Progress of the war.
The Yankee dispatches.
The dispatches in the Yankee papers are curiosities in their way. The New York Herald, of Saturday, professes to give the very latest news, and to be ahead of its contemporaries. One of its dispatches, dated Baltimore, 3d, 10 P. M., says that Meade had driven Lee, four miles northeast of Gettysburg. This is followed by a dispatch, dated Hanover, Pa., 4th, 1 A. M., three hours later, which says Lee had been driven only three quarters of a mile. A telegram in the Philadelphia Inquirer, which the telegrapher says is a "brief and candid statement," says the Yankees were "repulsed, overpowered, and outflanked," on Wednesday, but on Thursday repulsed the rebels with "substantial success." On that evening he says Gen. Meade called a council of his corps commanders, and it was resolved to continue the fight so long as there was any one left to fight. A dispatch about Friday's fighting, dated at midnight, states that the fighting was fearful, and mildly adds: ‘"We captured more prisoners than the rebels."’ This is the only advantage which the correspondent mentions. The 1st corps lost sixty-six per cent. of its men in Thursday's light. Gen. Robinson's division went into the light with 2,500 men, and the rebels let it out with only 896 left. One telegram says that important dispatches have been captured by Capt. Dahlgren from Jeff. Davis and Cooper to Gen. Lee. They indicate anxiety for the position of Richmond. Both decline to send Lee the reinforcements from Beauregard he asked for.The bombardment of Vicksburg — explosion of a mine — terrific scene.
The correspondent of the New York World, writing from before Vicksburg on the 26th ult., gives an account of the bombardment of the day before and the result of Grant's first experiment in mining Vicksburg. The letter says: ‘ The way in which the fort on McPherson's front was exploded is, as we learn from some of the participants, as follows: After the diggers had cut across the middle of the fort, which was a prominent fort, and by reason of our flanking it has been so pierced as to be almost of the parallelogram or nearly an oblong shape, they deposited in it a ton of powder, and then sealed up the cavity as tightly as possible. A train of powder and slow match only required to explode this immense mass and settles the enormous gaseous force, so soon as the disposition was made for the climacteric. ’ On yesterday afternoon, about 3 o'clock, the troops all along the line might have been seen in order of battle, the guns keeping up their usual din and the sharpshooters, more than usually brisk with their fire. Several prominent officers might have been seem glasses in hand, and their eyes turned in two directions, mainly, however, on the hump of land in the centre. Presently a movement might have been seen of the earth, upward it rose, as if some slumbering Man of the Mountain were shaking off the superfluous covering; in a moment more, through a gaping crater, a shaft of white smoke rushed through, and then a cloud of dust. An instant clatter of firearms then commenced and raged with painful intensity, for an hour, when, out of the confusion of smoke, something might have been seen of two sets of combatants almost, as you may say, at arm's length. All this while, before and after the explosion, there was a terrific cannonade. Previously, every gun along the line was in play, and the intervals of a few seconds not filled with the burst of shells, the crack of guns of all calibers were closed up by the more awful crackle of the infantry along the whole line. It is true that no assault was being made along the line, but the whole circuit of muskets was firing into the aimless air; nobody was to be seen, there were the bleak rages as ever, there the silent forts, but the bullets were whizzing into their entrenchments in myriads of radial lines. We have come to learn and to realize how fatal all this shower of leaden hail may have been, if it had no Gitorior purpose, though not a soul was to be seen. Its real purpose was, however, to prevent any concentration on the critical points by feigning an attack at all. Besides the one on the centre, another was selected on Blair's front, which, as we learned afterwards, proved abortive, there being an insufficiency of powder, or being placed too loosely in the mine. After the explosion — which, by the way, was either noiseless, or at least not noticeable in the rear of heavy guns — our soldiers rushed for the breach, intending to occupy the whole of the work. The blast had opened up a rift right across the fort, extending from wall to wall. The rebels, as if they had knowledge of the design, or else by a marvelous coincidence, rushed simultaneously from the other end. The powder had left a couple of huge projecting lips, and between them a crater like fissure, making the distance from farrow to furrow from ten to twenty feet. Thus, ranged behind these new formed walls, our men found themselves face to face with their foes, and a dire and dreadful slaughter commenced from perhaps three hundred men on each side, within this arenas of two hundred feet length. The contest was severe, and the fresh packs of rifles kept on opening on all sides. The gunners loaded and fired away vigorously.