The American Civil War

January 21.—The advance of the cavalry belonging to the National forces, in their retreat from Strawberry Plains, Tenn., reached Sevierville. Skirmishing was kept up all day between the National troops on one side of the Holston River, and the enemy on the other. The latter had a battery on College Hill, near Strawberry Plains, from which he played on the Nationals, while crossing the river. Comparatively little damage was done, the Union loss being not over a half-dozen wounded.—The shelling of Charleston from Fort Putnam continued night and day, at intervals of ten minutes. One gun alone has fired over one thousand one hundred rounds, at an elevation of forty degrees.—On account of the scarcity of grain in the department of the Ohio, and the factitious value given to it by the manufacture of whiskey, the distillation of that commodity was forbidden by Major-General Foster.— Rear-Admiral Farragut, accompanied by his staff, arrived at New-Orleans.

January 20.—Correspondence showing the operations of Southern agents and individuals at the North, in the cotton trade, and making other revelations, were made public.—Major Henry H. Cole and the Maryland cavalry under his command, were officially praised for their gallantry in repelling the assault made upon his camp on Loudon Heights, on the tenth instant, by the rebel partisan, Mosby.—General Halleck’s Letter.

—A squad of men sent from Charleston, Mo., in pursuit of a band of guerrillas, killed the leader of the band and wounded two or three others. The remainder escaped to the swamp. Five prisoners were carried in, charged with harboring guerrillas.—Thirty-two guerrillas were captured near Paris, Ky., and taken to Columbus.

January 18.—At Flint Hill, Va., a party of fifteen rebels attacked the National pickets, but were driven off after a brief engagement.—The rebel conscription law created great consternation and excitement in the western districts of North-Carolina, and public meetings were held to take into consideration a repudiation of the confederate government and a return to the Union. The Raleigh Standard openly defied the execution of the measures proposed, and said, if they prevail, “the people of North-Carolina will take their own affairs into their own hands, and will proceed, in Convention assembled, to vindicate their liberties and privileges.”—In the rebel Senate at Richmond, Va., a resolution was passed approving the action of the government with regard to the outlawry of General Butler, and the determination of the rebel authorities to hold no communication with him.— A party of rebel guerrillas made their appearance on the bank of the river opposite Memphis, Tenn., but were driven off by a gunboat, without effecting any damage. — Lieutenant-Colonel Fuller, of the Third Arkansas cavalry, received the following from the major of his regiment, at Lewisburgh:

“Captain Hamilton has had a fight with a portion of Wells’s command, and killed six, and wounded as many more. Hamilton lost six, and but one or two killed; the balance missing. The command opposing him were under Captain Thompson, numbering nearly one hundred. Hamilton killed Thompson, and brought his horse, equipments, revolvers, and papers in with him. The rebels were dressed in Federal uniforms. Hamilton is here with me.”—Newmarket, Tenn., was occupied by the rebels belonging to the forces under the command of General Longstreet.—The rebel blockade-runner, A. D. Vance, was run ashore, under the guns of Fort Caswell, in attempting to enter the port of Wilmington, N. C.—The steamer Laura, blockade-runner, was captured in St. Mark’s Bay, Florida, by the United States steamer Stars and Stripes.

January 17.—This morning the rebels made a desperate attack upon the Union lines near Dandridge, Tenn. They threw out no skirmishers, but pressed down upon the Nationals in full force, seemingly determined to sweep them from the field. Observing their desperate determination, General Sturgis ordered Colonel D. M. McCook, who was in command of a division of Elliott’s cavalry, to charge the enemy on horse. This order was obeyed most gallantly. The charge of this division turned the fortunes of the day, which, up to this time, had been decidedly against the Nationals. The First Wisconsin, which bore the brunt of the enemy’s attack, lost sixty in killed and wounded. The Union loss in all did not exceed one hundred and fifty.—A fight occurred at Camp Butler, near Springfield, Ill., destroying the officers’ quarters and quartermaster’s stores. Captain Dimon and Lieutenant Bennett, of the Thirty-eighth Illinois cavalry, were burned to death, and two other lieutenants were badly injured.—The bombardment of Charleston, S. C, by the forces under General Gillmore, was continued with great fury, several new Parrott guns having been opened on the city from Battery Gregg.

January 16. — General Sturgis’s cavalry, in pursuit of General Longstreet, reached Dandridge, Tenn., thirty miles east of Knoxville, and drove the rebel videttes out of the town.

—President Lincoln, in a note to the proprietors of the North-American Review, said:

“The number for this month and year was duly received, and for which please accept my thanks. Of course, I am not the most impartial judge; yet, with due allowance for this, I venture to hope that the article, entitled ‘The President’s Policy,’ will be of value to the country. I fear, I am not quite worthy of all which is therein kindly said of me personally.

