December 7.—The United States mail steamer Ariel was captured off the eastern shore of Cuba by the rebel privateer Alabama, but was released after some detention, on giving a bond for two hundred and twenty-eight thousand dollars, payable in thirty days after the acknowledgment of the rebel government.—General A. P. Hovey, returned to Friar’s Point on the Mississippi, this morning.
—The battle of Prairie Grove, or Fayetteville, Arkansas, was this day fought between the National forces under the command of Generals Blunt and Herron, and the rebels under Generals Hindman, Marmaduke, Parsons, and Frost, resulting in the defeat of the latter with heavy loss.— (Doc. 24.)
—A fight took place at Hartsville, Tenn., between the body of Union troops under the command of Colonel A. B. Moore, of the One Hundred and Fourth Illinois, and a numerically much superior force of rebels under General John H. Morgan, resulting in the surrender of the whole Union force.—(Doc. 65.)
