Late Fortress News.
statement of Confederate officers Relating to the
battle of Mill Spring--the character given to
General Crittenden--advance of the
Union forces.
From the New York
Herald, of the 5th, we make the following extracts from its
Kentucky correspondence:
Concreted movements.
Somerset, Ry., Jan. 29.
The movements here and at
Mill Spring are in unison, and though they tend southward, it is not in the direction of
East Tennessee.
The idea of invading
East Tennessee to aid her, loyal men, if such an idea ever existed in the minds of our
Generals, has doubtless exploded.
If it has not, the experience of the brigade and regimental Quartermasters should be plainly and forcibly told our commanders, and the explosion will follow.
It is almost utterly impossible to feed troops at this point.
An idea may be had of the state of this country when I say that in a trip from
Stanford to beyond
Monticello I saw not a shock of fodder, a stack of hay, or a crib of corn.
The presence of a friendly army in
East Tennessee would be as devastating as that of a rebel army, inasmuch as they would prove guests who would have to be subsisted by hosts who, poor at all times, are now hardly able to subsist themselves.
But I am confident no movement of this kind is intended.
General Schoepff's brigade has been moved South, five miles from
Somerset, to the river, and
General Thomas has now possession of this place.
General Manson's brigade occupies the entrenchments at
Mill Spring, where they cannot long remain unless they can subsist on half rations, as at present.
General Wood is at
Stanford, and, with a thousand laborers and four regiments, is engaged in building a military road from that point to the river.
As soon as it is possible to arrange the supply trains,
General Sehoepff will move forward to
Monticello, with
General Manson's and
General Curtin's brigades, and own, while the river points further South will be held by
Gen. Boyle's brigade.
This route to
Nashville will be held at all hazards, as its present occupation threatens the rear of
General Buckner.
This force will prove a strong and able one, and may yet act in concert with
General McCook, in an attack upon
Bowling Green, if such an attack is ever made, which is extremely doubtful.
Confederate sick left to die.
Mill Spring, Jan. 28.
--A visit to
Monticello revealed to
Gen. Hanson the fact that not less than one hundred and seventy-five sick and wounded rebels had be on left to die at that place, ten miles from the river, which they knew we could not cross.
On the morning of Tuesday subsequent to the fight many of those left had died, and the bodies of three others were found a mile beyond.
Their graves are seen by the roadside.
Flag of truce to Recover Zollicoffer's body.
Captain Henry Ewing, of
Nashville, Aid to the late
General Zollicoffer, accompanied by
a Captain Speller and twenty-five men, appeared and asked an interview of the
Commanding-General.
Captain R. C. Kise,
Assistant Adjutant-General, of
Gen. Manson's staff, and the writer, were dispatched to meet the flag of truce, when the letter of
Gen. Crittenden, asking the return of
Gen. Zollicoffer's remains, was presented.
General Manson replied to the request in this letter:
Your note of the 25th inst., accompanying a flag of truce, has been received.
In reply, I will state that it would afford me great pleasure to comply with your request; but I am informed the body of
Gen. Zollicoffer was removed to
Somerset, and has been from there sent to his home in
Tennessee, in charge of one of your surgeons who was taken prisoner by the United States forces in the engagement of the 19th inst. For the satisfaction of the family and friends of the late
Gen. Zollicoffer, I will say that his body has been property cared for, decently clothed, and placed in a substantial wooden box.
The writer gained the following information in sundry conversations with
Captain Ewing and
Captain Spiller.
Captain Ewing is a young man who has just arrived at the dignity of biting a delicate mustache of a saffron hue. He was aid to
General Zollicoffer, an
Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, and appears to have been a great favorite with the rebel General.
He is, a son of one
Orville Ewing, of
Nashville, and a nephew of the notorious
Andrew Ewing, who early became a proselyte to secessionism, and prominent as a Breckinridge elector.
