired to remain at their homes.--the rebel iron-clad war steamer Ashley was successfully launched at Charleston, S. C.
March 11.
A detachment of the Seventh Tennessee cavalry, commanded by Colonel Hawkins, captured eleven guerrillas in the vicinity of Union City, Ky.--the rebel sloop Hannah, was captured by the Beauregard, off Mosquito Inlet, Ga.--the United States steamer Aroostook captured, in latitude twenty-eight degrees fifty minutes north, longitude ninety-five degrees five minutes west, the British schooner M. P. Burton, loaded with iron and shot. She cleared from Havana, and purported to be bound to Matamoras. When first seen she was steering direct for Velasco, some two hundred miles out of her course.--Admiral Farragut's Report.
The schooner Linda, with an assorted cargo, was captured off Mosquito Inlet, by the National vessels Beauregard and Norfolk Packet.
March 12.
President Lincoln ordered as follows: I. Major-General Halleck is at his own request relieved from duty as General-in-Chief of the army, and Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant is assigned to the command of the armies of the United States. The headquarters of the army will be in Washington, and also with Lieutenant-General Grant in the field. II. Major-General Halleck is assigned to duty in Washington, as chief-of-staff of the army, under the direction of the Secretary of War and the Lieutenant-General commanding. His orders will be obeyed and respected accordingly. III. Major-General W. T. Sherman is assigned to the command of the military division of the Mississippi, composed of the departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the Arkansas. IV. Major-General J. B. McPherson is assigned to the command of the department and army of the Tennessee. V. In relieving Major-General Halleck from duty as General-in-Chief, the President desires to express his approbation and thanks for the able and zealous manner in which the arduous [52] and responsible duties of that position have been performed.
The rebel schooner Marion, bound to Havana, from Tampico, was captured by the steamer Aroostook, off Rio Brazos.--The rebel sloop Persis was captured off Wassaw Sound, Georgia, by the National gunboats Massachusetts and others.
March 13.
A Union meeting was held at Huntsville, Alabama, at which resolutions were passed deprecating the action of the South, and calling upon the Governor of the State to convene the Legislature, that it might “call a convention to provide some mode for the restoration of peace and the rights and liberties of the people.” Speeches were made by Jere Clemens and D. C. Humphreys in support of the resolutions.
General Butler, learning that the Fifth and Ninth Virginia cavalry, with a large force of armed citizens, were in the vicinity of King and Queen Court-House, immediately despatched an expedition from Yorktown under command of General Wistar, with which General Kilpatrick and a portion of his command essayed to cooperate. This rebel force was ascertained to be one thousand two hundred strong, and the same that ambushed and killed Colonel Dahlgren. General Kilpatrick left Gloucester Point on Tuesday night, March eighth, in charge of the cavalry, and was ordered to scout Gloucester County to the north and east as far as Dragon River, and drive the enemy up the Peninsula, while Wistar landed his forces by transports on Wednesday at Shepherd's warehouse, six miles above West-Point, on the Mattapony, with the purpose of heading off their retreat and charging their front and rear. Owing to a misapprehension of General Wistar's orders, General Kilpatrick marched direct to West-Point, where he arrived about the same time with General Wistar. A small cavalry force was then despatched to New Market, and the infantry and artillery moved out as far as Little Plymouth, while Kilpatrick scouted across the Dragon River and tried to cross at Old and New Bridge, but could not, owing to the swollen state of the stream. Our forces then moved down through the counties of King and Queen, Middlesex and Gloucester, making many captures and destroying large quantities of supplies. King and Queen Court-House was destroyed, and when near Carrolton's store, Colonel Onderdonk, commanding the First New York Mounted Rifles, and Colonel Spear, of the Eleventh Pennsylvania cavalry, came upon the looked — for rebel force of cavalry and citizens. This was in the midst of a severe rain-storm which had been pouring all day, and the mud was knee-deep; yet the rebels were gallantly charged, dispersed, and chased ten miles, their camp destroyed, about twenty killed, and seventy wounded and taken prisoners. The remainder made good their escape by recrossing the river into King William County. The Union force comprised the Forty-fifth, Sixth, and Twenty-second National colored troops the First New York Mounted Rifles, the Eleventh Pennsylvania cavalry, parts of Hart's and Belger's batteries, and some five hundred of Kilpatrick's Richmond raiders. The only organized rebel force encountered were the Fifth and Ninth Virginia cavalry, having, however, many mounted and armed, though ununiformed citizens in their ranks, who claimed to be non-combatants. On the raid large amounts of grain, provisions, arms, etc., were destroyed. One mill filled with corn belonging to the Ninth Virginia cavalry was turned. Several of Lee's soldiers at home on recruiting service were captured; two Union officers recently escaped from Libby Prison were rescued, and one of Longstreet's men captured. The National forces returned to Yorktown to-day, without the loss of a man, and but very few horses, and the objects of the expedition were as fully accomplished as were possible. The enemy was severely punished for the death and brutalities perpetrated upon Colonel Dahlgren, and General Wistar highly complimented for the success of his expedition.
