August 4th. General Hooker, with his division, made a reconnoissance to Malvern Hill to-day and drove in the enemy’s pickets. In the evening had a brigade drill. While taking our supper under the awning in front of our tent our old friend, the genial paymaster of the division, Major Potter, arrived. He always puts up with us, and makes himself delightfully agreeable. He gives us the gossip of the capital and such army news as is not to be had in the field; in the evening we initiated him into some more of the mysteries of camp life.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
August 4. [Mobile] —Paid a visit with Mrs. G. to the General Hospital; she took the patients some buttermilk, and nice wheat and corn bread. We offered our services, but there were enough ladies in attendance already, and we were not needed. We walked around and saw the patients; one man was dying, but the others seemed to be doing well.
We then went down town; there we met Mr. Candelish and Mr. Goddard, members of the Twenty-first Alabama Regiment. It has come from Tupelo to recruit . They informed us the army had left for Tennessee.
August 4.—Gen. James H. Lane, having been appointed by the Government to raise and organize an army in the Department of Kansas, issued a proclamation from his headquarters at Leavenworth City, calling upon the inhabitants of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Dakota to aid him in the work by volunteering into its ranks.
—In England an important debate took place in the House of Lords, on the propriety of recognizing the Southern Confederacy.
—Governor Sprague, of Rhode Island, issued an order calling upon the colored citizens to enlist into the Sixth regiment of that State, then forming. The regiment was to be composed entirely of colored persons.
—A skirmish took place near Sparta, Tenn., between a small party of Union troops, under the command of Col. Wynkoop, and a superior force of rebels, resulting, after a fight of nearly an hour’s duration, in the retreat of the Nationals. —(Doc. 169.)
—Enthusiastic war meetings were held at Providence, R. I., and Erie, Pa.—Great excitement existed in the Union fleet at Port Royal, S. C, in expectation of the rebel ram Georgia making her appearance among them.
—An order directing “that a draft of three hundred thousand militia be immediately called into the service of the United States, to serve for nine months, unless sooner discharged,” was this day issued from the War Department.—(Doc. 170.)
—In order to provide for the suffering poor of New-Orleans, Gen. Butler issued an order assessing the secessionists of that city, who subscribed to the rebel defence fund, and the cotton brokers who counselled the planters not to bring their staple to market. The amount assessed was three hundred and forty-one thousand nine hundred and sixteen dollars. The Citizens’ Bank of Louisiana, which subscribed three hundred and six thousand four hundred dollars to the defence fund, was assessed seventy-six thousand six hundred dollars.—General Order No. 55.
—A fight took place on the White River, Mo., forty miles from Forsyth, between Col. Lawther and his band of rebels and a party of National troops, under the command of Capt. Birch, of the Fourteenth Missouri State troops, resulting in the defeat of the rebels, with a loss of three killed and seven wounded.
August 4.—The girls just returned from a visit to Mrs. A. of several days, which they enjoyed greatly. Every thing there very bright and cheerful, except the hearts of the parents—they yearn for their sons on the field of danger! A battle is now expected between Jackson and Pope.
