August
August 1.
Jefferson Davis issued an address to the people of the States in rebellion, calling upon them to hasten to the camps of the rebel armies, all persons who had absented themselves without leave, and granting an amnesty to all who should return to duty before the expiration of twenty days. (Doe. 113.)--the English steamer Peterhoff was condemned at New York, by the United States Prize Court, for carrying contraband of war at the time of capture.--A party of rebels made an attack upon a one of the new Union batteries, in course of erection on Morris Island, S. C., and were repulsed with considerable loss.
The funeral of Brigadier-General George C. Strong, who fell in the attack on Fort Wagner, July eighteenth, took place at New York City.--the monitor Canonicus was successfully launched from the works of Harrison Loring, at East-Boston, Mass.--the Fourth and Seventh United States army corps were discontinued by order of the Secretary of War.
This morning General Buford's cavalry division crossed the Rappahannock River, at the Rappahannock Station, and shortly afterward encountered a brigade of Stuart's rebel cavalry, which they attacked, The rebels were soon reenforced by the balance of General Stuart's command, who fought with obstinacy, but they were driven back to within one mile of Culpeper. Here a division of infantry made its appearance, and the Union troops, finding they were in danger of being outflanked, slowly fell back, followed by the enemy's artillery, cavalry, and infantry. General Buford soon secured an eligible position, and for some hours held the whole rebel force at bay. The fighting was obstinate, and the loss on both sides severe. The Union troops, although greatly outnumbered, heroically held their position, and repulsed every assault of the enemy. General Buford was shortly afterward reenforced by the First corps of our army, and the combined force soon compelled the rebels to cease their attack. The loss of the Nationals was one hundred and forty, sixteen of whom were killed.
The Richmond Sentinel published the following this day: “A lecture at the Bethel meeting-house, Union Hill, to-morrow forenoon, is announced. The subject is, ‘The Northern States of America the most likely location of the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, in which the Beast and the False Prophet will be tormented.’ The lecturer will have the prejudices of his audience on his side.”
August 2.
Five hundred rebel prisoners were taken by four companies of the “Lost children,” New York volunteers, on an island in the rear of Folly Island, in Charleston harbor.
August 3.
The exigencies under which one hundred thousand militia, for six months service, from the States of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West-Virginia were called out by the President's proclamation of June fifteenth, 1863, having passed, it was ordered by the President that enlistments under that call be discontinued.--Horatio Seymour addressed a letter to President Lincoln, requesting him to suspend the draft for troops in New York, and elaborately setting forth his reasons therefore.--the lighthouse on Smith's Island, in the Chesapeake Bay, was destroyed by a party of rebels.
August 4.
The draft in Philadelphia, Pa., and Oswego, N. Y., was completed this day.--the [40] launch of the National steamer Wabash, containing a crew of twenty-two men, under the command of Acting Master E. L. Haines, of the gunboat Powhatan, and carrying a twelve-pound howitzer, was captured by the rebel blockade-runner Juno, near Cummings Point, in Charleston Harbor.--A force of rebel cavalry attacked General Buford's pickets, near Rappahannock Station, but were repulsed and driven back beyond Brandy Station, with slight loss. The National loss was one killed and two wounded.--the steamer Ruth, with two million five hundred thousand dollars in funds, belonging to the United States, was burned on the Mississippi River.
August 5.
Major-General Foster, with the iron-clad Sangamon and the gunboats Commodore Barney, General Jessup, and Cohasset made an expedition up the James River. At a point seven miles from Fort Darling, near Dutch Gap, a torpedo was exploded under the bows of the Commodore Barney, by a lock-string connected with the shore. The explosion was terrific. It lifted the gunboat's bows full ten feet out of the water, and threw a great quantity of water high into the air, which, falling on the deck, washed overboard fifteen of the crew. Among them was Lieutenant Cushing, the Commander of the Commodore Barney. Two sailors were drowned. All the rest were saved. Major-General Foster was on board the boat when the explosion took place. The rebels then opened upon them from the shore with a twelve-pound field-piece. The Barney was penetratedt by fifteen shots, beside a great number of musket-balls; but not a man was injured except the paymaster, who was slightly wounded by splinters. The gunboat Cohasset received five twelve-pound shots, one of which passed through her pilot-house and instantly killed her Commander, Acting Master Cox, striking him in the back.--A brisk skirmish took place near Brandy Station, Va., between a party of National troops under the command of General Merritt and Colonel Davis, and a large number of rebels, resulting in the retreat of the latter, with a loss of two killed and one wounded. The National loss was one killed and two wounded.