President Lincoln addressed the following to Michael Hahn, the newly elected Governor of Louisiana: “I congratulate you on having fixed your name in history as the first free State Governor of Louisiana: now you are about to have a commission which, among other things, will probably define the elective franchise. I barely suggest, for your private consideration, whether some of the colored people may not be let in, as, for instance, the very intelligent, and especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would probably help in some trying time to keep the jewel of [53] Liberty in the family of freedom. But this is only a suggestion, not to the public, but to you alone.”
Two men belonging to the Thirty-second Missouri infantry, Archibald Towner, of company B, and Thomas Norris, of company D, while beyond their picket-lines, in Mo., were taken prisoners by a party of guerrillas, who took them to the top of a mountain near by and tied them to a tree, where they were kept until about sundown, when they were shot, robbed of every thing valuable, and thrown from the summit of the mountain down a precipice sixty feet. Norris miraculously escaped death, which he feigned while being handled by the murderers, and succeeded in reaching camp very much exhausted. He implicated many of the citizens who received their daily rations from the Government, and several in that vicinity were arrested for trial. The body of Towner was found by the men of his regiment, while out in search of the guerrillas, and carried into camp.--Captain John T. Campbell's Report.
March 14.
Major-General John Pope, from his headquarters, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, issued an official notice to emigrants by the way of the Missouri River and across the upper plains to the Idaho mines, warning them of the dangers of that route from hostile Indians, and recommending them to communicate with General Sully before attempting to pass that way.--A Commission consisting of Captain George P. Edgar, A. D. C., Captain George I, Carney, A. Q. M., and M. Dudley Bean, of Norfolk, were appointed by Major-General Butler, for the purpose of caring for and supplying the needs of the poor white people in Norfolk, Elizabeth City, and Princess Anne counties, Va., who were a charge upon the United States, and employing such as were willing to work and were without employment, etc.--skirmishing occurred at Cheek's Cross-Roads, Tennessee, between Colonel Garrard's National cavalry and Colonel Giltner's rebel troops. The rebels were repulsed.
President Lincoln issued an order calling for two hundred thousand men, in order to supply the force required to be drafted for the navy, and to provide an adequate reserve force for all contingencies, in addition to the five hundred thousand men called for February first.--(Doc. 111.)
March 15.
Owing to the disturbance of the popular mind produced by the enrolment of slaves for the army in Kentucky, Governor Bramlette issued an address to the people of that State, suggesting moderation, and calling upon them “to uphold and maintain the Government as constituted, and obey and enforce its just demands, as the only hope of perpetuating free institutions.” --Fort De Russy, on the Red River, below Alexandria, La., was captured this day by the combined military and naval forces of the United States, under General A. J. Smith and Admiral D. D. Porter.--(Docs. 96 and 131.)
March 16.