Captain Ewing is the aid who fired on
Col. Fry, who, in returning his fire, killed
Zollicoffer.
Ewing says
Zollicoffer imagined the Fourth Kentucky regiment of
Col. Fry to be the extension of his own left wing, and, though forewarned by
Ewing, the rebel General rode up to
Col. Fry to caution him against firing on his own men.
Ewing fired at
Fry at the moment
Zollicoffer turned from
Fry having discovered his mistake
Ewing thinks he hit
Fry.
Fry's back was towards him at the time; says it was impossible for him to have shot
Fry's horse in the side.
He says that had not
Thomas appeared at Logan's Cross Roads at the time he did
Crittenden would have retreated without a fight.
He says they were entirely destitute of provisions, and were gradually being surrounded.
He says they had in camp on the 18th only two days provisions, which the troops carried to the battle field in their haversacks.
An order dated the 19th corroborates this statement, while the destitute condition in which our troops found the commissary department adds fresh proof.
No intention to attempt a defence of the entrenchments was shown.
A fear existed that Boyls would cross to
Monticello and cut off the rear.
The crossing of the river was begun at an early hour in the day. Many of the men reached
Monticello at dusk, and the main force had passed that point at midnight. The panic was at its full height at the time of the crossing, and did not subside until the point of the convergence of the roads from
Rowena and
Monticello was passed.
Gen. Crittenden and staff were among the first to part.--
Capt. Ewing evidently thinks
Gen. Crittenden a coward and poltroon.
He says that immediately subsequent to the fall of
Zollicoffer, he rode up to
Crittenden, and found him standing behind a hay-stack.
He immediately corrected this statement, and said, ‘"not exactly behind it, but near by."’
Crittenden is hardly a man to shun danger, unless his conscience has made a coward of him.
Capt. Ewing expects to have the brigade together in ten or twelve days, and try us again.
He admits that the troops at Camp Shields are mainly
Alabama and
Mississippi men. He says that the skeletons of these two regiments were all they had in the fight.--Camp Shields is at Bolling Springs, on Cleark Fork of the
Big South Fork of the
Cumberland, and on the southern edge of
Fentress county.
It is distant just 52 miles from the battle-field.
This officer is an elderly man, who lived at
Chattanooga, Tennessee.
He appears to have been the
Quartermaster of
Gen. Zollicoffer's brigade, which, he states, was the First of the Department of the West, which Department was under the command of
Gen. Crittenden.
He has no great opinion of
Crittenden, and calls both that General and
Gen. Carroll, who was in command of the reserve whiskey bloats" This disrespectful term, significant and expressive, is original with
Capt. Spiller, and quoted
verbatim. He says
Crittenden had no command over the men, and they had no confidence in him. They would not have moved forward had it been generally known that
Zollicoffer was opposed to the movement.
Since
Crittenden's assumption of the command all general orders have emanated from
Zollicoffer.
The men would not respect any others;
Capt. Spiller says two regiments only fought our army, and that the guide and spy who led the
Generals was a traitor.
Captain Spiller was twice in
General Schoepff's camp.
He says that
Zollicoffer used every means in his power to obtain a supply of provisions sufficient for a four days march, intending to attack
Schoepff in his camp.
No such supply could be obtained.
Neither
Captains Spiller nor
Ewing made any inquiry as to the sick or wounded.
Aspect of the country.
Monticello, lately occupied by the
Confederate troops, is described by the
Herald correspondent to be denuded of every beauty by the rough hand of war. It is at present nothing but a hospital for the
Confederate sick and wounded.
The country all along All the cattle and horses are driven off, and the river about
Mill Spring is utterly ruined, in every hut-house, hovel, and stable, between
Mill Spring and the
Tennessee State line, the sick, wounded, and dying are passed.
The Confederate wounded.
On the read to
Monticello we saw wounded in every house, with the exception of the rather splendid residence of a well-known and important Secessionist named Collee.