August 6.
Eight sutlers' wagons, returning from the front, were captured by Mosby's rebel guerrillas, at a point between Washington, D. C., and Fairfax Court-House, Va.--thanksgiving was celebrated throughout the loyal States; business was generally suspended and religious exercises were held in the various churches.--at Richmond, Va., “ enough of companies composed of youths below the conscript age will speedily be formed to take the place of veteran troops now doing guard-duty in Richmond. Captain Figner is enrolling a company of youth between the ages of fifteen and eighteen for Major Munford's battalion, and they are specially designed to take the place of a North-Carolina company stationed here. The enrolling quarters of the company are corner of Third and Broad streets. Only a few more youths are wanted to complete the organization.”--Richmond Examiner.
A disturbance between a party of secessionists and the National soldiers stationed at the place, occurred at Visalia, a town in Tulare County, California, during which one soldier was killed and several secessionists wounded.--the ship Francis B. Cutting was captured and bonded, in latitude 41° 10′, longitude 44° 20′, by the rebel privateer Florida.
August 7.
The Twenty-first and Twenty-fifth regiments of Maine volunteers, passed through Boston, Mass., on their return from the seat of war.--President Lincoln declined to suspend the draft in the State of New York, in accordance with the request given by Governor Seymour in his letter of August 3.
August 8.
To secure and preserve discipline, provide against disaster from the elements or attack by the enemy, an older was issued from the War Department, compelling the organization of troops on board government transports, and regulating their transportation.--Governor Horatio Seymour, of New York, replied to the letter of President Lincoln, relative to the draft.
This morning, the rebel steamer Robert Habersham, which had been occupied in watching the Union advance movement up the Savannah River, was entirely destroyed by an explosion of her boiler, while lying off Scrieven's Ferry. The entire crew were either killed or mortally injured.
A special order was issued by Brigadier-General Mercer, in command at Savannah, Ga., impressing into the rebel service, one fifth of the able-bodied male slaves in Eastern, Southern, and South-western Georgia. for the purpose of erecting additional fortifications for the defence [41] of Savannah. “Transportation will be furnished them and wages paid at the rate of twenty-five dollars per month. The Government will be responsible for the value of such negroes as may be killed by the enemy or may in any manner fall into his hands.”
The gunboat Sagamore captured the sloop Clara Louisa, and schooners Southern Rights, Shot, and Ann, while endeavoring to evade the blockade of Key West, Florida.
August 9.
A reconnoissance under Major Warden, of General Ransom's staff, to Woodville, seventy miles from Natchez, Miss., destroyed five locomotives, forty-three platform and twelve passenger cars; and burned a rebel cotton factory at Woodville, and also cotton and manufacturing goods to the value of two hundred thousand dollars.
Join L. Chatfield, Colonel of the Sixth regiment of Connecticut volunteers, died at Waterbury, from wounds received in the assault on Fort Wagner, of July eighteenth.
August 10.
Major-General Grant, at his headquarters at Vicksburgh, Miss., issued an order, establishing camps “for such freed people of color as are out of employment at all military posts within his department, where slavery had been abolished by the proclamation of the President of the United States;” and setting forth rules for their government.
At Chicago, Ill., the City Council unanimously passed an ordinance providing for an appropriation for raising bounties for volunteers, to act as substitutes for the drafted men who were unable to leave their homes or raise three hundred dollars for exemption.
August 11.
A meeting of the citizens of North-Carolina, representing every county in the First and Second Congressional districts and a portion of the Third, was held at Washington, N. C. The First North-Carolina Union regiment, stationed at that point, participated in the meeting. Addresses were made and resolutions adopted expressing sympathy with the great conservative movement of North-Carolina, declaring an energetic prosecution of the war in that department to be the only means by which the Union sentiment in the interior of the State could be made practically useful in restoring her to the national jurisdiction, asking the Government for reenforcements for this purpose, accusing the confederate government of perfidy and cruelty toward North-Carolina, declaring that her people were therefore absolved from any further obligations to sustain it, placing the responsibility for the destruction of slavery upon Jefferson Davis and his co-conspirators against the Union, expressing the belief that North-Carolina would, notwithstanding, find ample compensation in the blessings of free labor for the present inconveniences of emancipation, rejoicing in the recent Union victory at the Kentucky election, denouncing copperheadism at the North, and commending the ability and patriotism of the Administration in the conduct of the war, and especially in the sound national currency originated by the Secretary of the Treasury.--President Lincoln closed the correspondence with the Governor of New York relative to the draft.
