The American Civil War

November 26.—A. J. Clemens passed through Louisville, Ky., on Tuesday, on his way to Washington, to take his seat in Congress as the representative from the Fourth District of Tennessee. Mr. Clemens was compelled to leave his State on the 11th of August to avoid arrest, and since then he has been acting as an Assistant Surgeon in Col. Glider’s regiment.—Baltimore American, December 2.

—A Party of scouts, numbering five hundred men, under command of Col. Looney, returned to Chattanooga, East Tennessee, to-day, from a successful expedition, bringing in their spoils. They captured fourteen horses, and took one hundred Lincoln men prisoners. Some of these miscreants were found concealed in the dens and caves of the mountains. Holloway, the ruffian who killed Col. Anderson, managed to make his escape by clothing himself in female attire. None of the scouts received any injury. —Memphis Appeal.

—The Grand Review of all the Regular Military Forces on the north side of the Potomac took place, in accordance with previous arrangements, about one o’clock to-day, at Washington, D. C.

The several regiments of infantry were commanded by Brigadier-General Sykes, the cavalry by Lieutenant-Colonel Emory, and the batteries of artillery by Colonel H. J. Hunt, the entire body being in command of Brigadier-General Andrew Porter.

Thousands of citizens and sojourners availed themselves of the opportunity to witness the parade. The appearance of the troops, their fine discipline, and general movements, elicited from the vast assemblage a universal expression of praise.—National Intelligencer, Not. 27.

—Gen. Fremont and family, accompanied by Capt. Tracy, of the regular army, and two Secretaries, left St. Louis, Mo., to-day for Washington. He was accompanied to the depot by a large number of citizens, chiefly Germans, and on the east side of the river made a brief speech, regretting his departure, etc.— Chicago Evening Journal, Nov. 26.

—Seven companies of the First regiment Pennsylvania Cavalry, under command of Col. Bayard, made a reconnoissance to-night from Langley to Drainesville, eight miles up the Potomac. They captured a few rebel pickets, and on their return were attacked by a force of the enemy in ambush. A skirmish ensued, in which several of the rebels were killed, wounded, and taken prisoners, and a few of the Federal soldiers wounded. Col. Bayard narrowly escaped death, his horse being shot under him, and two balls passing through his clothes.—(Doc. 193.)

—Commodore Tatnall, with three small steamers and one gunboat, attacked the Federal fleet in Cockspur Roads, Ga. From forty to fifty shots were exchanged. No person was injured. Failing to draw the National fleet under the guns of Fort Pulaski, Commodore Tatnall withdrew.—Richmond. Dispatch, Nov. 28.

—A letter from the Upper Potomac, received in Washington, stated that G. W. Smith, formerly Street Commissioner in the City of New York, was in command of the rebel forces at Leesburg, Va., and in that vicinity.

—Jefferson Davis sent in to the Confederate Congress a Message concerning the secession of Missouri. It was accompanied by a letter from Governor Jackson, and also by an act dissolving the Union with the United States, and an act ratifying the Constitution of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States; also, the convention between the Commissioners of Missouri and the Commissioners of the Confederate States. Congress unanimously ratified the convention entered into between the Hon. R. M. T. Hunter, for the rebel Government, and the Commissioners for Missouri.—Richmond Dispatch.

—A banquet was given to Capt. Wilkes and the officers of the San Jacinto, at the Revere House, in Boston, Mass. Capt, Wilkes made a brief speech, recounting the incidents of the cruise after the rebel Commissioners, and he was followed by Gov. Andrew, Lieut. Fairfax, Chief-Justice Bigelow, and others.

—The Nashville (Tenn.) Courier of this date lays: “We learn that a squad of twelve men were sent to Franklin yesterday, to arrest some Lincolnites who were said to be committing depredations in that neighborhood. They had collected to the number of twelve or fifteen at the house of one of their number, one Bell; and defying, the party fired at them, killing one man, said to be Lee, of Louisville, and wounding one or two more. Our men then charged the house, and set fire to it, burning it and all of the men in it, it is believed, but two, who escaped. A detachment of twenty-five cavalry, under Capt. Morgan, arrived at Franklin to arrest the parties implicated.”

