We have received copies of Northern papers of Wednesday, the 4th instant, and the evening of that day.
From Thomas's Army.
A telegram from
Nashville, of the 3d, says that all of
Thomas's sick and wounded have been sent back to that place, and that he will soon be heard from in
another direction.
We find the following telegram:
Decatur, Alabama, December 29. --
General Steadman transferred his command to the south bank of the
Tennessee, above this place, night before last, and threw it quickly upon the town.--The enemy; under
Hood, rapidly retreated.
Our cavalry, under
Colonel Polly, Tenth Indiana, captured two 12-pounder guns, with their horses and caissons.--They also took a number of prisoners.
The trains run from this place to
Chattanooga.
A letter from
General Sherman's brother, at
Savannah, says that, on the 26th ultimo, a portion of the army commenced moving.
Completion of Butler's canal — the bulkhead blown out--fifteen feet of water in the canal.
A letter to the Philadelphia
Inquirer, from
Butler's headquarters on the 1st, announces the completion of the canal and the blasting out of its upper end on that day. It says:
‘
The long-expected blasting of the upper end of the famous
Dutch Gap canal occurred at 4 o'clock this afternoon.
To effect its removal, it was to be blasted with gunpowder.
As a preliminary to this, it was desirable to diminish, as far as possible, the mass of earth to be blown out, and a large diagonal slice, sloping inward, was taken off the top of the bulkhead.
It was also detached from the solid ground on either side of it by cutting narrow fissures down to the level of the water.
’
The mine was sunk to the depth of twenty feet below the bottom of the canal, being kept dry during the process of its excavation and alter its completion by means of two hand pumps and an air pump.
From the main shaft diverged five separate galleries, one of which was placed several feet forward under the bed of the river.
In these galleries were placed an aggregate of six tons of gun-powder.
Fuses were prepared, and by the first day of the new year everything was in readiness for blowing away the barrier and allowing the waters of the
James to flow freely through the new channel dug for them.
This afternoon,
General Butler, with most of the officers of his staff, rode down to the gap to witness the culminating act of the great enterprise of which he was the author, and in which he has taken so deep an interest.
There was some delay in arranging the fuse, but as the New year's sun began to redden in the west, and somewhat less than an hour before its setting, the explosion occurred.
It was attended with but a slight report; and although dust was thrown to the height of one hundred feet, the concussion was barely sufficient to crack the ice on a mud puddle near the edge of the crevice.
Not having been tried by the actual passage of vessels through it, it would, perhaps, be a premature for me to assert now that the canal is positively a success; but it is so regarded by those who have the best opportunities of knowing.
The natural inquiry of the public mind now will be as to the effect of the completion of the canal.
Well! however eminently successful it may prove, it, of course, will not enable us to steam straight up to
Richmond with our monitors.
Twenty rebel cannon bear directly on its upper end, and the river above is barred with obstructions and its channel thickly sown with torpedoes.
Incidentally, these obstructions have done us one service in preventing the rebel gunboats from coming down below the left flank of our line north of the
James, as they were able to do before the expected opening of the canal compelled the enemy to obstruct the river.
There is abundance of work to do above the gap before our gunboats can proceed much higher, but there are doubtless means by which this work can be accomplished, and the advantage of being able to commence hostile operations above, instead of being obliged to commence six miles below, is self-evident.
The correspondent adds that there are fifteen feet of water now in the canal.
The Louisville
Press contains a notice of the latest exploits of
Sue Mundy, the celebrated female guerrilla.
It says:
‘
Thursday last,
Captain McCormick and
Surgeon Shark, of the Seventh Pennsylvania cavalry, left camp at
Bardstown for the purpose of visiting the family of
Mr. Grigsby, one and a half miles from town.
While the two gentlemen were sitting in
Mr. Grigsby's parlor conversing with the ladies, they were surprised by the sudden appearance of
Sue Mundy, at the head of a gang of thirteen desperadoes.
Two officers, finding resistance useless, immediately surrendered.
Sue Mundy was apprised of the fact by one of
Mr. Grigsby's daughters, who begged her to spare the lives of the two men.
’
She replied by cursing her, and told her she would be his own judge, at the same time walking up to
Captain McCormick and shooting him through the head.
She then shot
Dr. Shark through the breast.
Both men died almost instantly.
The gang then left in the direction of
Bloomfield, where they have their headquarters.
The citizens recognized among the scoundrels a man by the name of
Turner, from
Bardstown, who was sent across the river some weeks ago to remain during the war.
This gang has been prowling around
Bardstown for the past week.
They have sworn to kill every Federal soldier caught by them.
They rob everybody, and are a terror to the whole county.
General Long, as soon as he heard of the murder of the two officers, sent scouting parties in all directions, with instructions to kill all guerrillas captured.
We have not learned whether any of the party were caught.