A party of guerrillas belonging to Roddy's command made an attack upon the Chattanooga Railroad, at a point between Tullahoma and Estelle Springs, and, after robbing the passengers and committing other outrages, fled on the approach of another train loaded with soldiers. Among other atrocious acts was the following: There were four colored boys on the train acting in the capacity of brakemen, and two black men who were officers' servants. These six poor creatures were placed in a row, and a squad of about forty of the robbers, under a Captain Scott, of Tennessee, discharged their revolvers at them, actually shooting the poor fellows all to pieces.--an engagement took place at a point two miles east of Fort Pillow, Tenn., between a body of Nationals and about one thousand rebels, who were routed with a loss of fifty killed and wounded.
Captains Sawyer and Flynn, who had been held at Libby Prison, under sentence of death, in retaliation for the execution of two rebel spies, hung in Kentucky by General Burnside, were released. They were exchanged for General W. F. Lee and Captain Winder, who were held by the United States as personal hostages for their safety.
The advance of General A. J. Smith's forces, cooperating with General Banks's, and under the command of Brigadier-General John A. Mower, reached Alexandria, La., accompanied by Admiral David D. Porter and his fleet of gunboats.--(Doc. 131.)
March 17.
Colonel William Stokes, in command of the Fifth Tennessee cavalry, surprised a party of rebel guerrillas under Champ Ferguson, at a point near Manchester, Tenn., and after a severe fight routed them, compelling them to [54] leave behind twenty-one in killed and wounded.--this morning, at a little before three o'clock, an attempt was made on Seabrook Island by a large force of rebels, who came down the Chickhassee River in boats. They approached in two large flats, filled with men, evidently sent forward to reconnoitre, with a numerous reserve force further back, to cooperate in case any points were found to be exposed. One of the boats came down to the mouth of Skull Creek, where they attacked a picket-boat containing a corporal and four men of the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania. They first fired three shots and then a whole volley, and succeeded in capturing the boat and those in it, after a severe hand-to-hand fight. Whether there were any casualties could not be ascertained. Further on, meeting an unexpected resistance, they retreated.
Lieutenant-General Grant formally assumed the command of the armies of the United States to-day. The following was his order on the subject:
March 18.
Colonel Stokes's Fifth Tennessee cavalry again overtook Champ Ferguson and his guerrillas on a little stream called Calfkiller River, near where it empties into Caney Fork, Tenn., and there killed eight of them.
The behavior of the rebel brigade under General Pettigrew, at the battle of Gettysburgh, was vindicated in this day's Richmond Enquirer.
March 19.
The correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette, at Washington, Mr. Whitelaw Reid, ( “Agate,” ) wrote as follows concerning the Emancipation Proclamation:
A recent allusion to the fact that Mr. Secretary Chase's pen supplied the concluding sentence of the Emancipation Proclamation, has been received with a surprise that indicates a less general knowledge on the subject than might have been expected. When the final draft of the Proclamation was presented by the President to the Cabinet, it closed with the paragraph stating that the slaves if liberated would be received into the armed service of the United States. Mr. Chase objected to the appearance of a document of such momentous importance without one word beyond the dry phrases necessary to convey its meaning; and finally proposed that there be added to the President's draft the following sentence: “And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.”
Mr. Lincoln adopted the sentence as Mr. Chase wrote it, only interlining after the word “Constitution” the words, “upon military necessity ;” and in that form the Proclamation went to the world, and history. The President originally resolved upon the policy of issuing this Proclamation in the summer of 1862. As he has expressed it himself, every thing was going wrong; we seemed to have put forth about our utmost efforts, and he really didn't know what more to do, unless he did this. Accordingly, he prepared the preliminary Proclamation, nearly in the form in which it subsequently appeared, called the Cabinet together, and read it to them. Mr. Montgomery Blair was startled. “If you issue that proclamation, Mr. President,” he exclaimed, “you will lose every one of the fall elections.” Mr. Seward, on the other hand, said: “I approve of it, Mr. President, just as it stands. I approve of it in principle, and I approve the policy of issuing it. I only object to the time. Send it out now, on the heels of our late disasters, and it will be construed as the convulsive struggle of a drowning man. To give it proper weight, you should reserve it until after some victory.” The President assented to Mr. Seward's [55] view, and it was withheld till the fall, when it was issued almost precisely as originally prepared. The one to which Mr. Chase supplied the concluding sentence was the final Proclamation, issued on the subsequent first of January.