“The sentence of twelve lines, commencing at the top of page 252, I could wish to be not exactly as it is. In what is there expressed, the writer has not correctly understood me. I have never had a theory that secession could absolve States or people from their obligations. Precisely the contrary is asserted in the inaugural address; and it was because of my belief in the continuance of these obligations, that I was puzzled for a time as to denying the legal rights of those citizens who remained individually innocent of treason or rebellion. But I mean no more now than to merely call attention to this point” [1]

[1] The sentence referred to by Mr. Lincoln is as follows: “Even so long ago as when Mr. Lincoln, not yet convinced of the danger and magnitude of the crisis, was endeavoring to persuade himself of Union majorities at the South, and to carry on a war that was half peace, in the hope of a peace that would have been all war—while he was still enforcing the fugitive slave law, under some theory that secession, however it might absolve States from their obligations, could not escheat them of their claims under the Constitution, and that slaveholders in rebellion had alone, among mortals, the privilege of having their cake and eating it at the same time—the enemies of free government were striving to persuade the people that the war was an abolition crusade. To rebel without reason was proclaimed as one of the rights of man, while it was carefully kept out of sight that to suppress rebellion is the first duty of government.”

January 15.—The United States schooner Beauregard captured, near Mosquito Inlet, the British schooner Minnie, of and from Nassau.

—”The utmost nerve,” said the Richmond Whig, “the firmest front, the most undaunted courage, will be required during the coming twelve months from all who are charged with the management of affairs in our country, or whose position gives them any influence in forming or guiding public sentiment.” “Moral courage,” says the Wilmington Journal, “the power to resist the approaches of despondency, and the faculty of communicating this power to others, will need greatly to be called into exercise; for we have reached that point in our revolution which is inevitably reached in all revolutions, when gloom and depression take the place of hope and enthusiasm—when despair is fatal and despondency is even more to be dreaded than defeat. In such a time we can understand the profound wisdom of the Roman Senate, in giving thanks to the general who had suffered the greatest disaster that ever overtook the Roman arms, ‘because he had not despaired of the Republic’ There is a feeling, however, abroad in the land, that the great crisis of the war—the turning-point in our fate—is fast approaching. Whether a crisis be upon us or not, there can be in the mind of no man, who looks at the map of Georgia, and considers her geographical relations to the rest of the Confederacy, a single doubt that much of our future is involved in the result of the next spring campaign in Upper Georgia.”

—The Fifty-second regiment of Illinois volunteers, under the command of Colonel J. S. Wilcox, reenlisted for the war, returned to Chicago. —The blockade-runner Isabel arrived at Havana. She ran the blockade at Mobile, and had a cargo of four hundred and eighty bales of cotton, and threw overboard one hundred and twenty-four bales off Tortugas, in a gale of wind.

January 12.—A portion of Colonel McCook’s cavalry attacked the Eighth and Eleventh Texas rebel regiments, at Mossy Creek, Tenn., and defeated them, killing fourteen and capturing forty-one of them.—Contributions were made in Georgia to equip a new command for the rebel General John H. Morgan. Among the contributors was Governor Joseph E. Brown, who gave five hundred dollars.—Richmond Whig.

January 11.—The United States bark Roebuck, off Jupiter Inlet, Florida, captured the English schooner Susan, while attempting to run the blockade. At the same time and place the United States steamer Honeysuckle captured the English schooner Fly, of Nassau.—The blockade-running steamers Ranger and Vesta were beached and burned near Lockwood’s, Folly Inlet, North-Carolina. Admiral Lee reported that the latter was the twenty-second blockade-runner destroyed within six months.—(Doc. 116.)

—Three shells were thrown into the city of Charleston, S. C., from the National defences under the command of General Gillmore.—The United States steamer Iron Age, attempting to tow off the blockade-runner Bendigo, which had been driven ashore near the batteries at the mouth of Cape Fear River, grounded, and owing to her proximity to the rebel forts, was destroyed by fire.—Official Reports.

January 10.—General J. C. Sullivan sent the following to headquarters:

“Major Cole’s camp at Loudon Heights, Va., was attacked this morning. He fought gallantly and drove the attacking party off. I send you his report:

“‘I have the honor to report that my camp was attacked this morning at about four o’clock, by Mosby and his command.

“‘After a brisk fight of about one hour, they were repulsed and driven from the camp. Our loss is two men killed and thirteen wounded. Among the latter is Captain Vernon, seriously, and Lieutenant Rivers, slightly.

“‘There are some missing, but it is impossible to give the exact number at present. The rebels left four dead in the camp—one captain, and one a lieutenant.

“‘They left three prisoners in our hands, two of them wounded, and one a lieutenant'”— (Doc. 46.)

—The United States bark Roebuck captured the rebel sloop Marie Louise while attempting to run out of Jupiter Inlet, Florida. She was of about eight tons register, and laden with three thousand pounds Sea Island cotton.—Eighteen shells were thrown into the city of Charleston, S. C, from the National defences around that city.