Thursday, March 28, 2013

March 27.—The following bill was this day presented to the Legislature of Virginia: “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That if any person buy any article of food (including salt) for man or beast, and withhold the same from market, or ask and receive more than five per centum commission or profit on cost and transportation, such person shall be deemed guilty of misdemeanor, and shall forfeit the article so bought—one half to the informer and the other to the Commonwealth: Provided, That this act shall not apply to market-men collecting supplies for daily city consumption, or to any person bringing such food from beyond the confederate army lines, or purchases for family consumption.

“This act shall be in force from its passage, and continue during the war.”

—Ant important debate took place in the British House of Commons, concerning the depredations of the rebel privateer Alabama.

—Jacksonville, Fla., was burned, after its evacuation, this day by the National forces under Colonel Rust.—(Doc. 148.)

—Colonel Talcott, of the rebel army, was arrested at New-York City.—The English steamer Aries, while endeavoring to run the blockade, was captured by the gunboat Stettin, off Bull’s Bay, S. C.—Robert Gay of company D, Seventy-first Indiana volunteers, convicted of desertion to the rebels, was shot at Indianapolis, Ind.—Fast Day in the rebel States.—Some clergymen in Norfolk, Va., attempted to hold service in their churches, in conformity with Jeff Davis’s fast proclamation, but were prevented from so doing by the Union soldiers in that place.

—This morning the United States steamer Hartford, the flag-ship of Admiral Farragut, engaged the rebel batteries at Warrenton, three miles below Vicksburgh, and passed below.

March 28.—The Legislature of Massachusetts adopted unanimously a resolution tendering to the soldiers of that State the thanks of the Commonwealth for the services they had rendered in the war for the restoration of the Union, and pledging such reinforcements to their support as the National authority should from time to time demand.—The National gunboat Diana, was this day captured by the rebels near Pattersonville, La.— (Doc. 149.)

Thiess morning Coles’s Island, nine miles from Charleston, S. C, was taken possession of by the One Hundredth New-York volunteers, under the command of Colonel George F. B. Dandy.— (Doc. 150.)

—The rebels burned the temporary bridge with which the National forces had replaced the Stone Bridge at Bull Run, Va. They also were engaged in collecting all the grain and other supplies they could obtain in Loudon and Fauquier counties in that State.

—The steamer Sam Gaty was stopped and boarded at Sibley, Mo., by a gang of rebel guerrillas who killed a number and robbed all of the passengers of their money and wearing apparel; captured eighty negroes, twenty of whom they wantonly killed, and destroyed a quantity of government stores. The boat was then allowed to proceed on her voyage.—(Doc. 161.)

—The expeditionary force of National troops under the command of Colonel Fairchild, of the Second Wisconsin infantry, returned to Belle Plain, Va., to-day after a successful foraging expedition to Northern Neck. One thousand pounds of pork, three hundred pounds of bacon, three thousand bushels of corn, and a large quantity of wheat, beans, and oats were secured. The cavalry portion of the escort seized a number of horses and mules, captured several prisoners, and broke up the ferries at Union and Tappahannock. The force also burned a schooner engaged in smuggling contraband goods into Virginia.—Baltimore American.