He was unable only to secrets a few trunks of officers, but would not admit the wounded thrown out of the wagons at his very door.
Gen. Manson is acquainted with such facts as will make it go hard with this Collee.
The occupants of these houses are in many instances Union men, as they profess to be, and indeed as all the residents do. Even Collee thinks the war a politician's war. Most of these houses contain from two to five, but in some we found one only secreted.
The rebels have a great course of falling into our hand — after the war, impartial ones.
They bag these in whose houses they may be to
ts their until they get wall.
We found in a of a single sight on ten th bitatics of an old man, due two daughters about sixteen and eighteen years of age, a poor, delicate and wounded youth, who represented himself to be fifteen years of ages a Tennesseean, and the son of a well to do farmer.
He spoke of his house and his parents, and the big tears in his eyes glistened by the dim firelight that lighted the darkened room.
General Manson appeared rather ashamed of the same display of weakness in his, but I should blush if I did not record that the tears of sympathy stood in mine; for the poor boy's grief was most eloquent.--I cannot detail the hundreds of other instances that I might name, nor have I the full list of the wounded.
Among the many wounded at this place I find the following of the Fifteenth Mississippi alone, who have just given me their names:
John Buckley, in thigh.
John Goodrich, in thigh.
B. F. Watson, in thigh.
John Lucas, badly burned; has negro servant with him.
Wm. A Turner, in foot.
B. D. Clemens, arm and side — a cousin of
Jerre Clemens, of
Huntsville, Ala.
Thomas J. Stearns, in knee.
W. G. Chisholm.
Wallace B. Skurr, right arm.
At the same place is
Henry E. Graves, of
Nashville, a member of the Twentieth Tennessee, who was shot through the left side the ball penetrating the left lung, and who walked from the battle-field of
Monticello.--He says at least 150 men were drowned in crossing the
Cumberland river, and corroborates the statement of another that the officers in the boats used their swords on the men to keep them from swamping the boats, thus killing a great many, who sank to the bottom.
Wallace B. Skurr, wounded in the right arm, does not require the wealth which he professes to have to the amount of $300,000, to make him a gentleman.
His gentlemanly demeanor and manners are naturally his. --He speaks, acts, and appears like a gentleman.
He made a statement of much interest.
Although only a private, he was intimate with the principal officers.
He knew their plans as well as any man in the brigade, and says that he is aware that
General Crittenden made his northward move and attack as a desperate chance, and that he was forced to it by the condition of his Commissary Department.
He says it was impossible to remain two days longer where they were, that all their provisions were in their haver-sacks when they marched.
He thinks if we had had a general in the place of
Schoepff at
Somerset, that their whole force could have been captured.
Federal account of the last skirmish at Occoquan.
Monday afternoon another little skirmish occurred near the banks of the
Occoquan.--It was reported in the morning that a body of rebels was at Pohick Church.
Captain Lowing, of the 3d Michigan regiment,
Col. Chainplin, then on picket duty in front of
General Heintzelman's division, took thirty-four men, under
Lieutenant Brennan, from Company F, and forty-four, under
Lieut. Bryan, from Company H, and went to meet them.
Arriving at Pohick Church, no rebels were seen.
The party, however, proceeded to the banks of the
Occoquan, opposite the town of that name.
Arriving there early in the afternoon, a few unarmed men were observed drilling in the town.
They gave the alarm; when a number of rebels came from the houses and fired on our men. A brief skirmish took place.
Four of the rebels were seen to fall, and were carried off by their comrades.
No injury was sustained by any of our party, except by one man, who was slightly bruised by a spent ball.
The enemy was about sending a large party across the
Occoquan, when our men retired to their picket posts.
Near
Mrs. Violet's house they discovered a tent, which was used by a rebel picket and destroyed it. When they had reached Pohick Church on their return they heard four volleys and several separate shots, fired nearly two miles distant, bearing to the left.