--The rebels crowded up with great spirit. Our men went in, a regiment at a time, with full cartridge boxes, and in thirty minutes were relieved by others. The firing for about an hour was more terrific than any battle field ever the gory field of war has witnessed. Had every shot touched its man there would have been half a million stain; as it was, by far the greater portion of them found lodgment in the stolid clay. The first regiment which rushed in was the scarred emnant of the Forty fifth Illinois, whose members lie on a dozen illustrious fields, led by Colonel Maltby. Its loss was necessarily severe. It was seconded by the "Bloody Seventh" Missouri, who were soon recalled. Next went in the Twentieth Illinois, who kept up a gallant resistance for a half hour, when the Thirty first Illinois, under Lieut. Colonel Resse, went in. subsequently, during the evening and night, the Twenty third Indiana, the Forty sixth Illinois, and the Fifty-sixth Illinois, the latter under its beloved Colonel, Melanethon Smith. The list then commenced again relieving in this same order. The melce at first was terrible, although the losses were not proportionate at all to the noise. The men on both sales were engaged in throwing up temporary works, with a view to getting a light field-piece in position. They had gotten a notched piece of timber rolled up to the top of the rough bank, when smash came a blast from a ten pounder right in their faces, sending the stick of timber right amongst them, singeing their hair and blackening them with the discharge, killing two or three outright. This blow struck Col. Maltby with stunning force. The rattle of musketry kept-up until nightfall. Our batteries on Lightburn and Giles Smith's front, as well as from Burbridge, kept firing on the rebels; but from the nearness of the combatants the missiles either did not reach the thick of the rebel opposition, or came so close as to injure our own men. In a few hours, however, they had felt so much reconciled to their position as to commence a most dangerous and dreadful piece of warfare casting lighted shells over into one end of the fort. Some grenades, it is said, were first thrown, and afterwards twenty-twos and twenty-fours. Our forces seeing the dismay and destruction, still felt secure enough to commence the same game, heaving, however, come very heavy shells to the rebel end of the work. There is only one precaution against this species of fighting, that is, in such a case to dig a funnel shaped pit or pits within the inclosure, into which the shells shall roll and explode in a depression at the bottom, prepared for the purpose. This practice has been continued up to this morning. I may here say that our possession of this end of the fort is regarded as complete as that of the enemy to the rest. It is believed, also, by General McPherson and his engineers that. If not too much pressed he can in a day or two establish a battery within the work. The contest still rages, and as both sides are throwing up earthworks, it seems as if we might find at the end of a few days our point gained and our lines advanced to a most commanding position. Our losses, I grieve to say, include several very fine officers. The total, up to soon to day, in this particular division, will amount to about three hundred in killed and wounded — perhaps forty of the former. Major Leander Elak is killed by a ball through the forehead. Colonel Melancthen Smith, an excellent soldier and model gentleman, is dangerously, and we fear mortally wounded. The substantial value of this operation; which must have been as deadly is life and limb to the enemy as to ourselves, is that it enables us to break into their chain of reciprocally supporting works at the point where they are the nearest being impregnable. Two or three such gaps in their line, they are obliged to draw back to their inner line, battery after battery being silenced, until the compass of their works is so small that from every side they are in range of some of our cannon. Locomotion above ground thus becomes impossible; without this they are unable to feed or relieve their over tasked men, and so are whipped. We can scarcely imagine that even the vindictive tenacity of Pemberton will continue resistance to this extremity when the finale is in no way changed. This would be a long process to undertake, and involve an immense amount of work and life in view of the vast furrows of pits and the sacrifices already made, but it would grow more rapid as we proceeded, as it is also certain of its end.Gen. Lee's order Relative to of soldiers in the Enemys country.
General Orders, No. 73-- The Commanding General has observed with marked satisfaction the conduct of the troops on the march, and confidently anticipates results commensurate with the high spirit, they have manifested. No troops could have displayed greater fortitude, or better performed the arduous marches of the past ten days. Their conduct in other respects has with few exceptions, been in keeping with their character as soldiers, and entitles them to approbation and praise. There have, however, been instances of forgetfulness on the part of some that they have in keeping the yet unsullied reputation of this army, and that the duties exacted of us by civilization and Christianity are not less obligatory in the country of the enemy than in our own. The Commanding General considers that no greater disgrace could behalf the Army, and through it our whole people, than the perpetration of the barbarous outrages upon the unarmed and defenceless, and the wanton destruction of private property, that have marked the course of the enemy in our own country. Such proceedings not only degrade the perpetrators and all connected with them, but are subversive of the discipline and efficiency of the Army, and destructive of the ends of our present movement. It must be remembered that we make war only upon armed men, and that we cannot take vengeance for the wrongs our people have suffered without lowering ourselves in the eyes of all whose abhorrence has been excited by the atrocities of our enemies, and offending against Him to whom vengeance belongeth, without whose favor and support our efforts must all prove in vain. The Commanding General therefore earnestly exhorts the troops to abstain, with most scrupulous care, from unnecessary or wanton injury to private property and honor joins upon all officers to arrest and bring to summary punishment all who shall in any way offend against the orders on this subject. E. E. Lee, General.
The situation in Louisiana--the Federal Despatch of Henrico the State cotton cotton.