August 12.
The One Hundred and Twenty-third Illinois regiment, mounted infantry, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Biggs, returned to Winchester, Tenn., from a trip into Alabama, with the aim of disbanding a party of bandits, near the junction of Larkin's Fork and Point Rock River. About three hundred of the Eleventh Texas regiment were encountered and driven back, being closely followed a considerable distance down Point Rock River. A number of prisoners were taken, and refugees, issuing from their hiding-places among the mountains, poured in continually until Colonel Biggs's command withdrew toward Winchester.
The United States steamer Wateree was launched at Chester, Pa., this morning.
August 13.
A gunboat reconnoissance from Clarendon, up the White River, Ark., was made by the steamers Lexington, Cricket, and Mariner, under the command of Captain Bodie. They returned in the evening, bringing as prizes the steamers Tom Suggs and Kaskaskia. They also destroyed two mills used by the rebel army for grinding corn, and a pontoon-bridge across the Little Red River. The casualties on the Union side were five men wounded, two of whom died.
An expedition under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Phillips, of the Ninth Illinois infantry, left La Grange, Tennessee, for Central Mississippi.--Major-General Burnside issued an order regulating the employment and subsistence of negro laborers.
This night a party of rebel cavalry made a descent upon a signal station, located on Water [42] Mountain, near Warrenton, Va., capturing every thing except the officers and one glass. Sixteen horses, several wagons, the camp equipage, together with a number of telescopes, fell into the hands of the rebels. The officers had sufficient warning to enable them to escape before the enemy reached them, but their private property was lost.--the first full regiment of colored men, raised in Pennsylvania, left Philadelphia by steamer for Morris Island, S. C., to reenforce the army under General Gillmore.
Colonel Catherwood, commanding the Sixth Missouri cavalry, sent the following despatch to headquarters, from his camp at Pineville, Mo.:
Colonel Coffee attacked me to-day, and was completely routed, with over thirty killed and wounded. We have a large number of prisoners, all his ammunition wagons, commissary stores, arms, horses, cattle, etc. We scattered all his force except two hundred with himself. Our force is following him closely. My horses are so worn down that they cannot move further until rested. Colonel Hirsch, just in, reports that he killed thirty-five and wounded a large number.
August 14.
Major-General Warren assumed temporary command of the Second army corps of the army of the Potomac.--A small party of rebels made a descent upon Poolesville, Md., capturing the telegraph operator and his instruments, and destroying the wires. After robbing the merchants in the village, they retired.--Brigadier-General Thomas Welch, commanding the First division of the Ninth army corps, died at Cincinnati, Ohio.
August 15.
Major-General Rosecrans issued an order, holding the citizens in the Department of the Cumberland responsible for guerrilla operations.--(Doc. 150.)
August 16.
The rebel steamer Cronstadt, from Wilmington, N. C., for Nassau, N. P., was captured by the Union gunboat Rhode Island, at a point forty miles from Abaco.--the letter from president Lincoln to the Union Convention at Springfield, Ill., was made public. It is remarkable for its plain strong sense, and for directness of purpose and clearness of language.--Bridgeport, Alabama, was evacuated by the rebel forces.--the rebel blockade-runner, Alice Vivian, was captured by the United States steamer, De Soto, under the command of Captain William M. Walker.
August 17.
The bombardment of Fort Sumter commenced this morning at daybreak, by the siege-batteries, and the naval shore battery. under General Gillmore, assisted by the Ironsides and the entire monitor fleet, led by Admiral Dahlgren. Fort Gregg, the innermost battery of the rebels on Morris Island, and Fort Wagner, were silenced. A shot from the latter fort struck the monitor Catskill, and, forcing off a portion of the interior lining of the ship, instantly killed Commander Rodgers and Paymaster Woodbury.--(See Supplement.)
Major-General Dix, from his headquarters at New York, issued an address to the citizens of that place, in view of the enforcement of the draft, about to take place, imploring them to preserve order.
