October 22.—General Blunt with a division of Union troops this day attacked a force of rebels five thousand strong at Old Fort Wayne, near Maysville, Ark., and after an hour’s sharp fighting completely routed them and captured all their artillery, a large number of horses, and a portion of their transports and garrison equipage, the rebels retreating toward Fort Smith.—General Schofield with a Union force this day drove the rebels under General Hindman, through Huntsville, Ark., to a point beyond the Boston Mountain.—(Doc. 12.)
— Yesterday an expedition of troops, gunboats, and transports, under command of General J. M. Brannan, left Hilton Head, S. C, by way of the Coosahatchie and Pocotaligo Rivers, to destroy the bridges and tear up the track of the Charleston and Savannah Railroad. One wing of the expedition under command of Colonel W. B. Barton, to-day marched upon the village of Coosahatchie, attacked a passing train, killing and wounding several, afterward tore up the railroad track, cut the telegraph wires, and marched upon the bridge, but was prevented from burning the bridge at this point by the presence of a superior rebel force. The other wing of the expedition, under command of General Brannan, landed at Mackay’s Point, marched ten miles inland to Pocataligo bridge, skirmishing with and routing the rebels as they advanced. At the bridge a superior force was encountered well intrenched, and after a warm engagement and considerable loss, the expedition was compelled to abandon its object and return to the boats.—(Doc. 13.)
—A sharp fight took place near Van Buren, Ark., between a force of Union cavalry under the command of Major B. F. Lazcar, and a body of rebel guerrilla cavalry, numbering four hundred and fifty men, under Boone, resulting in a complete rout of the latter, with considerable loss.
—The Twenty-fourth Texas Rangers to-day captured a train of thirty wagons, of the Fifth and Ninth Illinois cavalry, near Helena, Ark., and took several prisoners.—The Fourteenth regiment of Vermont volunteers, under the command of Colonel W. S. Nichols, passed through Springfield, Mass., en route for the seat of war.— Springfield Republican.
A skirmish took place between the Union and rebel pickets in the vicinity of Nashville, Tenn., terminating in a retreat of the Unionists to their intrenchments at Nashville, with some loss.—The British brig Robert Bruce, of Bristol, England, Captain Muir, was this day captured off Shallotte Inlet, N. C, by the United States gunboat Penobscot, while attempting to run the blockade.—Two squadrons of the Fourth Pennsylvania cavalry, under the command of Captain Duncan, made a reconnoissance to-day in the vicinity of Hedgesville, Va. Captain Duncan drove the rebel pickets into the town, and then charged the main body, routing them and taking nineteen prisoners, including three officers.