A letter from New Orleans, dated the 26th ult., to the New York World, seems to despair of the Yankees holding Louisiana, or even New Orleans. Gen. Enory is in command of the city Five gunboats and an armed storeship are flying on the river. It says: ‘ The Confederates occupy the entire State west of Lafourche Crossing and north of the Opelousas Railroad. The situation is more interesting and critical than it has been at any time since April 25th, 1862, when Farragut, with his fleet, appeared before New Orleans and demanded the unconditional surrender of the city. These things cannot but be disheartening to those Northern editors who have published so glowing accounts of the immense quantity of cotton and sugar which must necessarily come into market after the advance through the rich Attakanas country, in the march to Alexandria. But very little of this cotton has yet come to the city, and, as the country is again in the hands of the Confederates, the "piles" waiting transportation have been restored to their owners, and where removal was impracticable, the cotton has been burned. ’ The following from the money article in this morning's paper, (which is understood to be the Federal official organ,) is quite as significant as anything that can be written: ‘ The condition of financial and commercial affairs remains substantially unchanged, and extreme dullness still prevails. Movements now in progress in this section of the country have checked the light receipts of cotton and sugar. The total stock of produce from the interior is too limited for operations of any magnitude, and transactions in financial circles are consequently on a very limited scale. The total available stock of sugar in the country is extremely small, and the present prospects for a crop this season are of a most unfarmable character, while the indications are that what little may be produced will be very inferior in quality. ’ The Zeuaves D Afrique in New Orleans are played out. A negro now won't enlist at any price. The Port Hudson business finished the war movement among "American citizens of African descent." The correspondent says: ‘ The negroes know that their position in the battle-field will be one of too much "importance;" that, apart from their prominent position, they are the special targets for the Confederate sharpshooters, and that a negro must indeed be a foot who has not learned by this time that blatant Abolitionists are enemies to him, as they are to this once happy and united country. The liberty which transfers Sambo from the slavery of the hoe on a plantation to the slavery of the spade on entrenchments — which take him from the open fields and packs him in the foul and crowded presses — which pretends to call him a soldier and actually shoves him into slaughter — is not the --liberty" which Abolitionists have for years past so pathencally preached to Gambo as "a man and brother." ’The Paroling and exchange of prisoners.
The U. S. Government has published an order concerning the exchange of prisoners, of which the following is a section: It is understood that captured officers and men have been paroled and released in the field by others than commanders of opposing armies, and that the sick and wounded in hospitals have been on paroled and released in order to avoid guarding and removing them, which in many cases would have been impossible. Such paroles are in violation of general orders and the stipulations of the cartel, and are nail and void. They are not regarded by the enemy, and will not be neglected in the armies of the United States. Any officer or soldier who gives such parole will be returned to duty without exchange, and moreover will be punished for disobedience of order. It is the entry of the captor to guard his prisoners, and if through necessity or chance he fails to do this, it is the duty of the prisoner to return to the service of his Government. He cannot avoid this duty by going on authorized military parole.Inflammatory Addresses posted in New York — address to Halleck.
During Wednesday afternoon last placards were posted in New York which the Herald terms highly inflammatory. The following is an extract from one. It is addressed to Gen. Halleck: ‘ Two immense armies have been confronting each other for months, on the Rappahannock — preparing for a decisive struggle — a struggle which was, perhaps, to decide the fate of a great nation — a mighty empire — to determine whether a free Government could sustain itself. Did you do your whole duty upon that momentous occasion? The people say no, no. "Why in hell" did you not have the troops about Washington within striking distance? Why were you not on the spot to support the brave General Sedgwick and his gallant troops when they carried the fortifications on the heights of Fredericksburg? --With the assistance of Heintselman's army, thrown in at the right moment, the whole rebel army could have been completley annihilated, and the nation saved from disgrace and humiliation. Instead of this, the rebel army is now invading and desolating the loyal and free States. If you had been equal to your duty and the occasion, the troops at Suffolk, Fortress Monroe, Norfolk, Baltimore, &c., &c., would have been on board of swift steamers — ready before the battle commenced — to have been concentrated and launched at the enemy like thunderbolts from avenging Heaven. A few more such fatal mistakes as you made on that occasion and our Government is lost, and will break up in anarchy.--This is so. Our nation is in or at another fearful crisis. The audacious Gen. Lee, having faith in your imbecility, has boldly invaded one of our most populous States. What are you doing? The people fear you will do as before, and they call upon Abraham Lincoln, Salmon P. Chase, Wm. H. Seward, Elwin M. Stanton, and ask what are you doing? If you repose supinely as heretofore in your chair of office and let Lee proceed, you ought to be damned, and you will certainly be damned, and you will be of that class whose it is go to judgement beforehand. The great and free people of the North, East, and West, will not stand this humbugging any longer! You must conquer Lee or resign! Do you hear this? The people have given you all the guns, ammunition, skips, and money, that you can use.--They expect and require that you will concentrate all the troops within five hundred miles of Lee's army within the next ten days, (as you easily can,) and plunge them at Lee on a given day, and the work is done. Unless you do this, you and the nation are undone. ’ P. S.--If you had hung Vallandigham (as you ought to have done) and sent him to be Governor of the Copperheads in the internal regions, you would not have been troubled by the traitorous, cowardly, miserable sneaks and and poltroons who are boring you about him; and who, when they visit Washington, should be impressed into the service of the Government which they are endeavoring to overthrow — and all the people would say Amen! One of the People. New York, June 30, 1863.
