June 25.—The division of the army of the Potomac under command of General Hooker, this day advanced in the vicinity of the Chickahominy River, with a view of occupying a new position. The advance was resisted with great determination by the rebels. They fought for seven hours, when they retreated with great loss, leaving the Unionists in the position desired. The loss of the Union army was about two hundred in killed and wounded. This battle was the first of a series of conflicts, lasting over seven days, and resulting in the retreat of the Army of the Potomac, under the command of Major-General McClellan, to the James River, under the protection of the fleet of Union gunboats.—(Docs. 77 and 78.)
—Yesterday the United States steamer Monticello, Lieut. Commanding D. L. Braine, picked up at sea, in an open boat, eight contrabands from Little River Inlet, South-Carolina, from whom information was obtained that two schooners were preparing to run the blockade, laden with cotton and turpentine, and that the cargo was already in the warehouse, near the wharf, ready for shipment. This evening Captain Glisson ordered an expedition to be fitted out, to consist of an armed boat from each vessel, and ordered Lieutenant Braine, of the Monticello, to proceed to the Inlet with the boats and send the expedition in.
The duty was ably performed by Lieutenants Braine and Bunce, with the officers and men under them, the reports of whom show that the town was entirely deserted. The schooners were found at the wharf, and were not considered worth the trouble of bringing away. They found at the wharf and in warehouses two hundred barrels of turpentine, sixty bales of cotton, and fifty-three barrels rosin, the whole of which was destroyed by fire.—Capt. Glisson’s report. .
— General Butler ordered, that “all the property in New-Orleans belonging to General D. E. Twiggs, and of his minor son, the income of which he has received, and under the charge of his agent, H. W. Palfrey, Esq., consisting of real estate, bonds, notes of hand, treasury notes of the United States, slaves, household furniture, etc., is hereby sequestered, to be held to await the action of the United States Government.”
— The Union ram fleet arrived off Vicksburgh, Miss., yesterday, and to-day communicated with Commodore Farragut, commanding fleet of gunboats.
— A large body of rebel cavalry under Jackson, this day visited a number of plantations in the vicinity of Memphis, Tenn., on the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, burning great quantities of cotton and arresting all persons found purchasing that staple. — Memphis Avalanche, June 27.
—A Union force, under the command of Gen. Williams, consisting of four regiments of infantry and nearly two batteries of artillery, left Baton Rouge, La., on the twentieth, and arrived at Vicksburgh, Miss., this day.—(Doc. 142.)
— A train of cars on the Memphis and Ohio Railroad, laden with a company of Union troops, eighty mule-teams with provender, etc., was this day captured by a large force of rebel cavalry, in the vicinity of Germantown, Tennessee. The rebels destroyed the locomotive, burned the cars, and killed ten men.
