November 15.—The following challenge appeared in the Louisville Journal of this day:
Camp Sherman, Jeffersonville
November 12, 1861.
Will you oblige by inserting the following: I hear that in connection with other braggadocio they brag a great deal, among the Confederate troops, in regard to their fine field-music. Therefore I, W. F. Robinson, do challenge any fifer in the Confederate army to perform with me on the fife for the sum of five hundred ($500) dollars a side. The music to be played shall be selected by both parties, Yankee Doodle and the Star-Spangled Banner to be included in the list. The trial match to come off when Buckner and his army have been taken prisoners, or as soon thereafter as practicable, the challenged party to have the choice of ground, provided every thing be peaceable. Any communication sent to Major W. F. Robinson, First Wisconsin Volunteers, Louisville,, Ky., will meet with prompt attention.
—U. S. Steamer San Jacinto, Capt. Wilkes, arrived at Fortress Monroe with Messrs. Mason and Slidell, prisoners, on board.—N. Y. Times, November 17.
—Fast Day, in the rebel States, was observed with religious services in the various churches of the South. In the Broad street Methodist church, of Richmond, Va., Rev. James A. Duncan preached a sermon, taking his text from the prophecies of Isaiah, fifty-first chapter, ninth and sixteenth verses. We make the following extract from his remarks:
The enemy boasted of his “eighteen millions ” who were to come down and overwhelm us, but whose first efforts at our destruction at Bethel church, and on the plains of Manassas, proved so disastrous to himself, when his legions were sent howling back to their capital in consternation and dismay. Well might we ask “where is the fury of the oppressor as if he were ready to destroy?” And now one of their foremost orators, who made himself conspicuous on the floors of Congress for his bitterness against us, has lately been slain by Southern bullets—he who said that Massachusetts should yet furnish a Governor for South Carolina. Peace to his ashes! We wish to his spirit no harm, but we could ask, “Is he ready to destroy? where is the fury of the oppressor?”—(Doc. 164.)
—The schooner Carrie Sandford, Capt. _____, arrived at Wilmington, N. C, from Nassau, N. P., with a cargo of four thousand five hundred bushels of salt, seventy-one barrels of sugar, a quantity of arrowroot, &c.; very acceptable articles just at this time, and no doubt a very large profit will be realized therefrom.— Wilmington. Journal, November 16.
—The Collector of the port of Boston received instructions from Washington, D. C., to stop the exportation of saltpetre and gunpowder from the city of Boston.—New York Herald, November 16.
—The steamship Champion arrived at New York, from Aspinwall, N. G., with ex-Senators Gwin and Brent, and Calhoun Benham, the Attorney-General ot the State of California, under the Administration of Mr. Buchanan, under arrest, by order of General Sumner, who also arrived, together with several companies of regular, soldiers, and a considerable quantity of small-arms. The arrested persons took passage from San Francisco to Panama on board the Orizaba, with the intention of making their way to New Orleans from some of the West India Islands. Before arriving at Panama, however, they were placed under arrest by General Sumner. They were conveyed across the Isthmus under guard of the National troops, notwithstanding a protest on the part of the New Granadian authorities, who considered such a proceeding a violation of the neutrality. The force at the command of General Sumner was too formidable to be interfered with, or a forcible rescue would probably have been made. The prisoners were, unfortunately, allowed to destroy a quantity of documents while on board the Orizaba, by throwing them overboard.—New York Times, November 16.
—Lieut. H. G. Bell, of the Ninth Iowa regiment, with fifteen men, went from Camp Herron, Mo., to Manchester, Twenty miles distant, and captured a large secession flag.—(Doc. 165.)
—The Norfolk Day Book, of to-day, contains the following notice:
Plans and offers for the construction of four seagoing, iron-clad, and ball-proof steam ram-ships, to carry at least four heavy guns each, are invited by the Navy Department, up to the 1st of December, 1861. Parties making offers are requested to accompany their plans by descriptive drawings and specifications; and a proper compensation for the labor of preparing such plans and drawings as may be submitted will be made by the Department.
S.R. Mallory,
Secretary of the Navy.
—Ford’s Ferryy, eight miles below Caseyville, Ky., was visited by one hundred rebel cavalry, under command of the notorious Capt. Wilcox, who was supposed to have been killed in the skirmish at Saratoga, Ky. The rebels seized upon three casks of bacon, five sacks of coffee, twelve barrels of salt, and five hundred empty sacks, and announced their determination to take in future whatever they desired. Ford’s Ferry is the terminus of an excellent road which leads out into the heart of Kentucky. Wilcox’s cavalry belong to a camp of twelve hundred rebels, about thirty miles in the interior. They are becoming very bold and troublesome, and require the attention of a regiment or two of Union troops.—Louisville Journal, Nov. 21.
The British schooner Mabel was captured by the U. S. steamer Dale, in the attempt to run the blockade at Charleston.—(Doc. 166.)
