December 11.—Two companies of infantry, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Rhodes, and two companies of cavalry, under command of Major J. J. Mudd, had a skirmish with the rebels near Bertrand, Missouri, to-day, losing one man. They took sixteen prisoners and a number of horses and fire-arms.—Missouri Democrat, December 12.
—In the Legislature of Western Virginia, in session at Wheeling, to-day, Mr. Carksadon, of Hampshire, introduced a resolution to prohibit any person engaged in the rebellion from ever holding office in the State. Mr. Snider, of Monongahela, introduced a resolution modifying these parts of the code which prohibit writing or speaking against slavery, so as to make them conform to the spirit and genius of the National institutions.
—The Eleventh Michigan infantry, twelve hundred strong, commanded by Col. Win. J. May, arrived at Jeffersonville, and were at once despatched to Bardstown, Ky. They are a fine body of men, and will doubtless do good service in the Union cause. Michigan has done nobly thus far, and the Eleventh is considered as good as, if not better than, any regiment yet sent to the war from that State.—Louisville Journal, December 12.
—Reliable news reached Fort Smith, Arkansas, to-day, from the Indian country, from which it is learned that a large number of Creeks, Cherokees, and Seminoles have joined Opothleyholo. The Cherokee regiment, under Colonel Drew, has disbanded, a part have joined the Nationals, a portion have returned home, and a part remain with Colonel Cooper. Opothleyholo is encamped about the Big Bend of Arkansas, with a force variously estimated at from two to four thousand men, well armed, and all naked to the waist, and painted.
Colonel Cooper is encamped within five miles of the Nationals, with a small force, consisting of Colonel Simms’ Texas regiment, Colonel McIntosh’s Creek regiment, and the Chocktaw and Chickasaw regiment.—Fort Smith (Ark.) News, Dec. 12.
—Five vessels of the stone fleet, and the ships George Green and Bullion, of Gen. Butler’s expedition, sailed to-day from Boston, Mass.
—An expedition, under Commander Rodgers, U. S. N., left Port Royal harbor, S. C., and explored Ossabaw Sound, Ga. It passed up the Vernon River, Ga., and was fired on by a fort on the eastern end of Green Island, without damage. Returning to the Sound, the expedition sailed up the Great Ogeechee River, and landed at Ossabaw Island, but found it abandoned. No batteries, except the one on Green Island, were discovered.—(Doc. 224.)
—This morning a party of rebels commenced firing on some National pickets in the vicinity of Dam No. 4, on the Potomac, near Sharpsburg, Md., but were forced to retreat to the woods, more than a mile from the river, after losing seven killed and many wounded. When the rebels disappeared, a party of National troops crossed the river to reconnoitre, but were forced to retreat by a company of rebel infantry. Before reaching the river, however, their escape was cut off by a troop of eighty cavalry, and the whole party, after a slight skirmish, captured. No assistance could be sent them by the National troops on the Maryland side of the river, and it was afterward ascertained that the prisoners had been taken to Martinsburg, Va.—(Doc. 225.)
