The fight between the Alabama and the Hatteras
Mobile, Jan. 23
--The evening papers contain a correspondence of the New Orleans Delta, dated Galveston, January 13th, which says the rebels occupy the city with a force of 5,000 to 7,000 men.--The city is well fortified with batteries all round.
The gunboat Hatteras went in chase of a strange sail on Sunday evening and heavy firing was soon after heard.
The sloop-of-war Brooklyn and the gunboat Sciota started in pursuit, and picked up a boat containing an officer and five men, belonging to the Hatteras, who reported that the Hatteras ranged alongside of the strange steamer, when the stranger opened a furious fire on the Hatteras, and in about twenty minutes the Hatteras stopped, evidently crippled.
The Brooklyn and Sciota cruised all night and found the Hatteras in nine fathoms water. 