the Burnside expedition — what effect the storm may have on its movements --fatal accident--Gen. Wise--the health of Norfolk.
[special correspondence of the Dispatch.]
Norfolk, Jan. 14, 1862.
It seems that the Burnside expedition could scarcely have chosen a less propitious time to go forth upon the sea for the purpose of committing depredations upon the coast of North Carolina.
On Sunday, when the fleet left Hampton Roads, the weather was favorable, the brazes fair, and the prospect of a pleasant and successful voyage very encouraging.
The steamers, transports, barges, &c., passed leisurely down towards the capes and out to sea; but could not have gotten more than eighty miles below Cape Henry before the wind suddenly changed to eastward, dark clouds arose, and a thick mist settled upon the great ocean expanse.
Yesterday it was reported that these Yankee vessels, with all the sea-sick troops aboard, had found their way back to the roads.
This is, however, a mistake.
They are no doubt now tossing about upon the Atlantic, unless some of them have gone ashore or to the bottom of the sea.
The winds and the waves combine their vast power against a Government determined blindly to prosecute to its own ruin a war upon a people that cannot be subdued.
A fierce storm arose when the Port Royal expedition had gotten well out to sea, drove some of the vessels ashore, and horses and valuable stores were soon drifting upon the agitated waters.
And so it is, probably, with the much-talked-of Burnside fleet.--Yesterday a storm commenced, the wind blowing heavily from northeast, and increasing to a gale at night — snow falling quite fast for some time.
At sea the weather was thick, dark and heavy, and at this moment no favorable change appears in the lowering clouds — ominous of calamity and death to those who seek to desolate our peaceful shores.
With the elements combined against them, their war ships scattered by the wild, free winds, and their hired minions on land flying before the bayonets of the brave men of the South, like affrighted beasts before a prairie fire, they must feel that the cause of injustice and oppression in which they are engaged, and the innocent blood which they are seeking to shed, may have already excited the fierce wrath and righteous indignation of Him whom the winds and seas obey, and who presides impartially over the destinies of men, armies, and worlds.
The sad accident which caused the death of young Gornto, of the Seaboard Rifles, caused deep distress in the worthy family, which was so suddenly called to mourn the loss of a favorite and manly son. The young man Rainey, who held the gun that was accidentally discharged, instantly killing his young friend, tearing away a portion of the skull and scattering his brains, is in the deepest agony of mind on account of the melancholy affair.
A very melancholy casualty happened last night at 10 o'clock, resulting in the death of a soldier named Royle, of the Seventh Regiment Louisiana Volunteers.
It appears that on going to a window to raise it, in order to ventilate the room, he accidentally fell out; and, the room being in the fourth story, the fall was over forty feet, mangling the body of the unfortunate in a shocking manner.
He lived about an hour and a half after receiving the terrible shock.
General Henry A. Wise was in this city on Saturday, and will soon be again at his post of duty.
The rumor that the Confederate steamer Seabird had been captured by the enemy, is doubtless a mere report, of which nothing confirmatory has been received here.
For the information of those interested in the sanitary condition of this command, says the Norfolk Day Book, we may state that the last quarterly report of the General Hospital exhibits a mortality of about 2½ per cent. of the sick sent to that establishment.
This is most satisfactory, and very gratifying as an index of the health of our volunteers.
In the camps the mortality is a mere trifle, as the very bad cases are generally sent to the General Hospital.
This confirms the statements made by your correspondents here, that the troops in the vicinity of Norfolk have during the continuance of the war generally enjoyed excellent health.
Many, it is true, have been sick, and some have died; but it is very probable that in no section of the country have our soldiers been freer from disease than in this section of Virginia. 