January 13.—The rebel Congress, having passed a joint resolution of thanks to General Robert E. Lee, and his officers, Adjutant-General Cooper issued an order announcing the fact, with the following preface: “The President, having approved the following joint resolution of Congress, directs its announcement in general orders, expressive of his gratification at the tribute awarded the patriot officers and soldiers to whom it is addressed.
“For the military laggard, or him, who, in the pursuits of selfish and inglorious ease, forgets his country’s need, no note of approbation is sounded. His infamy is his only security from oblivion. But the heroic devotion of those, who, in defence of liberty and honor, have perilled all, while it confers in an approved conscience the best and highest reward, will also be cherished in perpetual remembrance by a grateful nation. Let this assurance stimulate the armies of the Confederacy everywhere to greater exertion and more resolute endurance, till, under the guidance of Heaven, the blessings of peace and freedom shall finally crown their efforts. Let all press forward in the road to independence, and for the security of the rights sealed to us in the blood of the first revolution. Honor and glory attend our success. Slavery and shame will attend our defeat.”
—The schooner Two Sisters, a tender to the United States flag-ship San Jacinto, captured, while trying to enter the Suwanee River, the British schooner William, from Nassau.—General Butler addressed a characteristic letter to the Perfectionists of the city of Norfolk, Va.— The following report was made by Colonel James A. Mulligan, from his headquarters at New-Creek, Va.: “A soldier of ours, James A. Walker, company H, Second Maryland regiment, captured in the attack upon the train at the Moorfield and Alleghany Junction, on the third instant, by the enemy under General Fitz-Hugh Lee, escaped when near Brocks’s Gap, on the fifth instant, and reported to me this morning. He informs me that thirteen of the enemy were killed and twenty wounded, in the skirmish. He also states that there was present under the command of General Fitz-Hugh Lee, three companies of negro troops, cavalry, armed with carbines. They were not engaged in the attack, but stationed with the reserve. The guards, he reports, openly admitted to the prisoners that they were accompanied by negro soldiers, stating, however, that the North had shown the example.”