—A reconnoissance was made by a squadron of the Third Pennsylvania regiment, commanded by Captain Bell, in the neighborhood of Vienna, Va. From Vienna they took the right hand road toward Hunter’s Mill, and had gone about a mile and a half when they found themselves hemmed in on three sides by not only a superior force of cavalry, but also of infantry. The discharges of the rebel musketry placed the horses of the National cavalry beyond the control of their riders, the animals having been but recently brought into service, and therefore unaccustomed to such alarms. The officers, after several ineffectual attempts to got their men in line for the purpose of making a charge, ordered a retreat, which was effected in as good order as the peculiar circumstances permitted. The skirmish was brisk, though of short duration, the rebel cavalry firing buckshot from their carbines. The number of rebels killed and wounded is not known. John Beatty, private in Company H, killed a rebel cavalry officer, and captured his horse. The mark on the nddle was D. S. Davis, Ridgeway, North Carolina. Twenty-nine men were reported missing from the Union force.

—The Convention to form a new State out of Western Virginia met in Wheeling. The attendance was unexpectedly full for the opening, thirty-seven counties being represented. John Hale, of Mason, was elected permanent President. There was no business done beyond organizing and administering the oath to the members.— Wheeling Intelligencer, Not. 27.

—In the Louisiana State Senate a joint resolution was introduced, approving of the Government recommendation to the banks to suspend specie payments, and to issue the Confederate States Treasury notes in the place of their bank notes. The resolution also provided for the submission of the question to the popular vote of the people of Louisiana.

A resolution was offered to inquire into the expediency of the assumption by the State of the collection and payment of the Confederate war tax.—The Governor’s Message was sent into both Houses of the Legislature.—Richmond Dispatch, Nov. 28.

—Gen. Halleck issued orders at St. Lewis, Mo., in reference to the wants of the soldiers in his department, directing the appointment of officers to superintend any delinquencies and apply a remedy; also that prisoners sent to head-quarters at St. Louis must be accompanied with a written statement of the charges against them, and the evidence on which the arrests were made.—(Doc. 194.)

—Col. Jennison issued a proclamation to-day to the people in arms against the United States Government in Jackson, Johnson, Lafayette, and Pettis counties, Mo., stating that all who would deliver up their arms, and perform their duties as loyal citizens, would not be held responsible for past acts, and would secure the protection of their lives and property. All, however, who should disregard these propositions, would be treated as traitors, neither their persons nor property being spared.—(Doc. 195.)

November 25.—Two National gunboats landed troops at Buckingham, on the mainland of South Carolina. General Lee issued orders that no one should leave Charleston without a permit. The greatest activity prevailed in army movements, and “General Lee will dispute every inch of ground with a courage and desperation which will teach the Yankees a severe lesson. They will not be allowed to gain a permanent foothold on the mainland of South Carolina.”— Charleston Courier, November 26.

—Following the retirement of the Union forces, the rebels in Missouri advanced to Lebanon, fifty miles northeast of Springfield.

—Col. Buchanan, with six companies of the Fourth Infantry U. S. A., and the Ninth (Davidson’s) squadron of U. S. Dragoons, arrived in New York from California on the North Star.—National Intelligencer, Nov. 26.

—A Secessionist in Paducah, Ky., by the name of Woolfolk, hung a secession flag out of his window to-day, as some of the National troops were passing by, and hurrahed for Jeff. Davis. The man had done the same thing before on several occasions, and the matter was reported to General Smith, but he refused to interfere. This refusal of General Smith caused great indignation among the troops, and doubts of his loyalty were freely expressed in Paducah.