As none of our party were out at the time, it is supposed that the rebels had sent over a couple of squads to attempt to capture our men, and meeting with each other had by mistake fired upon their own men.
Scouting party.
A party of Pennsylvanians went our on a scout a few days since.
They proceeded nearly twelve miles along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, and scoured the country between Burk's Station and Fairfax Court-House.
They ascertained the positions of the enemy's outposts, and heard the beating of the rebel drums.
They found that a young man, residing beyond our lines, who had been frequently seen about our encampments, was in the habit of conveying information to the enemy.
He was arrested and sent to headquarters in
Washington for examination.
The day before his arrest he was in
Alexandria, with a few articles which he purchased there.
He went out to the house of
Widow Taylor, who is his aunt.
He says he told his aunt's folks that some of our pickets were posted at his gate.
Widow Taylor has at least one son in the rebel army.
A squadron of
Stewart's rebel cavalry had been at her house about a week ago, and had taken forty-three head of cattle from people residing in that neighborhood.
Activity of rebel batteries on the Lower Potomac.
Sunday being the rebels' fancy day for firing, the batteries at
Shipping Point opened on the
Maryland shore after breakfast.
A number of shells were thrown across, one of them bursting over the land, while others did not appear to explode.
One of the shells exploded immediately on leaving the gun, the boiling up of the water close in to the
Virginia shore indicating where the fragments fell.
After wasting a great deal of powder the rebels ceased firing, thus concluding the morning service.
In the afternoon they opened fire again, the shells bursting as in the morning, with the certainty of a ‘"nobody hurt."’ The battery at Budd's Ferry did not return the fire.
The bridge burners.
Of
President Davis's threat in relation to the
Missouri bridge burners, the
Herald says:
‘
It is probable that the news of the recent order of the War Department, directing the privateersmen to be regarded as prisoners of war, had not reached rebeldom when this last message was sent from
Richmond.
The sentiment expressed by those who know the purport of the message is, that the officer who brought it, thereby disgracing the flag of truce; should have been retained and hung with the bridge burners.
The names of those convicted of taking part in the railway destruction, and now under sentence of death, are
John C. Tompkins,
Wm. J. Forshey,
John Patton,
Thos. M. Smith,
Stephen Stott,
Geo. H. Cunningham,
Richard B. Crowder, and
George M. Pulliam.
’
In regard to their conviction, the order says:
‘
The findings are approved, and the sentences awarded them will be carried into effect at the time and place to be hereafter designated by the
General commanding the department.
Brigadier General B. M. Prentiss will notify the prisoners of the decision of the Commission in their respective cases, and warn them to prepare for the execution.
He will see that the prisoners are thoroughly guarded, so as to prevent the possibility of escape.
Any one attempting to escape will be instantly shot down.
’
Federal finances — necessity of immediate action--Secretary Chase on the subject.
In a note to
Mr. Spaulding,
Secretary Chase says, ‘"immediate action"’ in Congress.
‘"Immediate action is of great importance.
The treasury is nearly empty.
I have been obliged to draw for the last instalment of the November loan.
So soon as it is paid I fear the banks generally will refuse to receive the U. S. Treasury notes.
You will see the necessity of urging the bill through without delay." ’
In another letter, to the Committee of Ways and Means,
Mr. Chase says:
‘
The condition of the Treasury certainly renders immediate action on the subject of affording provision for the expenditures of the
Government both expedient and necessary.
The general provisions of the bill submitted to me seem to be well adapted to the end proposed.
There are, however, some points which may, perhaps, be usefully amended.
The provision making
United States notes a legal tender has doubtless been well considered by the committee, and their conclusion needs no support from any observation of mine.
I think it my duty, however, to say, in respect to this provision, my reflections they have conducted me to the same conclusions they have reached.
It is not unknown to them that I have felt, nor do I wish to conceal that I now feel, a great aversion to making anything but coin a legal tender in payment of debts.
