May 2.—Secretary Seward informed the foreign ministers that the post routes were reopened “to New-Orleans and other places which having heretofore been seized by insurgent forces, have since been recovered, and are now reoccupied by the land and naval forces of the United States;” also that a collector had been appointed for New Orleans, and that preparations were being made to modify the blockade.
—This night, the steamer Edward Wilson was fired into by rebel cavalry, six miles below Savanah, Tenn., wounding five soldiers. The gunboat Tyler immediately went down and shelled the woods, and notified the people of the vicinity that their property would be burned on the repetition of the occurrence.
—At Corinth, Miss., General Beauregard issued the following address to his troops: “Soldiers of Shiloh and Elkhorn! We are about to meet once more in the shock of battle, the invaders of our soil, the despoilers of our homes, the disturbers of our family ties, face to face, hand to hand. We are to decide whether we are to be freemen or vile slaves of those who are free only in name, and who but yesterday were vanquished, although in largely superior numbers, in their own encampment, on the ever memorable field of Shiloh. Let the impending battle decide our fate, and add a more illustrious page to the history of our revolution—one to which our children will point with noble pride, saying: ‘Our fathers were at the battle of Corinth.’
“I congratulate you on your timely junction. With your mingled banners, for the first time during this war, we shall meet the foe in strength that should give us victory. Soldiers, can the result be doubtful? Shall we not drive back into Tennessee the presumptuous mercenaries collected for our subjugation. One more manly effort, and, trusting in God and the justness of our cause, we shall recover more than we have lately lost Let the sound of our victorious guns be reechoed by those of the army of Virginia on the historic battle-field of Yorktown.”