The matter having been reported to General Wallace, he sent his aide-de-camp with a squad of men to order the traitorous flag to be taken in, and if Woolfolk refused, then to take it in, and erect the Stars and Stripes over his house. Woolfolk, knowing that General Smith was senior officer, refused to obey General Wallace’s order, whereupon Wallace’s aid forcibly took down the rebel flag, and hoisted the Stars and Stripes in its stead.

In the mean time Woolfolk having appealed to General Smith, the latter sent his aid, Lieutenant Price, to order General Wallace to have the Stars and Stripes taken down from Weolfolk’s house. Wallace refused to obey the order, and sent word to Smith that the flag should not be taken down while there was a live man in his brigade. Wallace’s aid said that Woolfolk should sleep under a loyal flag one night, anyhow; Smith’s aid replied he did not consider that any great honor; whereupon Wallace’s aid knocked Smith’s down. General Paine sent Wallace assurances of his cooperation.

As General Smith had nobody but his discomfited Lieutenant to enforce his order, the “old flag still waves.” The occurrence, however, was the subject of an order from Gen. Smith, deprecating the mutinous spirit manifested by the troops under his command.— (Doc. 190.)

—The Ninth New York Cavalry regiment left Albany for the seat of war in Virginia. This regiment was raised in Chautauqua, Cataraugus, and Wyoming counties, and the men are mostly agriculturists.—N. Y. Herald, Nov. 27.

—The affair of the black-flag is thus alluded to by the Charleston Courier of to-day:

War in its best estate is war, and is horrible enough. If we must meet invaders, let us meet them with all the mitigation which invasion affords. To say that no prisoners are to be taken under any circumstances, is only to proclaim a war of extermination, in which both sides will suffer uselessly. The cry of extermination, black-flag, and no quarter, is shouted most vociferously by some who are evading any kind of war. People who fight are willing enough to accept a war of rules, as long as possible; and if they catch thieves and incendiaries, they can readily discriminate against them in, favor of prisoners of war.

—Major Isaac Lynde, Seventh U. S. Infantry, for abandoning his post—Fort Fillmore, New Mexico—on the 27th of July, 1861, and subsequently surrendering his command to an inferior force of insurgents, was, by direction of the President of the United States, dropped from the rolls of the army from this date.— General Orders, No. 102.

—A party of the Ninth Iowa regiment, on a scout, near Pacific City, Mo., overtook a body of rebels who had stolen a herd of cattle, hogs, and sheep from the Union men in the neighborhood, and succeeded in dispersing them, with one killed of the rebels.—Dubuque Times, Dec. 8.

—S. P. Sewell, a Yankee school teacher at Memphis, Tenn., has been arrested by the Committee of Safety as a person inimical to the South.—Nashville (Louisville) Courier, Not. 25.

—Intelligence of the capture and destruction of the rebel privateer Royal Yacht was received at Washington. At midnight of the 7th of November a volunteer expedition left the U. S. frigate Santee for the purpose of capturing the yacht, then lying at the entrance of the harbor of Galveston, Texas. The expedition was under command of Lieut. James E. Jouett, and consisted of the first and second launches, armed with howitzers, with forty men. Lieut John G. Mitchell commanded the second launch. The other officers were Wm. Carter, gunner, and Acting Master’s Mate Charles W. Adams. At three o’clock in the morning the yacht was boarded and captured after a sharp conflict, in which several of the rebels were killed, though some escaped. She was then set on fire, and her gun, a light thirty-two-pounder, was spiked, and before the boats regained the ship the yacht was entirely destroyed. A few stand of arms were captured, also thirteen prisoners, (three of them wounded,) and the yacht’s colors. The officers engaged exhibited great coolness and courage. Henry Garcia, seaman, was killed; and John L. Emerson, coxswain, died of his wounds. Lieut. Jouett, and Wm. Carter, gunner, were wounded; also five men, Edward Conway, Gunner’s Mate; Geo. Bell, Coxswain; Hugh McGregor, Ordinary seaman; Francis Brown, seaman; and Charles Hawkins, seaman.—(Doc. 192.)

