Monday, October 1, 2012

October 1.—The advance of General Sill’s division, including the Fifth brigade, under Col. Edward N. Kirk, had an engagement with a body of rebel cavalry on the east bank of Floyd’s Fork, Ky., where they were heavily posted on the hills. Their pickets were engaged by a squadron of the Fourth Indiana cavalry and driven back upon the main body, where they were held in check until the infantry came up. Detachments of the Thirty-fourth Illinois and Seventy-seventh Pennsylvania were thrown forward as skirmishers, and drove them from their position. No sooner had the firing commenced than Col. Kirk, who had just sufficiently recovered from his wound received at Shiloh to take the field, dashed forward, directing all the movements and ever ready to take advantage of every position. After driving them about three miles, and being unable to overtake the flying enemy, a section of Capt Edgerton’s battery was brought to bear upon them at a distance of about one thousand yards, which only accelerated their retreat. The cavalry then charged and drove them some two miles farther, when, night coming on, the chase was abandoned and the troops went into camp. In their retreat, the rebels left behind a large quantity of small ammunition.—Louisville Journal.

—The rebel Legislature of Virginia, in session at Richmond, passed an act prohibiting the sale and removal of salt out of the State, and regulating its sale and distribution in the State.

—Colonel Barton, with a detachment of the Forty-eighth New-York regiment, under Captain Lent, and of the Third Rhode Island artillery, under Capt Gould, went up the Savannah River, and shelled a battery at Cranston’s Bluff, and a picket at the “Needles.” The rebels replied, but their guns were of so short a range that they were easily silenced.—The rebels evacuated Shelbyville, Ky.

—William E. Hamlin, having been appointed a special provost-marshal for the State of Rhode Island, this day issued a series of regulations, among which is the following: “It is expected that the citizens of the State will cheerfully and from a sense of duty, cooperate with this department in aiding the General Government in suppressing the existing rebellion, by promptly reporting to these headquarters the names of all disloyal persons, and by giving information of any treasonable practices, which shall come to their knowledge, to the end that the instructions of the Government may be fully and efficiently carried out”

—A fight occurred near Gallatin, Tenn., between a force of Union cavalry under the command of Col. Stokes, First Tennessee, and a large body of rebel guerrillas under Col. Bennett, resulting in a complete rout of the latter with a loss of forty killed, a large number wounded, and thirty-nine taken prisoners. Col. Bennett was wounded, and his brother, Robert Bennett, was among the prisoners.—Louisville Journal, Oct. 13.

—A party of nine National pickets captured a rifle-pit near Bachelor’s Creek, about fifteen miles from Newbern, N. C, and dispersed a superior force of rebels.—The Unionists in Camden County, N. C, petitioned President Lincoln for permission to drive all the rebel families out of the county. If granted, they promised two loyal regiments for the Union.

—The United States Western gunboat fleet was this day transferred from the War to the Navy Department.

—The Richmond Whig of this date speaks of President Lincoln’s proclamation as ordaining a servile insurrection in the confederate States, and says it is not misunderstood North or South. “It is a dash of the pen to destroy four thousand millions of our property, and is as much as a bid for the slaves to rise in insurrection, with the assurance of aid from the whole military and naval power of the United States.” It speaks of the cruelty of the Administration, and says Butler is a saint compared with his master. “Our military operations,” it says, “are henceforth to assume a very grave character. The fiend’s new programme will necessarily destroy all terms between us. The next campaign will be a tremendous one, both for the magnitude and character of the operations. Let our authorities prepare the whole strength of our people for the tremendous shock. The enemy is making great preparations, as well as issuing fiendish proclamations. We must respond with equal energy. If we do not, we are lost. But we will do it”

—A Force of Union troops, under the command of General Pleasanton, crossed the Potomac from Maryland into Virginia at Shepherdstown, for the purpose of making a reconnoissance. They advanced to Martinsburgh, which was occupied by Hampton’s brigade of rebel cavalry, and four pieces of artillery, which they engaged, and after a short contest drove them from the town. On their return, and when near Shepherdstown, the rebels attacked them, when a sharp skirmish took place, resulting in a retreat of the rebels, with a loss of about sixty killed, and nine or ten taken prisoners, with their horses and equipments. The Nationals had twelve men wounded, and three were taken prisoners.—(Doc. 214.)

—Majority and minority reports relative to President Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation, were submitted to the rebel Senate at Richmond, Va., by the judiciary committee, to whom the subject was referred.—In the rebel House of Representatives, Mr. Lyons, of Virginia, introduced a series of resolutions proclaiming the character of President Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation; exhorting the people of the rebel States to kill every officer, soldier, or sailor of the United States found within their borders; declaring that after the first January, 1863, no Union officer ought to be captured alive, or if recaptured should be immediately hanged; and offering a bounty of twenty dollars, and an annuity of twenty dollars for life to every slave and free negro who should, after the first of January next, kill a Unionist. The resolutions were referred to the committee on foreign affairs.

—The Union army under Gen. Buell left Louisville, and proceeded towards Bardstown, Ky.