July 26.—General R. E. Lee, from his headquarters, army of Northern Virginia, issued the following order:
“All officers and soldiers now absent from this army, who are able to do duty and are not detached on special service, are ordered to return immediately. The Commanding General calls upon all soldiers to rejoin their respective regiments at once. To remain at home in this the hour of our country’s need is unworthy the manhood of a Southern soldier. While you proudly boast that you belong to the army of Northern Virginia, let it not be said that you deserted your comrades in a contest in which every thing you hold dear is at stake. The Commanding General appeals to the people of the States to send forth every man able to bear arms to aid the brave soldiers who have so often beaten back our foes, to strike a decisive blow for the safety and sanctity of our homes, and the independence of our country.”
John J. Crittenden died at Frankfort, Ky, at half-past three o’clock this morning.—General John H. Morgan, with Colonel Cluke and about four hundred of his men, was captured at a point four miles south of New-Lisbon, Ohio, by the National forces under Colonel J. M. Shackleford.—(Doc. 114.)
The National gunboat Sagamore, accompanied by the steamer Oleander, mortar-schooner Para, and schooner Beauregard, on an expedition into Mosquito Inlet, Florida, succeeded in destroying the town of Smyrna, and capturing two schoonners, one of which was loaded with cotton. An attempt was made to capture another schooner loaded with cotton, when the rebels set fire to the vessel, and it was totally destroyed. The expedition returned to Key West, having met with no casualties.