The Legislature of Georgia in both branches to-day adopted Linton Stephens's peace resolutions, earnestly “recommending that our government, immediately after every signal success of our arms, when none can impute its action to alarm instead of a sincere desire for peace, shall make to the government of our enemy an official offer of peace, on the basis of the great principle declared by our common fathers in 1776, accompanied by the distinct expression of a willingness, on our part, to follow that principle to its true logical consequences, by agreeing that any Border State whose preference for our association may be doubted, (doubts having been expressed as to the wishes of the Border States,) shall settle the question for herself, by a convention to be elected for that purpose, after the withdrawal of all military forces on both sides from her limits.” They also adopted his resolution declaring that “the recent act of Congress to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in cases of arrests, ordered by the President, Secretary of War, or general officer commanding the Trans-Mississippi military department, is an attempt to maintain the military in the usurpation of the constitutional judicial functions of issuing warrants, and to give validity to unconstitutional seizures of the persons of the people; and the said act, by its express terms, confines its operation to the upholding of the class of unconstitutional seizures, the whole suspension attempted to be authorized by it, and the whole act itself, are utterly void.” “That in the judgment of this General Assembly, the said act is an alarming assault upon the liberty of the people, without any existing necessity to excuse it, and beyond the power of any possible necessity to justify it; and our Senators and Representatives in Congress are earnestly urged to take the first possible opportunity to have it blotted from the record of our laws.” Both houses also adopted a resolution turning over to the confederate government all persons between the ages of seventeen and eighteen, and forty-five and fifty years. They also unanimously adopted a resolution expressive of confidence in the President, and thanks to the confederate armies for reenlisting for the war.--Mobile Papers.
March 20.
The expedition, composed of the steamers Columbine and Sumter, that left Pilatka, Florida, for Lake George, to capture the rebel steamer Hattie Brock, returned to the former place, having been successful.
This morning, while off Elbow Light, in latitude twenty-six degrees thirty-three minutes north, longitude seventy-six degrees twenty-five minutes west, the United States steamer Tioga overhauled and captured the sloop Swallow, from the Combahee River, South-Carolina, bound to Nassau, N. P. One hundred and eighty bales of cotton, eighty barrels of resin, and twenty-five boxes of tobacco were found on board the prize.--the rebel steamer Florida was captured by the National gunboat Honeysuckle.
March 21.
A battle occurred at Henderson's Hill, La., between a portion of General A. J. Smith's forces, under the command of General John A. Mower, and the rebels under General Richard Taylor, resulting in the defeat and rout of the latter, with a loss of five guns with caissons, four hundred horses, and about two hundred and fifty men, in killed, wounded, and missing. In a skirmish previous to the battle, Colonel H. B. Sargent, of General Banks's staff; was wounded severely.--(Docs. 96 and 131.)
Last night a body of rebels made an attack on the Union pickets, near Jenkins's Island, South-Carolina, but were repulsed at every point by the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania regiment, Colonel Campbell, doing duty at that point. The rebels approached in eight large flatboats, and came in force, evidently with a view of cutting off the pickets. Another attempt to gain a foothold on the island this night was baffled by Captain Kness's company of the Seventy-sixth, which fired several deadly volleys into the boats, and drove them off. No casualties occurred on the Union side in either affair.--the steamer Chesapeake, surrendered by the British authorities, arrived at Portland, Maine.
The rebel steamer Clifton, formerly the United States gunboat of that name, while attempting to run the blockade at Sabine Pass, with over a thousand bales of cotton, got aground on the bar. She remained immovable, and was burned to prevent her from falling into the hands of the Nationals.--the rebel schooner Wild Pigeon was captured by the Hendrick Hudson.
[56]
March 22.
