The American Civil War

October 29.—Major-General George H. Thomas sent the following dispatch to the headquarters of the United States army, from his camp at Chattanooga, Tenn.:

“In the fight last night the enemy attacked General Geary’s division, posted at Wauhatchie, on three different sides, and broke into his camp at one point, but was driven back in most gallant style by a part of his force, the remainder being held in reserve. General Howard, whilst marching to Geary’s relief, was attacked in flank. The enemy occupying in force two commanding hills on the left of the road, he immediately threw forward two of his regiments and took both of them at the point of the bayonet, driving the enemy from his breastworks and across Lookout Creek. In this brilliant success over their old adversary, the conduct of the officers and men of the Eleventh and Twelfth corps is entitled to the highest praise.”—(Doc. 211.)

—The flag of truce boat arrived at Annapolis, Md., from City Point, Va., with one hundred and eighty-one paroled men, eight having died on the passage from actual starvation. A correspondent says:

“Never, in the whole course of my life, have I ever seen such a scene as these men presented; they were living skeletons; every man of them had to be sent to the hospitals, and the surgeon’s opinion is, that more than one third of them must die, being beyond the reach of nourishment or medicine.

“I questioned several of them, and all state that their condition has been brought on by the treatment they have received at the hands of the rebels. They have been kept without food, and exposed a large portion of the time without shelter of any kind. To look at these men, and hear their tales of woe and how they have been treated, one would not suppose they had fallen into the hands of the Southern chivalry, but rather into the hands of savage barbarians, destitute of all humanity or feeling. If human means cannot be brought to punish such treatment to prisoners, God, in his justice, will launch his judgments upon the heads of any people who will so far forget the treatment due to humanity.

“It seems to be the policy of the South to keep the Union prisoners until they are so far worn out as ever to be unfit for service again, and then send them off to die; while the men captured by the Nationals are returned to them well clothed and well fed, ready to go into the field the moment they arrive within their lines.”

—Jefferson Davis sent the following letter to Lieutenant-General Polk, who had been relieved of his command, upon a charge of mismanagement at the battle of Chickamauga:

“After an examination into the causes and circumstances attending your being relieved from command with the army commanded by General Bragg, I have arrived at the conclusion that there is nothing to justify a court-martial or court of inquiry, and I therefore dismiss the application.

“Your appointment to a new field of duty, alike important and difficult, is the best evidence of my appreciation of your past services and expectation of your future career.”

October 28.—Major-General Benjamin F. Butler, by direction of the President of the United States, was appointed to the command of the Eighteenth army corps, and of the Department of Virginia and North-Carolina.—A heavy fire was kept up on the sea face of Fort Sumter during the whole of last night, by the monitors and two guns at battery Gregg, and this morning the bombardment of the rebel works was renewed with great vigor.—Correspondence in relation to the depredation of rebel privateers upon the commerce of the United States, passed between the merchants of New-York and Secretary Welles of the National Navy Department.—The battle of Lookout Mountain took place this day.—(Doc. 211.)

October 27.—A detachment of National troops, under the command of General William F. Smith, surprised and routed a large body of rebels at Brown’s Ferry, opening communication with Bridgeport—(Docs. 96, 210, and 211.)

—At Charleston, S. C., four monitors opened fire upon Fort Sumter, at a distance of one mile, and continued the bombardment until late in the afternoon. At eleven o’clock in the morning solid shot were thrown into the city of Charleston, one of which struck the building occupied by the Union Bank.

October 26.—Heavy skirmishing took place near Bealton, Va.—Colonel George E. Spencer, commanding five hundred men of the First regiment of Alabama (native) cavalry, on an expedition through Northern Alabama and Mississippi, was attacked and defeated by the rebel forces, “in the extreme south-east corner of Tishomingo County, Miss.”—A fight occurred at Tuscumbia, Ala.—(Doc. 209.)

October 25.—Colliersville, Tenn., was again attacked by the rebels, who were repulsed and driven off.—One hundred and fifty armed guerrillas crossed White River, Ark., going north to operate against steamers at Council Bend.—The battle of Pine Bluff, Ark., was fought this day. —(Doc. 207.)

