July 28.—General Grant ordered Gen. Sherman to take possession of all unoccupied dwellings, stores, and manufactories, in Memphis, Tenn., and also to collect the rents of such property for the United States Government, where the owners were rebels absent from the place.— Union meetings were held at Burlington, Vt., and Baltimore, Md. At the latter Gov. Bradford presided, and delivered a speech, advocating the cause of the Government and the Constitution. Resolutions were adopted expressing patriotic devotion to the Union, invoking the young men of the State to tender their services to the Government to fill up Maryland’s quota; approving the policy of the confiscation of the property of the leaders of the rebellion, and declaring the slaves of every rebel free from all obligations to obey those who refuse to obey the laws.
—In reply to a letter written by Mr. Seward to the American Minister at London, Earl Russell sent a despatch to the British Minister at Washington, in which he said:
“From the moment that intelligence first reached this country, that nine States and several millions of inhabitants of the great American Union had seceded, and had made war on the Government of President Lincoln, down to the present time, her Majesty’s Government have pursued a friendly, open, and consistent course. They have been neutral between the two parties to a civil war.
“Neither the loss of raw material of manufacture, so necessary to a great portion of our people, nor insults constantly heaped upon the British name in speeches and newspapers, nor a rigor, beyond the usual practice of nations, with which the Queen’s subjects, attempting to break loose from the blockade of the Southern ports, have been treated—have induced her Majesty’s government to swerve an inch from an impartial neutrality.
“At this moment they have nothing more at heart than to see that consummation which the President speaks of in his answer to the Governors of eighteen States, namely, ‘the bringing of this unnecessary and injurious civil war to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion.'”
—A fight took place near Bayou Barnard, Cherokee Nation, between a force of Union troops, under the command of Col. Phillips, and a body of rebels under Col. Taylor, resulting in the utter rout of the latter with great loss. The rebels had one hundred and twenty-five men killed, including Colonel Taylor.—(Doc. 162.)
—Great excitement pervaded the town of Parkersburgh, Ya., caused by the report that a band of guerrillas was about to attack the town. The report was without foundation, but the citizens were so terrified that they tore up the flooring of the bridge across the Little Kanawha, and planted a cannon at their end of it The City Council held a meeting and appointed a committee to go out with a flag of truce, and prevail upon the marauders not to burn the town. The money in the bank was removed to Marietta, Ohio. Numbers of persons fled from the town, and crossed over into Ohio.
—The office of the St Croix Herald, in St. Stephens, N. B., was again visited by a mob, and the work of destruction this time is nearly complete. Most of the type was knocked into “pi,” the press injured, and much of the material was scattered outside, and thrown into the river. The Herald is about the only newspaper in New Brunswick that has advocated the Union cause. —Boston Journal, July 30.
—Colonel Guitar, of the Ninth Missouri regiment, reenforced by Lieut.-Col. Shaffer and Major Clopper, of Merrill’s Horse, and Major Caldwell, of the Third Iowa cavalry, six hundred and fifty strong, were attacked at Moore’s Mills, seven miles cast of Fulton, Mo., this day, by the rebels Porter and Cobb, nine hundred strong, and after fighting till after four o’clock P.m., the rebels were completely routed, with a loss of from seventy-five to one hundred killed and wounded, and one taken prisoner. Colonel Guitar reports a loss of forty-five killed and wounded. He captured guns, ammunition, baggage, etc., in profusion. The officers and men behaved splendidly. Col. Guitar resumed tho pursuit, and followed them over the Jordan.—(Doc. 163.)
—Jeremiah Hoy, one of the band of rebel guerrillas commanded by Quantrel, was shot at Fort Leavenworth for murder and treason.— Leavenworth Conservative, July 29.