Robert Toombs, of Georgia, addressed the following letter to Dr. A. Bees of Americus, in the same State:
my dear Sir: Your letter of the fifteenth instant, asking my authority to contradict the report that ‘I am in favor of reconstruction,’ was received this evening. I can conceive of no extremity to which my country could be reduced in which I would for a single moment entertain any proposition for any union with the North on any terms whatever. When all else is lost, I prefer to unite with the thousands of our own countrymen who have found honorable deaths, if not graves, on the battle-field. Use this letter as you please.
The rebel steamer Nita, having sailed from Havana, on the thirteenth, was captured by the Union steamer De Soto, in lat. 29° 45′, long. 86° 40′, while attempting to violate the blockade.--the Fourth Massachusetts and Twenty-eighth Maine regiments passed through Buffalo, New York, en route for home.--an order, regulating the discharge of prisoners, was issued from the War Department.
Captain Wm. S. Hotchkiss, commander of the Union gunboat General Putnam, was killed while engaged in an expedition up the Piankatank River, Va., by a party of guerrillas.
August 18.
Lieutenant Bross, with a detachment of the Engineer regiment, on an expedition about twelve miles south of Pocahontas, Ark., was attacked by Colonel Street's company, at a point where defence was difficult. After a brief skirmish, Lieutenant Bross drew his men in line of battle, and charged upon the rebels, who broke and ran. They were chased for five miles, when [43] four were captured, with several of their horses and mules. Colonel Street was among those pursued. He was subsequently discovered and chased, and pressed so hard, that he jumped from his horse, and hid himself in a swamp and undergrowth. In Street's saddle-bags were found the pay-roll of a company of the First Mississippi militia, as follows: One hundred and fifty men all told, twenty-two prisoners of war, forty-two absent without leave, and nine turned over to another company, leaving his present strength seventy-one men.--the British steamer Hebe was run ashore near New Inlet, N. C., and afterward destroyed by the United States steamer Niphon. One of the Niphon's boats was swamped, and her crew captured by the rebels, who lined the shore, firing on the boats charged with the destruction of the Hebe.--The Forty-seventh regiment of Massachusetts volunteers, under the command of Colonel Marsh, returned to Boston, from the seat of war.--the bombardment of Fort Sumter was continued.
August 19.
Drafting commenced in New York City, and was conducted without any disturbance. Governor Seymour issued a proclamation, counselling peace and submission to the draft, and repeating his determination to test the constitutionality of the law under which the draft was made.
August 20.
Acting Brigadier-General B. F. Onderdonk, First New York Mounted Rifles, and two companies of the Eleventh Pennsylvania cavalry, returned to Portsmouth, Va., from a raid into North-Carolina. They passed through Edenton, N. C., and opened communication with Captain Roberts, in command at South-Mills. Thence they proceeded to Pasquotank and Hertford, and while about half-way between the two places,were attacked by the guerrillas, and in the skirmish lost two mounted riflemen. They killed thirty guerrillas, and drove several into the Dismal Swamp, where they were drowned; captured ninety horses, thirty mules, and other cattle.--(Doc. 159.)
Colonel Wilder's cavalry, the advance of the army of the Cumberland, reached the eastern base of Waldon's Ridge, en route to Chattanooga.--General Beauregard, at Charleston, S. C., issued an order relative to the observation of fast-day, appointed by Jefferson Davis.
August 21.
Roger A. Pryor, a brigadier-general in the rebel army, resigned his commission.--Lawrence, Kansas, was invaded and pillaged by a band of rebel guerrillas, under the command of the chief Quantrell.--(Doc. 119.)
General Gillmore, having rendered Fort Sumter untenable as a fortification, demanded its surrender, together with the rebel forts on Morris Island, threatening to shell Charleston, should his demand not be complied with.--(See Supplement.)
The United States ship Bainbridge foundered in a storm off Cape Hatteras, and seventy-nine of the crew were lost.
Chattanooga was shelled by the National forces under Colonel Wilder. The cannonade commenced at ten o'clock in the morning, and continued at intervals until five o'clock in the afternoon. Every piece from which the rebels opened was eventually silenced, although they fired with not less than nineteen guns. The only casualty on the Union side was the wounding of one man, Corporal Abram McCook, belonging to Lilly's battery.--General Meade issued an order regulating the circulation of newspapers in the army of the Potomac.--the rebel steamer Everglade, while endeavoring to run out of Savannah River, was overhauled and sunk near Tybee Island. Twenty-two of her passengers and crew were captured.
August 22.