November 24.—This evening a skirmish took place at Lancaster, Schuyler County, Mo., between a body of troops, under Col. Moore, and four hundred and twenty rebels under Lieutenant-Colonel Blanton. In the morning Col. Moore, with his command of four hundred and fifty men, left Memphis, Scotland County, Mo., for Lancaster, where he had learned that Colonel Woodwards, with a detachment of about one hundred men, was surrounded and in need of early assistance.

Lancaster is, by the nearest road, some eighteen miles from Memphis, but by a forced march, Colonel Moore arrived there in the evening. The enemy was concealed in the brush and corn, about a mile west of the town, where an engagement took place, lasting half an hour, or until it was too dark to tell friend from foe.

The rebels were completely routed. Thirteen were killed, several more wounded, and many taken prisoners. Among the rebels killed were Captain McCulloch and son, somewhat noted in that section. The Union loss was one killed, Joseph Garrison, one man named Adams mortally wounded, and another, named Gallupe, slightly wounded. Colonel Moore took possession of Lancaster to-night.—St. Louis Republican, November 30.

—At night Capt. Moreau’s Cavalry, accompanied by Gen. McCook’s body guard, went to the traitor Buckner’s farm, situated on Green River, a few miles above Munfordsville, Kentucky, and took possession of the stock, a large amount of grain, wheat, corn, &c.—N. Y. Times, November 80.

—William H. Carroll, Brig.-Gen. of Confederate forces at Camp Lookout, East Tennessee, annulled the proclamation of martial law made by his predecessor.—(Doc. 188.)

—United States gunboats Flag, Augusta, Pocahontas, and Seneca went from Port Royal in S. C., to Tybee Island at the month of the Savannah River, and threw in a few shells which drew no response from the rebel works; a body of marines was then landed, and the fortifications found to be deserted. Formal possession was then taken of the island.— (Doc. 189.)

November 23.—The bombardment of the rebel Forts McRae and Barrancas was continued from Fort Pickens and the National ships in Pensacola harbor. Fort McRae was completely silenced, and Barrancas and the Navy yard at Warrington very much damaged. The town of Warrington was destroyed, together with the rebel rifle works at that place. Fort Pickens sustained no damage beyond the disabling of one gun. The loss on the Union side was one killed and six wounded.—(Doc. 191.)

—Brig.-Gen. H. H. Lockwood, in command of the Union force on the eastern shore of Virginia, issued a proclamation, by which the various officers of the civil government in that locality were restored to the exercise of their functions interrupted by the ordinance of secession. This expedition accomplished important results without bloodshed. Ten pieces of cannon were captured, eight of them new and in good condition; also a thousand stand of arms, rebel flags, &c.—(Doc. 185.)

—The Confederate gunboat Tuscarora, on her way up the Mississippi from New Orleans, took fire about fifteen miles above Helena, Ark. A strong wind was blowing at the time, and it was found impossible to save the boat. An effort to save the magazine was successful, but the shells on board began to explode soon after the fire commenced. The explosion fired the negro quarters on Mr. Harbutt’s plantation, as well as the tops of trees on the bank of the river. The boat was burned to a wreck.—Memphis (Tenn.) Avalanche, Nov. 25.

—The Germans of Cincinnati, Ohio, turned out in large numbers to-night, to attend a meeting held at Turner Hall, in that city, for the purpose of expressing sympathy with Gen. Fremont in the course lately pursued toward him by the Administration. The meeting was called to order by Dr. A. Bauer; Frederick Werner was appointed secretary. Judge Stallo and the Rev. Mr. Eisenlohr addressed the assemblage in the German, and Rev. M. D. Conway in the English language. A series of resolutions in German censuring the Administration for the supersedure of Gen. Fremont was passed.—Cincinnati Gazette, Nov. 25.

—Some citizens of Frankfort, Ky., faithful to the Union, met in that city and passed a series of resolutions in which they condemn the doctrine set forth by Simon Cameron and John Cochrane, in relation to arming the slaves, and express their belief that such a course “would add to the calamities of the present civil war, the further horrors of servile insurrection, murder, rapine, and plunder.”—(Doc. 186.)