Major-General Lew. Wallace assumed command of the Middle Department, Eighth army corps, headquarters at Baltimore, Md., and issued orders in accordance therewith.--the Supreme Court of Georgia to-day unanimously affirmed the constitutionality of the confederate anti-substitute law.--A heavy snowstorm prevailed in Richmond, Va., and vicinity, the average depth being about one foot.
Major-General Banks, from his Headquarters at New Orleans, Louisiana, issued general orders constituting a Board of Education, and defining their duties and powers.
March 23.
An expedition under the command of General Steele left Little Rock, Ark., and went in pursuit of the rebel General Price.--the following order was issued by Brigadier General Nathan Kimball on assuming command of troops in the department of Arkansas:
The Commanding General intends to protect, to the fullest extent of his power, all citizens who may be in the country occupied by troops under his command, in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; knowing that in so doing he will assist in accomplishing the primary object of the government he serves. He will devote all his energies to the defeat of the enemies of that government; and although, as a soldier, he can feel respect for those openly in arms against it, yet robbers and guerrillas who have taken advantage of the unsettled state of the country to burn dwellings, murder their neighbors, and insult women, are in no respect soldiers, and when taken will not be treated as such. He requires all citizens to aid and assist the officers of the United States Government, and to stand firm in their allegiance to it. The loyal shall be protected, and the sympathizers with rebellion, though they may have taken the oath of allegiance to the Government of the United States, will be treated as rebels, unless they conform, in word and act, to the spirit of that oath.
By order of the Commander-in-Chief, the corps of the Army of the Potomac were reduced to three, namely, the Second, Fifth, and Sixth corps. The First and Third were temporarily reorganized and distributed among the Second, Fifth, and Sixth. Major-General G. K. Warren was assigned to the command of the Fifth corps, General W. S. Hancock continued to command the Second corps, and Major-General Sedgwick the Sixth.
A daring rebel raid was made into the southern part of Green County to within five or six miles of Springfield, Mo., by a band of rebels numbering from eight to twelve, yesterday. Among the number were Louis Brashears and William Fulbright, (youngest son of Ephraim Fulbright,) both formerly of that county. The citizens collected and drove them out of the county to-day, and in a little fight with them killed Fulbright. In their flight southward the rebels killed Elijah Hunt and one Dotson, both of whom had formerly been in the rebel service.--Missouri Democrat, March 30.
March 24.
Major-Gen. Wm. H. French having been detached from the army of the Potomac in consequence of its reorganization, issued his farewell order to his command.--General Neal Dow delivered an address in Portland, Maine, describing his captivity in the South.--the rebel sloop Josephine was captured by the steamer Sunflower, at Saversota Sound.
A large force of rebels, under General Forrest, captured Union City, Ky., and after destroying the buildings, carried off the entire force of Nationals prisoners of war.--(Docs. 1 and 127.)
March 25.
Major-Generals Newton and Pleasanton, having been relieved of their commands in the army of the Potomac, issued general orders in accordance therewith.--Paducah, Kentucky, was attacked by the rebel forces under General Forrest--(Docs. 1, 127, and 139.)
The steamer La Crosse was captured and burned by a party of rebel guerrillas, at a point on the Red River, below Alexandria; her crew was released, but the officers were carried off.
March 26.
President Lincoln issued a proclamation specifying the persons to whom the benefits of the Amnesty Proclamation of December last were intended to apply. He also authorized every commissioned officer in the United States service, either naval or military, to administer the oath of allegiance, and imposed rules for their government, in the premises.--(Doc. 113.)