The bombardment of Fort Sumter was continued and finally reduced to a ruin, although not captured by the Nationals. Six hundred and four shots were fired at the Fort during the day, of which four hundred and nineteen struck inside and outside. The east wall was crushed and breached so that the shot swept through the Fort, the parapet was undermined, the north-west wall knocked down, and all the guns dismounted.--(See Supplement.)
A detachment of the Twelfth Pennsylvania cavalry, under command of Captain Gerry, were ordered by Acting Brigadier-General L. B. Pierce on a reconnaissance from Martinsburgh, Va. Going to Bunker Hill, and thence to Leetown, they encountered the enemy, and captured a number of the rebel Gillmore's men, one lieutenant and one horse, and returned to camp this afternoon without loss.
No attention having been paid to General Gillmore's demand for the surrender of Fort Sumter, and other rebel works in Charleston harbor, heavy rifled shells were thrown into Charleston, from a battery located in a marsh five miles distant from that city — a range, before [44] that time never attained by any piece of artillery known to the world; General Beauregard protested against the bombardment as “inhuman and unheard of.”
The United States gunboats Satellite and Reliance were captured to-night off the mouth of the Rappahannock River, by a party of rebels, under the command of Lieutenant Commander J. Taylor Wood, of the rebel navy.--Colonel Wilder, with a force belonging to the army of the Cumberland, crossed the Tennessee River, opposite Shell Mound, and burned the railroad bridge over the Nicojack, destroying for the time all communication between the rebels at Chattanooga and those in the vicinity of Bridgeport, Ala.--A riot occurred at Danville, Ill., in which three citizens were killed and a number wounded.--the schooner Wave, having run the blockade at San Luis Pass, near Galveston, Texas, was captured by the National gunboat Cayuga.
The expedition to Central Mississippi, which left La Grange, Tenn., on the thirteenth instant, returned this day, having met with the greatest success. The force consisted of detachments of the Third Michigan, Second Iowa, Eleventh Illinois, Third Illinois, Fourth Illinois, and Ninth Illinois cavalry, and a part of the Ninth Illinois mounted infantry, all under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Phillips, of the Ninth Illinois infantry. They left the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and proceeded by different routes to Oxford, Miss., where the force united and moved on to Grenada, via Water Valley and Coffeeville, meeting with but little opposition till the seventeenth instant, when within eight miles of Grenada. Here the rebels began to oppose their further progress. But they pushed steadily forward, driving the enemy before them and compelling him to fly from behind his fortifications at Grenada, and the victorious troops entered the town with the loss of but one man. The rebel loss is unknown. Several of their wounded were found in the hospital at that place. The Unionists captured quite a number of prisoners. During the evening Colonel Phillips was joined by a force of eight hundred cavalry from Vicksburgh, under the command of Colonel Winslow, of the Fourth Iowa cavalry. The result of the capture was that the Unionists came into possession of sixty-five locomotives and five hundred cars. As the enemy had destroyed the railroad bridges across the Tallabusha River before he retreated from the town, it was wholly impracticable to run the stock North, and so it was given over to the flames, together with the large railroad buildings belonging to the Mississippi Central and Mississippi and Tennessee railroads, which form a junction at that place. Probably the value of the property destroyed was not less than three millions of dollars, and the loss to the rebels is wholly irreparable. The forces of Colonel Winslow and Lieutenant-Colonel Phillips were joined together here, and proceeded northward on the line of the Mississippi and Tennessee Railroad, meeting with but little opposition on the route. After crossing the Tallahatchie River at Panola, the forces separated, and the Vicksburghers proceeded to Memphis, and the rest of the forces to their respective camps on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.
August 23.
Fort Fisher, situated below Wilmington, N. C., was bombarded by the National frigate Minnesota.
August 24.
A party of Missouri cavalry, under the command of Colonel R. G. Woodrow, made a descent upon Pocahontas, Ark., and succeeded in routing and capturing a number of rebels, among whom was Brigadier-General Jeff Thompson.--(Doc. 154.) General Gillmore, in a despatch from his headquarters on Morris Island, S. C., reported the partial demolition of Fort Sumter, as the result of seven days bombardment of that work.--Charleston was again shelled by the troops under General Gillmore.--(See Supplement.)
A meeting of a portion of the people of Cumberland County, Va., was held this day, at which the. following resolutions were unanimously adopted: Resolved, That we heartily approve of the action of our Governor in calling an extra session of the Legislature for the purposes designated. Resolved, That whereas we are engaged in a war for the maintenance of principles dear to every freeman, and that we are firmly resolved to prosecute this war under all circumstances and through whatever disasters may befall us, until our independence is established; therefore, we do request our representatives in the Senate and House of Delegates to advocate the passage of a bill for the enrolment, organization, and drilling, for home defence, of all capable of rendering such service, who are not already subject to military duty.