It has been my anxious wish to avoid the necessity of such legislation.
It is, however, at present impossible, in consequence of the large expenditures entailed by the war and the suspension of the banks, to procure sufficient for disbursements, and it has, therefore, become indispensably necessary that we should report to the issue of the
United States notes.
The
Herald says it is the inaction of Congress, and not the
Cabinet or
President, or
McClellan, that is now retarding those military operations, destined to crush out rebellion and prevent Southern recognition.
Bennett cries out for the
Congress to furnish the sinews of war and to make the necessary paper money without further delay.
’
General Siegel has been in
St. Louis since
Thursday last, it, responded to a
General Stalleck and left this troubled holed to take charge of his division, for
Lebanon.
The report made days says since, and telegraphed over the country, that
General Siegel had no intention of resigning, but would remain in the service, was gratifying to his friends ever where, but lacked the essential elements truth,
General Siegel has not withdrawn his resignation, and will not do so until he has assurance that he can be justly and impartially treated.
Mason and Slidell Embarked for England
By the
British West India mail steamer at
Panama, the
Panama Herald, of the ultimo, learns that the
British gun-board
Rinaldo, with
Messrs. Slidell and
Mason and their
Secretaries on board; had reaches
St. Thomas on the 15th of January, transferred her passengers to the
British West India mail steamer
La Plata, bo for
Southampton.
The New York Custom-House.
The quantity of foreign merchandize imported during the month of January was a sufficient to supply the demand; for it's quantity thrown on the market exceeded that imported during the month by about one million of dollars — the value of the merchandize withdrawn from warehouse exceeding the value of that placed in store by about this sum. There has been a constant though gradual, decrease in the amount of goods in bond almost every month since the rebellion assumed its formidable proportion.
Investigations.
The legislative committee resumed their investigations into the shoddy clothing and
military equipments generally, yesterday, to the
St. Nicholas Hotel, and were in session from nine o'clock in the morning until late last night Between forty and fifty witnesses have now been examined.
The testimony elicited yesterday is said to be of the richest character, showing absolute favoritism on the part of the
State Military Board in giving their contracts to the highest bidders.--Indeed, it is known that such down right swindling has been proven that the people will be amazed when it is made public.
The immaculate
Thurlow Weed figures very conspicuously in the testimony.
Some twenty more witnesses have been subpoenaed for tomorrow, from whom some spicy evidence is expected.
As the committee will likely leave for
Albany on Thursday, it is not probable that their investigation will be completed this week.
The Minister to Peru
The
Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary,
Mr. Christopher Robinson, from the
United States, was only receiver by the Peruvian authorities on the 10th ult The whole civic and military powers of Limit were in requisition to do honor to the veteran, and to evince sympathy and regard for the honored Republic which he represented.
Cotton and the universal Yankee in Nicaragua.
The
Herald's Nicaraguan correspondent says:
‘
The civil war in the
United States and the blockade of the
Southern ports have stimulated the cultivation of cotton in this country.
The fields in the vicinity of Massys, Managua,
Leon, and Chinandega, are teeming with this plant.
Activity and industry have displaced idleness and slothfulness.
The genius and farsightedness of the representatives of the universal Yankee nation residing here have furnished the machinery for cleaning, pressing, bailing and exporting the cotton.
Its culture will undoubtedly become general and profitable.
The soil, climate, and labor are eminently adapted to it.
Nicaragua will export the incoming year five hundred thousand pounds of ginned cotton, equal in quality to
Mississippi middling fair.
The hardy Indians (men and women) of
Nicaragua are fully able to till the fields and harvest her agricultural wealth.
Coolies are the most objectionable class, either as labored of colonists; they have no interest other than the wages which they earn; negroes are not to be thought of. I am satisfied that both the people and Government would oppose their introduction under any circuitry, stances and upon any terms.
’
