August 1.—At about one o’clock this morning the rebels opened fire from their batteries stationed at Coggin’s Point, opposite Harrison’s Landing, Va., upon the Union army under Gen. McClellan and the gunboat fleet on the James River. After a brisk fire from the fleet, and land batteries, of nearly two hours’ duration, the rebel batteries were completely silenced. The rebels lost one killed and nine wounded.—Doc. 165.
—James D. Fessenden, Colonel Commanding the First regiment of South-Carolina volunteers, at Drayton’s, S. C, issued the following regimental order:
“The Colonel Commanding takes pleasure in announcing that free papers will soon be issued to those faithful soldiers who have steadfastly stood by their colors and performed with willingness and alacrity the duties of a soldier. They have shown by their prompt and willing obedience to the orders of their officers, and by their fidelity in the discharge of the various duties of camp, that they deserve to be free; and the Colonel Commanding hopes that their conduct hereafter will justify the exercise of the authority which has made them free men.”[1]
—A party of rebels, under the guerrilla Dunn, attacked Canton, Mo., to-day, and shot a man named William Craig, in order to get possession of some rifles stored in his warehouse. They then took possession of the rifles, and plundered all the stores in the place.
—John H. Winder, the rebel General, issued the following from his headquarters at Richmond, Va.: “The obtaining of substitutes through the medium of agents is strictly forbidden. When such agents are employed, the principal, the substitute, and the agent will be impressed into the military service, and the money paid for the substitute, and as a reward to the agent, will be confiscated to the government The offender will also be subjected to such other punishment as may be imposed by a court-martial.”
—This evening the Yankees infesting the waters of James River, landed at “Maycock’s,” the elegant residence of Mrs. Dr. Wm. Cole, and set fire to the dwelling and all the outhouses, which were completely destroyed. Mrs. Cole and her children were absent at the house of a neighbor, but her comfortable home, and all the furniture it contained, has fallen a prey to Yankee madness and malignity. The dwelling at Maycocks was one of the handsomest specimens of cottage architecture on James River, nearly new, and cost some fifteen thousand dollars.— Richmond Enquirer, August 5.
—Six hundred Union troops crossed the James River at Harrison’s Landing, and destroyed all the houses at that point. After accomplishing their object they returned to the Landing without losing a man. — The oath of allegiance to the United States was this day administered to the employés in the Government Navy-Yard, at Brooklyn, N. Y. A few of the men refused to subscribe the oath, and were dismissed from the service.
—A fight took place at Newark, Mo., between a company of the State militia, under the command of Captain Lair, and a superior force of rebel guerrillas, under Colonel Porter. The fight lasted about two hours, the Nationals taking refuge in the houses, from whence they killed a large number of their enemies, but the rebels threatened to burn them out, and they surrendered. The rebels captured about one hundred guns, a large number of horses, a quantity of commissary stores, a number of tents, and eight or ten thousand rounds of cartridges.—(Doc. 166.)
—A series of skirmishes occurred along the Rapidan River, in the vicinity of Orange Court-House, Va., between a reconnoitring party of National troops under the command of General Bayard, and a force of rebels, resulting in the retreat of the latter.
—Yesterday Jeff Davis sent a letter to General Lee, of the rebel army, inclosing an order dated this day, which recapitulated, first, the order of President Lincoln, issued on the twenty-second July, wherein the commanders of the armies of the United States were directed to seize and use any property within the rebel States which might be necessary or convenient for their several commands; second, the order issued by General Pope on the twenty-third July, directing commanders of army corps, divisions, brigades, and detached commands, to arrest all rebels within their lines, and such as would not take the oath of allegiance to the United States to be sent South, and those having violated the oath to be shot, and their property seized and applied to the public use; and third, the order issued on the thirteenth July, by General Steinwehr, directing five prominent citizens of Page County, Va., to be held as hostages, and to suffer death in the event of any of his command being shot by bushwhackers. On account of these orders it was declared in that now issued by Jeff Davis that Generals Pope and Steinwehr were not to be considered as soldiers, and therefore not entitled, in case they should be captured, to the benefit of parole of prisoners of war, but that they, or any commissioned officer serving under them taken captive, should be held in close confinement so long as the above orders of the United States should continue in force. The order further declared that in the event of any rebels being executed by virtue or under the pretext of the above orders, whether with or without trial, or under the pretence of being spies or hostages, or any other pretence, it should be the duty of the General commanding the rebel forces to hang an equal number of the Union commissioned officers who might happen to be prisoners of war in his hands.
[1] The following is a copy of one of the “free papers” loaned to the colored soldiers:
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
Port Royal, S C, August 1, 1862.
The bearer, Prince Rivers, a sergeant in First regiment South Carolina volunteers, lately claimed as a slave, having been employed in hostility to the United States, is hereby, agreeably to the law of the sixth of August, 1861, declared FREE FOR EVER. His wife and children are also free. D. Hunter,
Major-General Commanding.