October 23.—A supply train which left Nashville, Tenn., this morning, under a guard of thirty men belonging to the Seventieth Indiana regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Campbell, was thrown from the track, at a point five miles below Tullahoma, the rails having been removed by a band of rebels. The members of the train had but a moment’s time to reflect upon the state of things, when the rebels charged upon hem with a terrific fire. The assault was bravely met by the guard, and the assailants were compelled to retire in confusion after an engagement of fifteen minutes.—Dr. D. W. Wright, of Norfolk, Va., was executed this morning for the murder of Lieutenant Sanborn.

October 22. — Colonel Gregg, commanding the Second brigade of Gregg’s division, sent out the Second Pennsylvania cavalry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Brinton, from the vicinity of Fayetteville, Va., to establish the picket-line from Freeman’s to Kelly’s Ford, the former some miles above and the latter some miles below Rappahannock Station. At Liberty (a few miles from Bealton, on the road between that place and Sulphur Springs) they met the enemy’s pickets, and the First Maine cavalry being sent to their support, drove them in and followed them up rapidly along the road leading to the different fords. The party which took the direction of Rappahannock Crossing turned and made a stand when approaching their infantry supports, and for some time the fighting was quite brisk. In this encounter the Second regiment lost six men wounded, among them Major Taggart, who was struck while gallantly leading a charge on the enemy’s line.

October 21.—This morning the United States steamer Nansemond, Lieutenant R. H. Lamson, commanding, captured and destroyed the rebel steamer Venus, from Nassau to Wilmington, with a cargo of lead, drugs, clothing, coffee, and bacon for the rebels. The Venus was one of the very finest and fastest steamers engaged in running the blockade. She was two hundred and seventy feet long, one thousand tons burthen, and had the finest engines of any steamer in this trade, and could run sixteen knots per hour. The Nansemond fired one shell through her foremast, another burst in the centre, a third passed through forward, killing one man, (this is the first man killed running the blockade,) and a fourth struck under the guard, near the waterline, knocking in an iron plate, which forced her to run ashore to keep from sinking. She was boarded so quickly that her captain, officers, and most of her crew were captured. As she could not be got off, she was entirely destroyed, under a heavy fire from the rebel batteries ashore.— (Doc. 204.)

—Warrenton, Va., was entered and occcupied by the National cavalry.—An engagement took place at Cherokee Station, Alabama, between the National forces under General Osterhaus, who was moving eastward from Corinth, and the rebels under Generals S. D. Lee, Roddy, and Richardson, numbering over four thousand. The fight lasted an hour, when the rebels were driven back with severe loss.—(Doc. 205.)

—Opelousas, La., was entered by General Franklin’s column of General Banks’s army at noon to-day. The rebels made a stand at a point about five miles in front of the town, with a body of troops composed of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, but they were quickly driven from the field. At Vermillion Bayou, where the rebels held a strong position, an engagement might have been expected; but the threats made on their rear by General Dana’s forces compelled the rebel commander to divide his troops, and so weakened the force on the bayou, that it was easily turned.

October 20.—Colonel Spencer’s expedition into Alabama, which left Corinth, Miss., yesterday, returned to-day on account of high water from heavy rains in the mountains. It penetrated to within fifteen miles of Jasper, over one hundred and fifty from Corinth. The whole cavalry force of Tuscumbia Valley was concentrating to cut him off. While endeavoring to press his command, which was about five hundred strong, between them, Colonel Spencer encountered a force of from one thousand to one thousand three hundred, under General Ferguson, in the south-east corner of Tishomingo County, Mississippi, and was quite roughly handled. Colonel Spencer formed a square of three lines of battle. As one position after another was outflanked, and the regiment becoming disordered and surrounded, he led it into the woods, where the rebels were held in check until night, when it broke up into squads, the men being all intimately acquainted with the country, and coming out the best way they could.

Captains Chanler, Pulo, and Stemberg, of Joliet, Ill, were killed; also, Lieutenant Perry, of company I, First Alabama cavalry. Lieutenant Swift, of Ottawa, was mortally wounded, and about ten privates were killed.

The rebel loss was more severe, as they rushed in large numbers upon the Nationals, who were under cover.

—The Union forces under Colonel Wolford, were captured at Philadelphia, Tenn.—(Doc. 203.)