September 9.—The Richmond Examiner of this day says: “A few days ago Col. Albert Rust, commanding one of the regiments from Arkansas, and now stationed at Monterey, proposed to execute a most daring feat, which, but for untoward circumstances, would doubtless have proved successful and stamped him a hero. Calling for volunteers for his enterprise, he accepted the services of eleven hundred men, and with two days’ rations, and stripped of all superfluous clothing and accoutrements, he took a circuitous trail, intending and expecting it to bring him out in the rear of the enemy at Cheat Mountain. His plan was, so soon as they hove in sight of their camps, to fire but one round from their guns and then to close with the foe and to use the bayonet and bowie-knife. General Jackson was to cooperate with him by menacing and attacking the enemy in front so soon as Rust should develop his arrival in the rear by firing. Unfortunately for the success of the enterprise, the trail had not been previously explored, and, instead of carrying Col. Rust to the enemy’s camp, took him six miles behind it, in a direction which rendered it inaccessible, leaving them no other resources but to execute an immediate retreat. So confidently was success counted on that Gen. Jackson drove in the enemy’s pickets, and waited nearly half a day for the signal of Rust’s arrival in the rear to commence the attack in front.
—This morning a serious revolt took place among the New York Rifles, near the camp at Willett’s Point. An entire company, as far as it had been made up, attempted to desert en masse, at the instigation of Captain Cresto, their commander, in order to join another regiment in New York. They were stopped by a special patrol en route, and ordered to return to the camp, and on refusing they were fired upon by the patrol. Two men were killed on the spot and five were severely wounded. Captain Oresto and several of the men were arrested, and the affair was investigated.—N. Y. Herald, September 11.
—In the Senate of Kentucky, Mr. Whitaker introduced a series of resolutions declaring that the peace and neutrality of the State had been wantonly violated by the so-called Southern Confederacy, and calling upon the people to rise and repel the lawless invaders. Governor Magoffin transmitted to the Senate despatches from the confederate General Polk, in which he proposed that the national and “confederate” forces should be simultaneously withdrawn from Kentucky, and that both parties stipulate to observe the neutrality of the State.—(Doc. 40.)
—The Richmond Enquirer of this date has the following: General A. Sydney Johnston has, as we anticipated several days since, been assigned to the Department of the West, and put in immediate command of the operations now in progress on the Upper Mississippi. A better selection for so important a command could not have been made.
—Dr. Robert Ogden Doremus, the celebrated chemist of New York, has made an invention that promises remarkable results in the use of gunpowder. It is made into the form of a paste and is affixed to the Minié ball and becomes hard as rock, so that it can be thrown any distance and not break. The powder is made in the form of a cannon ball, and can be carried in any form that a cannon ball can be. It is also made impervious to water. Experiments have been made, and the matter satisfactorily tested at West Point. A great saving is made in the quantity of powder used, as none is wasted, and the whole is as cheap as common powder.
—This evening as a Government steamer was conveying prisoners from Lexington, Missouri, to Fort Leavenworth, she broke her rudder and was obliged to land, when the boat was seized by a body of secessionists, the prisoners liberated, and forty Federal soldiers captured. —Baltimore American, September 18.
—An immense Union war meeting was held in Faneuil Hall at Boston, Mass., this evening. The “Old Cradle of Liberty” was packed, and every arena leading to it. Thousands were unable to gain admittance to the Hall. Hon. B. F. Thomas presided, and was assisted by the Mayors of numerous cities. All parties were represented.
The crowd was so immense on the outside that several meetings were organized. Judge Lord addressed the gathering in the Hall in a patriotic strain, saying that all the hopes of humanity, civilization, and Christianity were bound up in the present contest. Resolutions in support of the policy of the National Government were offered by William C. Williamson, and enthusiastically adopted. Letters from Robert C. Wintrop, General Butler, and others were also read. Both in the Hall and the vast outside gathering the most enthusiastic patriotism was evinced by the dense masses. Such a demonstration Massachusetts has not seen since the days of the Revolution.—(Doc. 41.)
—Another fiendish attempt to destroy the lives of the National soldiers was made a day or two since on the North Missouri Railroad. The timbers of a bridge near Sturgeon were partially burned, in expectation that a train laden with troops would be precipitated into the creek below, but the design of the villains being known, the train stopped at Mexico, and the troops encamped at that place, where they remained until the bridge was repaired.—Louisville Journal, September 13.