General Rosecrans, from his headquarters at St. Louis, Mo., issued the following special orders:
The attention of the General Commanding has been called to various articles of an incendiary, disloyal, and traitorous character, in a [57] newspaper entitled the Metropolitan Record, without ecclesiastical sanction, called a “Catholic family newspaper,” published in New York March twenty-sixth, 1864. The articles on “ Conscription,” the “Raid upon Richmond,” “Clouds in the West,” and the “Address of the Legislature of Virginia,” contain enough to satisfy the General Commanding that the reasonable freedom, nor even license, of the press, suffice for the traitorous utterances of those articles. They are a libel on the Catholics, who as a body are loyal and national; no man having a drop of Catholic charity or patriotism in his heart could have written them, expressing, as they do, hatred for the nation's efforts to resist its own dissolution, and friendship for those who are trying to destroy the great free government under which so many have found an asylum from oppression in other lands. The Provost-Marshal General will cause to be seized all numbers of the Metropolitan Record containing those articles; and venders of them, if found guilty of having sold or distributed them, knowing their traitorous contents, will be punished. To protect the innocent from imposition, the circulation of this paper is prohibited in this department until further orders.
An official announcement from Washington was made, that Illinois was twelve thousand four hundred and thirty-six “ahead of all quotas under the calls of President Lincoln for more troops.”
March 27.
Colonel John M. Hughes, commanding the Twenty-fifth Tennessee rebel regiment, made application to Colonel Stokes, in command of the National forces at Sparta, Tenn., for the purpose of taking the oath of allegiance to the United States, and surrendering his command.
March 28.
A riot occurred .at Charleston, Illinois, in which several persons were killed and wounded.--(Doc. 136.)
The election, ordered by Major-General Banks, for delegates to the Constitutional Convention of Louisiana, was held, and resulted in the success of the Free State party.
Two rebel spies were captured in the navy-yard at Mound City, Arkansas, this morning.--an express train, which left Louisville, Ky., this morning, for Lebanon, was captured by a body of guerrillas, and two of the cars were burned. A guard of seventeen National soldiers on the train surrendered without firing a gun.
March 29.
An expedition under Colonel Clayton, from Pine Bluff; made a descent upon a party of rebels who had been committing depredations in the neighborhood of Little Rock, Ark., and captured a large number of them.--the following order was issued by J. P. Sanderson, Provost-Marshal General of the department of the Missouri, from his headquarters at St. Louis: “The sale, distribution, or circulation of such books as ‘Pollard's Southern History of the War,’ ‘ Confederate Official Reports,’ ‘Life of Stonewall Jackson,’ ‘Adventures of Morgan and his Men,’ and all other publications based upon rebel views and representations, being forbidden by the General Commanding, will be suppressed by Provost-Marshals, by seizing the same, and arresting the parties who knowingly sell, dispose, or circulate the same.”
A battle took place this day at Cane River, La., between a portion of the National forces under General Banks, engaged on the expedition up the Red River, and the rebels commanded by General Dick Taylor.--(Doc. 131.)
The United States steamer Commodore Barney, with fifty-six picked men from the Minnesota, all in charge of Captain J. M. Williams, left Fortress Monroe, Va., yesterday afternoon, proceeded up the Chuckatuck Creek, and landed the men in small boats at the head of the creek. They then took a guide to the headquarters of Lieutenant Roy, where they arrived at four o'clock this morning, when they immediately surrounded the houses, and captured two sergeants and eighteen privates, with their small-arms, without firing a shot. Masters Pierson and Wilder had charge of the Minnesota's boats. The capture was important, as the officers taken prisoners were in the rebel signal service.
March 30.
No entry for March 30, 1864.March 31.
Colonel Powell Clayton, from his headquarters at Pine Bluffs, Ark., despatched the following to General Halleck, at Washington: “The expedition to Mount Elba and Long View has just returned. We destroyed the pontoon-bridge at Long View, pursued a train of thirty-five wagons loaded with confederate equipments, ammunition, some stores, etc., and captured three hundred and twenty prisoners; engaged in battle, yesterday morning, General Dockney's division of about one thousand two hundred men, from Monticello; routed and pursued [58] him ten miles, with a loss on his side of over one hundred killed and wounded. We captured a large quantity of small-arms, two stand of colors, many negroes, and have three hundred horses and mules. Our loss will not exceed fifteen in killed, wounded, and missing. We brought in several hundred contrabands. The expedition was a complete success.” --Lieutenant-General Grant, accompanied by General Meade, left Washington for Fortress Monroe.