The bodies of
Captain McCormick and
Surgeon Shark were brought to the city yesterday, to be forwarded to their friends in
Pennsylvania.
Francis P. Blair, about whom so much has been written in the
Confederacy because of the New York
Tribune's crediting him with a peace commission, returned to
Washington on Monday, having "finished an agreeable and friendly visit to
General Grant. " A telegram says he saw no one from the rebel Government except some deserters and refugees.--The Philadelphia
Inquirer, announcing the return of the two
Blairs, says:
‘
The
quid nunes, having settled beyond dispute that diplomacy was their errand, are now withdrawing the assertion, by gradual modifications, and preparing for the final confession that they were mistaken.
The first modification of the story is, that
General Grant refused to give passes to the Messrs.
Blair, which, if they had the authority which was ascribed to them, would not have been refused.
Next we are told that the Blairs had no public mission, but that they hoped to get back a large number of letters from prominent politicians throughout the country which were taken by
Breckinridge at
Silver Spring.
These missives might reveal many secrets concerning the ins and outs of partisan movements.
The idea of their obtaining such a boon from
Jeff. Davis, whose stock of correspondence was captured at his plantation in
Mississippi and published to the world, is rather absurd.
If the letters of the Blairs contained damaging political revelations,
Davis would be the first man to revenge himself by making them public.
The latest statement in regard to this matter is, that the Blairs went to the army merely upon a trip for the purpose of seeing the troops and making then selves familiar with the situation at
Petersburg.
They are intelligent men, and what they saw will be of advantage to them in all time.
If they have had greatness thrust upon them by the gossips, they may comfort themselves that their forced honors were of brief duration, and that they may soon return to a life of case and dignity, undisturbed by ambassadorial anxieties.
’
Seward and the Foreign relation question.
The Northern papers publish, by telegraph from
Washington, an editorial from the Richmond
Sentinel concluding with this paragraph:
If France and England will enter into a treaty with these Confederate States, recognizing our nationality and guaranteeing our independence upon the abolition of slavery in all these States, rather than continue the war we should be prepared to urge the measure upon our readers. We believe such a proposition would be favorably received and acted upon by those nations, and it
ought to be made to them.
Accompanying the telegram is the following explanation:
The following editorial from the Richmond
Sentinel has been deemed by
Secretary Seward of such importance, and so truly representing the condition of the
South and
Jeff. Davis's own intentions, that he has ordered copies of it to be sent to our foreign leaders, to show that the rebel Government is admitted by their own ministers to be a failure, and that, already exhausted and worn out, they are seeking for some port of refuge; and this being the case, that they be no longer considered as "belligerents." Those most familiar with
Jeff. Davis and his writings declare this to be from his pen.
A Yankee summary for the past year.
The Cincinnati
Commercial criticises the war summary of the past year as published in the
Gazette of that city.--The article and quotations shows what sort of falsehoods the
Yankee public are regaled with:
The
Gazette of Saturday last devoted a page to a summary of the history of the war for the year 1864, which it calls the "Balance Sheet" for the year.
Now, if a balance sheet is of any account, it must be correct.
If the statements of facts in an historical synopsis are not made with exactitude, it would be better to omit them.
It would be difficult for a publisher to employ himself more unprofitably than in the issue of an indigested mass of unreliable matter, in the name of history, when there has been ample opportunity to arrive at the truth.
The historical review made by the
Gazette, commencing with an essay on Time, (in which we are solemnly informed that we "reckon the lapse of time" by "seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years and centuries,") and concluding with some stanzas by
Longfellow, in which the poetic word "propulsion" is employed, is a collection of crudities stupidly prolific of adjectives, and constantly inaccurate.
There is hardly a single event fairly related.
As regards the taste and judgment displayed, we are reminded in nearly every paragraph of the most wonderful massacres of rebels on all occasions, and the superhuman valor of our troops, which took place in newspaper correspondence during the first months of the war.
General A. J. Smith is accused of taking five thousand prisoners from
Forrest in
Mississippi, which is fresh news.
Two hundred negroes are said to have defended fifteen hundred white troops from the rebels near
Colliersville, and saved them.
This, too, is perfectly original.
General R. E. Lee had a son killed on the Woldon railroad!
The bereaved parent should be informed of his loss.
He has not heard of it.
General Hill, the
Gazette says, was killed at the same time.
But he still consumes his rations regularly.
General Hancock's rush upon the enemy at
Spotsylvania, in which he captured
Major-General Edward Johnson, of
Virginia, and his division, is styled "a splendid charge by
General Burnside."
Further:
"On Wednesday, another action took place, in which
General Grant was entirely successful, and a complete victory was achieved.
General Lee was driven out of
Spotsylvania and our forces pursued."
Lee was not driven out of
Spotsylvania until he was "flanked" out. "
Entire success" and "
complete victory" were not achieved in that neighborhood.