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A skirmish took place at Coyle's Tavern, on Little River turnpike, near Fairfax, Va., between a detachment of the Second Massachusetts cavalry and Mosby's guerrillas. The Nationals, numbering only twenty-five, were attacked front and rear at the same time, but fought manfully. Their loss was two killed, three wounded, and nine taken prisoners, together with all the horses they had in charge, fifteen of which, however, were afterward recaptured, leaving eighty-five still in the hands of the enemy. The loss of the enemy was one captain and one lieutenant killed, and one lieutenant and three privates wounded. Mosby was himself wounded in two places, side and thigh. Colonel Lowell pursued the enemy from Centreville as far as Snicker's Gap, but they succeeded in making their escape by reason of having constant remounts of fresh horses.--Fitzhugh Lee, with a rebel cavalry force, crossed the Rappahannock River near Corbin's Neck, six miles below Fredericksburgh, but was soon driven back by the brigade of General Custer, with a loss in prisoners of three engineer officers, and a number of privates killed and wounded. The Union loss was slight.--the Richmond Whig of this day contained the following: “A Southern paper, some weeks ago, threw out a suggestion that the Confederacy should arm some five or six hundred thousand negroes, and precipitate them upon the Yankees. The suggestion was doubtless to frighten the Yankees; but it has imposed upon a few of our own people. The proposition is too preposterous for serious discussion. It is enough to say it would be exchanging a profitable laborer for a very unprofitable soldier. Let the Yankees have negro armies. Nothing but their cowardice could have betrayed them into such a folly. They use the poor creatures as breastworks, but thus far with very little advantage. The Southern people are willing to employ their slaves in any way that would tell best against the enemy. But it has yet to appear that they can do so in any manner so effective as in raising food for our armies. Some may be occasionally used in ditching and throwing up breastworks, and it is possible a limited number might be advantageously substituted for teamsters; though, in respect to the last, there may be doubts. In the main, no doubt, the most useful function compatible with their capacities is that to which they are accustomed — foodraising.”
August 25.
Early this morning, Deputy Marshal Taylor of Coshocton County, Ohio, with a squad of five men, went to a house near Chili, in Crawford Township, to arrest two men, Wens and J. Lour, Germans, who were drafted last fall, but had, up to that time, evaded the authorities. Not finding them at the house, they approached the barn to search it, when Wens and Lour came out of it, armed, and fired. Taylor and his men closed upon them to secure them, when a hand-to-hand fight occurred. Stafford, one of the Marshal's men, fell dead, pierced with nine balls. One other of the Marshal's men was severely wounded, and Wens and Lour, the two drafted men, both killed.--Cincinnati Gazette.
The advance-guard of General Steele's army, under General Davidson, consisting of five thousand men, arrived in front of Brownsville, Arkansas, and immediately opened fire upon the town. A sharp fight was kept up for about fifteen minutes, when the rebels commenced a retreat, evacuating the town and leaving, in the hands of the Nationals, General Burbridge and a number of privates.
August 26.
A fight took place near Perryville, Arkansas, between the rebel forces under Cabell, who were retreating from Camp Stand Watie, and the National troops belonging to the army of General Blunt, in which the former were routed with considerable loss.--Major John J. Stevenson, Lieutenant D. H. Chambers, and sixty men of Rober's Third Pennsylvania artillery, left Fortress Monroe, Va., last Sunday night, on the armed steamboat C. P. Smith, and reached the Chickahominy River the next morning. They proceeded about ten miles up, landing scouting-parties at different points along the shore, and destroying a number of small boats. When about nine miles up the Chickahominy, they met a detached party of thirty rebel cavalry, belonging to Robinson's regiment. The latter were repulsed, without any injury being sustained. They then shelled and destroyed the building used as the headquarters of Colonel Robinson, of the rebel army. Two men were [46] captured, who were released after all the information that could be obtained from them was received. The expedition returned to Fortress Monroe this afternoon, having succeeded in the reconnoissance, with the most satisfactory results.--the steamer Live Oak was captured at Berlin, Mo., by a gang of guerrillas, who, having plundered the boat and passengers, released them.--the rifle-pits of the rebels at Vinegar Hill, on Morris Island, S. C., in front of Fort Wagner, were assaulted and captured by the troops of General Gillmore's army, with a loss of ten killed and seventeen wounded.--the battle at White Sulphur Springs, Va., was fought this day.--(Doc. 157.)