—Lieut. J. L. Barnes, Missouri Volunteers, met D. K. Barclay, Confederate Commissioner, in St. Louis, and arranged for the exchange of the Union men taken prisoners by the rebels at Lexington, and the rebels taken prisoners at Camp Jackson by Gen. Lyon.— St. Louis Democrat.

—The steamer Constitution and Forest City, with the van of Gen. Butler’s expedition, sailed from Portland, Maine.—Boston Post, Nov. 25.

—Public notice was given that Government “will give the pay of U. S. soldiers who are prisoners of war to persons presenting written authority from the prisoner to draw his pay, or, without such authority, to his wife, the guardian of his minor children, or his widowed mother.”—(Doc. 187.)

—Gen. Thomas, in command of the left wing of the Union army in Kentucky, advanced his entire force from Danville to Columbia in Adair Co.—The Fifty-ninth regiment N. Y. S. V., Col. W. L. Tidball, left New York City for the seat of war.—N. Y. Herald, Nov. 30.

November 22.—This morning, at New Orleans, Lieut. Morel, of the Third District Police, upon information received, arrested a German named Frenzel, who lived on Charles street, in the Second District, charging him with being an incendiary and a traitor to the State and Southern Confederacy. It appears that Frenzel, who was quite an intelligent man, had excited Lieut. Morel’s suspicions, by remarks that he was reported to have made in favor of Lincoln and his dynasty; he was watched—the result of which was, that he was heard to boast that there was a powerful organization in New Orleans—at least five thousand strong—which, the moment that the Lincoln army made its apance (sic) there, or on the coast, would rise and help them to the best of their ability.—New Orleans Crescent, November 23.

—Charles Macbeth, Mayor of the city of Charleston, S. C., issued a proclamation calling upon the citizens to assist the military and civil authorities in putting the city in a proper state of defence, by promptly contributing all their unemployed laborers for that object.—(Doc. 183.)

—General Huger, of the rebel army, at Norfolk, replies as follows to an inquiry made by Gen. Wool, as to whether United States soldiers, prisoners in the South, would be permitted to receive clothing and other necessary articles:

“I consider myself fully authorized to reply at once to the inquiry made in your letter of the 8th inst. My Government will allow blankets and articles of clothing necessary for the comfort of prisoners of war to be sent to them. Such articles as you may send to me will be promptly forwarded by the Southern Express Company, and money may be sent to pay the freight here, (at Norfolk, Va.,) or it may be paid on delivery.”—N. Y. Commercial Advertiser, November 25.

—Price’s rebel army crossed the Osage River at Hoffman’s Ferry, Mo., and began a further march northward toward Sedalia.—Baltimore American, Nov. 26.

—On information obtained from a deserter, an expedition consisting of two gunboats, left Fortress Monroe late this evening, and proceeded to the junction of the James’ and Warwick Rivers, Va., about five and a half miles above Newport News, where they shelled the camp of the Second Louisiana regiment, completely destroying it, and causing much havoc among the rebels.—(Doc. 184.)

—The Second regiment of cavalry N. Y. S. V., “Black Horse Cavalry,” under the command of Colonel A. J. Morrison, left Camp Strong, near Troy, for the seat of war. Previous to their departure the troops were presented with an elegant stand of colors. Col. Morrison is an officer of considerable military experience. He served in the Mexican war, in the expeditions of Lopez and Walker, and with Garibaldi in Italy. On his return to the United States he was authorized to raise a regiment of cavalry, which he has designated the “Black Horse Cavalry,” and which is now the second regiment of volunteer cavalry of New York.

—Fort Pickens opened fire upon the rebel steamer Time, just as she entered the Navy yard at Warrington, Fla., and was answered by the rebels at Forts Barrancas and McRae. The firing continued upon both sides nearly all day.