A paragraph or two further along, the remarkable historian of the
Gazette seems to have found this out, for he says:
‘
"On Friday night and Saturday,
General Grant flanked
Lee's position on the right, and compelled him to abandon his fortified position in front of Spotsylvania Courthouse."
’
Now, if on Wednesday,
Grant was entirely successful, won a complete victory, and drove
Lee "
out of Spotsylvania," and pursued him, how did it happen that on the following night and Saturday following,
Grant flanked
Lee and compelled him to abandon his fortified positions "
in front" of the very place he had already whipped him out of?
If the pursuit of
Lee, after he had been driven out of
Spotsylvania, brought him in front of the place, and placed him in fortifications there, it is a pity he had not been let alone after he was whipped.
However inaccurate the
Gazette is as to Eastern operations, one would naturally suppose a Western paper might know something of Western affairs, but take the following as a sample of the "balance sheet" of
Sherman's
Atlanta campaign:
"Without any serious loss, our forces pressed on, and compelled
Johnston to retire within the defences of
Atlanta.
The trap of which the rebel papers had given us so much warning, as set for
Sherman, seems likely to be sprung upon
Johnston.
The enemy ventured but one desperate effort before retiring to the city.
Our forces had crossed the river and entrenched themselves.
The rebels gathered up all their strength and summoned all their courage for a final effort.
They made three separate assaults on the 20th, without any other result than fearful loss to themselves of over six thousand, and hopeless repulse.
This time, for the first since we left
Chattanooga, we had the advantage of defences, and our loss was comparatively light, being put at two thousand.
"All rebeldom now took the alarm.
Faith in their old and honored general subsided, and his series of retreats were considered as the results of an indisposition to fight at any risk of a defeat.--Accordingly,
General Joseph E. Johnston was superseded by
General Hood.
"The battles of Wednesday admitted our forces into the suburbs of
Atlanta; but they rendered another trial of arms necessary on Friday, the 23d.
This conflict was the most terrible of the campaign.
"The conflicts of Wednesday and Friday were emphatically the battles of
Atlanta, and portions of the city were consumed while they raged."
The number and extent of the blunders in this paragraph are surprising.
It could not have been written by one who was in a decent degree informed of the history of the campaign.
Our forces were not entrenched on the 20th of July, when the
battle of Peachtree creek was fought.
Newton's division, whose position was on the left of
Hooker's corps, were building a barricade of rails when the enemy's columns rushed against them, but
Hooker's men, on whom the heaviest of the fighting fell, had no protection.
Ward's division, everybody who has read of the battle knows, met the enemy's charge by a counter-charge, and the opposing masses were in the open field and the hostile ranks were mixed, and the fighting hand- to-hand, before the rebels were routed.--If the
Gazette's historian does not believe this, let him go to General
Hooker and inquire whether his men were entrenched on the 20th of July last!--"All rebeldom
now" (after the battle of the 20th), the
Gazette says, ‘"took the alarm and lost confidence in
Johnston."’ The farewell address of
General Johnston was dated on the 17th and issued on the 18th of July. The battle of the 20th was
Hood's first "killing." Besides, rebeldom never lost faith in
General Joseph Johnston.
Not to know that
Johnston was removed before the battles near
Atlanta were fought, is to be in a state of utter ignorance of the whole matter.
The
Gazette's Friday, the 23d, was the 22d, and the portions of the city that were consumed, while the battles of the 20th and 22d raged, were probably the buildings over which the
Gazette correspondent saw the flag of the
Union flying when he dated his letter at
Atlanta in a "spirit of exultation," two months before our troops entered the city.
Miscellaneous.
Gold is going up. It was quoted at 233 in New York on Wednesday.
The Maryland Legislature meets to-morrow.
Doctor Cox,
lieutenant governor, now has the casting vote in the Senate, which gives a Union control to that body, provided all the members are present.
It is stated that, a few days before the surrender of
Savannah,
General Sherman intimated to his division commanders that the first one to enter the city should be made military governor after its capture.
General John W. Geary, of
Philadelphia, was the lucky man.
General Rosecrans is urged for the command of the Army of the Potomac.
Navigation on the
Potomac is suspended by an ice blockade.
Strong delegations to
Washington are urging
Admiral Dupont as the successor of
Secretary Welles.
Here is a "personal" advertisement from the New York
Herald of last week: "A splendid female infant (blonde), of aristocratic parentage, to be adopted out. Apply to
Mrs. Worcester, No. 539 Hudson street."
Judge Wayne, of the United States Supreme Court, was, on Thursday, refused a pass to go to
Georgia to look after his property there, recently passed over by
Sherman.
It is said that
A. T. Stewart, of New York, lately paid an income tax of $250,000 upon a net income of $5,000,000.--He does a business of $30,000,000 a year, and has $14,000,000 invested in
real estate.
A. T. might retire on his income.
