December 26.—A skirmish took place near Camp Boyle, Columbia, Ky., this evening. Last night the National pickets having reported a strong force of rebels in the neighborhood, Colonel Haggard, commanding at the camp, ordered out a party of men, with Major Ousley at their head, to go in pursuit. Arriving in the vicinity this morning, they saw nothing of the enemy. They waited, however, for some time, and being hungry, ordered supper at the hotel, and supper being ready they all sat down and were enjoying it finely, when a sentinel rushed in and gave an alarm. The Nationals all broke for their horses, but before a horse was mounted, a shot from one of Capt. Palmer’s men brought the rebel color-bearer to the ground. The poor fellow was a Scotchman—too brave a man to be enlisted in such a cause. The troops rushed up to him and wanted him to surrender, but he would not, and hurraing for Jeff. Davis, drew his revolver and was about to shoot, when one of the Nationals gave him a quietus that brought him to terms. The rebels were about six hundred strong, but retreated after receiving some two or three rounds. Colonel Haggard’s small party then also left the field, having killed five of the enemy and wounded some others.—Louisville Journal, December 30.
—Major Gower, commanding a squadron of the First Iowa Cavalry, arrived at Jefferson City, Mo., with one captain, thirteen men, and ten wagon loads of stores, captured from Gen. Price’s army.—Gen. Halleck’s Despatch.
—Philip St. George Cocke, Brigadier-General in the Confederate army, accidentally or designedly killed himself at his residence in Powhatan County, Va. He was a wealthy, public-spirited gentleman, and a well-behaved and accomplished officer. Brigadier-General Cocke was a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He entered that institute as a cadet in 1828, graduated July, 1832, was immediately appointed to a brevet second lieutenancy in the Second artillery; promoted to adjutant of his regiment in 1833. He resigned in 1834. He was a native of Virginia, and at the breaking out of the present rebellion was commissioned a general in the Confederate army.—Norfolk Day Book, December 28.
—Andrew Kessler, Jr., a member of the late Maryland House of Delegates, was released from Fort Warren on taking the oath of allegiance, and returned to his home in Frederick, Md.—General Banks issued a stringent order in regard to the seizure of forage without the owner’s consent, and another prohibiting the sale of liquor to soldiers.—Philadelphia Press, December 28.
—In the Senate, at Washington, Mr. Hale, of Now Hampshire, offered a resolution calling upon the President to transmit to the Senate copies of all despatches which had passed between the Government and that of Great Britain relative to the seizure of Mason and Slidell. Mr. Sumner objected to its consideration. Mr. Hale advocated its passage in a speech of considerable length, in which he opposed the restitution of the rebel envoys, and advocated in preference a war with Great Britain. The resolution was laid over under the rule.—Mr. Garrett Davis, Senator from Kentucky, gave notice of his intention to introduce a bill confiscating every species of property of all persons who have had any connection with the rebellion, either in a civil, military, or naval capacity.—Mr. Harlan, of Iowa, introduced a bill to establish a Provisional Government in all the seceded States.
—A Fire broke out in the Government stables, near the Observatory, in Washington, D. C., and from one hundred and fifty to two hundred horses out of six hundred which it contained, were burnt to death. The fire was supposed to have resulted from carelessness.
—The Sixth New Hampshire regiment, numbering one thousand and twenty-three men, Col. Nelson Converse, passed through New York for Washington. They had been encamped at Keene, Cheshire County, since November 15. Before they left, Gov. Berry presented them with a stand of colors—The First battalion of the First Massachusetts Cavalry, numbering four hundred and fifty men, arrived at New York, and left for Annapolis in the afternoon, to join Gen. Burnside’s expedition.
—The steamer Arago arrived at New York from Europe, bringing as a passenger Lieut.-Gen. Winfield Scott, and intelligence that the party in Europe advocating a war with the United States, was “greatly encouraged in their cry for blood.”—N. Y. Herald, December 27.
—First Lieutenant J. C. Ives, Topographical Engineers, U. S. A., having tendered his resignation under circumstances showing him to be disloyal to the U. S. Government, was, by direction of the President, dismissed the service from this date.—General Orders, No. 110.
—The rebel general, John B. Floyd, issued an address to the troops under his command, dated at the “camp, near Dublin depot,” Western Virginia, in which he expressed his admiration of the manner in which they had conducted a campaign of five months, and urged them to respond to the distinguished compliment paid the “army of the Kanawha,” by the Confederate Government, in assigning them to the defence of Kentucky.—(Doc. 238.)