August 27.
John B. Floyd, a General in the rebel service, died at Abington, Virginia.--A portion of Colonel Wilder's cavalry, belonging to the army of the Cumberland, encountered a rebel force at Hanover, Ala., and succeeded in defeating them, killing three, and capturing one.--A Government train of twenty-eight wagons was captured by a party of rebel guerrillas, at a point about six miles from Philippi, on the road to Beverly, Va.--the battle at Bayou Metea, Ark., between a large infantry and cavalry force of rebels, and General Davidson's division of National cavalry, took place this day.--(Doc. 156.)
August 28.
The Board of Supervisors of the city of New York devoted two millions of dollars to exempt the firemen, the militia, and the police, and to provide for the families of drafted men in indigent circumstances.--By direction of Jefferson Davis, Lieutenant-General W. J. Hardee assumed command of the paroled rebel prisoners, captured at Vicksburgh and Port Hudson.--(Doe. 158.)
Samuel Jones, a Major-General in the rebel service, issued an order from his headquarters at Dublin, Va., thanking the home guard and other citizens for their services in the action at White Sulphur Springs.--A party of rebel guerrillas attacked the mail-carriers from a cavalry division of the army of the Potomac, stationed at Harwood Church, Va., killing one man and capturing four others, together with the mail.
August 29.
Five deserters, belonging to the Fifth corps of the army of the Potomac, were executed according to sentence.--General Wistar's cavalry returned to Yorktown, Va., from an expedition to Bottom's Bridge. The force engaged were parts of the First New York Mounted Rifles, Colonel Onderdonk, and of the Fifth Pennsylvania cavalry, Lieut.-Colonel Lewis. They left Williamsburgh on the twenty-sixth instant, and pushed through New Kent Court-House, directly to Bottom's Bridge. At the latter place, they found one regiment of infantry in rifle-pits, supported by a squadron of cavalry. A charge was immediately made, which carried the rifle-pits, and drove the enemy across the bridge, which they took up. The Union troops lost one killed, and one wounded. They captured five prisoners from the enemy, who left dead on the ground one officer, one sergeant, and two men, besides those they carried off. The bridge being rendered impassable, and the object of the expedition being entirely accomplished, the troops returned.--(Doc. 159.)
Correspondence between Major-General Dix and Governor Seymour, relative to the draft, was made public.
August 30.
Lieut.-Colonel Clark, with the Ninth Kansas cavalry, returned to Kansas City, from the pursuit of Quantrell, through Jackson, Cass, and Johnson Counties, Missouri, having killed, during his expedition, forty of the perpetrators of the Lawrence massacre.
August 31.
The rebel transport, Sumter, having on board the Twentieth regiment of South-Carolina volunteers, and the Twenty-third regiment of Georgia, was sunk in Charleston harbor by the guns of Fort Moultrie. The Twenty-third Georgia had been on duty at the rebel Battery Wagner, and, being “ relieved, went on board the steamer to go to Fort Johnson. The tide being low, they could not go the usual course, but steamed off in the direction of Sullivan's Island. The watch at Moultrie, supposing it to be a Yankee monitor, awakened the gunners, when they opened a spirited fire on the defenceless vessel. Every means possible were employed to signal to them, both from Sumter and the boat, but they recognized no signal. The third and fourth shots sunk the boat, yet they kept firing until a small boat was sent to tell them who we were. This was about three o'clock A. M. The men were panic-struck, and leaped off into the water by fifties and hundreds, and it seemed for a while that nearly all would be either killed or drowned; but the cool conduct of Major Ballinger, the Commandant of the Twenty-third Georgia, and a sand-bar on the left of the boat, covered by some four or five feet of water, saved them from a watery grave. [47] By nine o'clock, the whole regiment was once more on dry land, and, miraculous as it was, not a single life has been lost by the dangerous wreck. But guns, blankets, oil-cloths, haversacks, canteens, boots and shoes, and, in fact, all kinds of clothing, were left upon the rugged waters of the boiling deep,”--Atlanta Intelligencer.
The sloop Richard, loaded with cotton, was captured off the coast of Florida, by the United States bark Gem of the Sea.
