The American Civil War

September 29.—The Cincinnati Enquirer of this day contained the following:

“It is now stated that a bill has been prepared and will be placed before the next Congress, declaring Lincoln President while the war lasts. Thus the mad fanatics are plotting against our liberties, and if we do not speak right soon through the ballot-box, the last vestige of our republican government will have been swept away.”

—The gunboat Bombshell, Captain Brinkerhoff, left Newbern a few days ago, under sealed orders, and made a reconnoissance of Pasquotank River, which empties into Albemarle Sound. Landing a boat’s crew near Elizabeth City, the men were captured by rebels, when Captain Brinckerhoff opened a vigorous fire on the town, doing considerable damage. —A slight skirmish took place at Moor’s Bluff on the Big Black River, Miss., resulting in the retreat of the Union forces. —A battle took place at Morganza, La.—(Doc. 177.)

September 28.—President Lincoln directed that the Twentieth and Twenty-first army corps be consolidated and called the Fourth army corps, and that Major-General Gordon Granger be the commander of this consolidated corps. He also directed that a Court of Inquiry be convened to inquire into and report upon the conduct of Major-Generals McCook and Crittenden in the battles of the nineteenth and twentieth instant. These officers were relieved from duty in the army of the Cumberland, and were ordered to repair to Indianapolis, Ind., reporting their arrival by letter to the Adjutant-General of the army.—Lieutenant Earl and thirty men, belonging to the Fourth Wisconsin cavalry, captured a party of rebel guerrillas and cavalrymen, in the neighborhood of the junction of the Amite and Comite Rivers, La., and safely conducted them into Baton Rouge. Among the prisoners were Colonel Hunter (Ten-Mile Bob) and Captain Penny, the leaders in the raids and attacks on the river steamboats in that vicinity.—Fort Sumter, S. C., was bombarded by the National batteries on Morris Island.—Mr. ——Spence, of London, England, ceased to be the financial agent of the rebel government.—Richmond Despatch, Sept. 29.

—An engagement took place at McMinnville, Tenn., in which the rebels were repulsed with a loss of a large number of prisoners.—The rebel steamer Herald was captured by the gunboat Kearny, and carried into Key West, Fla.—Major-General Grant, from his headquarters at Vicksburgh, issued Special Orders authorizing the issuing of rations to such families only, as should “take an oath to support the Government of the United States, and to withdraw all support and countenance from the so-called confederate government”—The entire cotton crop in South-Carolina was seized by order of Brigadier-General Rufus Saxton, by virtue of authority vested in him as Military Governor of the Department of the South. — General Orders were issued by Major-General Banks, at New-Orleans, La., authorizing the Commanding-Central of the Corps d’Afrique “to detail from the line an additional staff-officer, with the rank and pay of captain, to be designated ‘Corps Instructor,’ whose duty it shall be to superintend in garrison, and, as far as may be consistent with military duty, in the field, the education of men engaged in the Corps d’Afrique.”

September 27.—Captain Parker, of the First Arkansas infantry, with seventy-five men, was attacked near Moffat’s Store, in Franklin County, Arkansas, by Shelby’s rebel cavalry. His loss was two killed, two wounded, and fifteen prisoners. The rebel loss was five killed and twenty wounded—among the latter, Shelby, their commander.

September 26.—E. Kirby Smith, Lieutenant-General in the rebel army, commanding in the South-West, issued the following address to the people of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas:

“Your homes are in peril. Vigorous efforts on your part can alone save portions of your State from invasion. You should contest the advance of the enemy, thicket, gully, and stream; harass his rear and cut off his supplies. Thus you will prove important auxiliaries in any attempt to reach him in front, and drive him, routed, from our soil. Determination and energy only can prevent his destruction of your homes. By a vigorous and united effort you preserve your property, you secure independence for yourselves and children — all that renders life desirable. Time is our best friend. Endure awhile longer; victory and peace must crown our efforts. The amended regulations governing the formation of corps for local defence are published for your information, and I call upon you to organize promptly under its provisions.”

September 25.—The English steamer William Penn, which was captured near the Rio Grande, arrived at New-Orleans. — Spencer Kellogg Brown, condemned by the rebels as a spy, was hung at Richmond, Va.—A fight took place near Upperville, Va., between Major Cole’s command of National cavalry, and about one hundred and fifty guerrillas belonging to Mosby’s gang, in which the latter were defeated and put to flight. Major Cole recaptured seventy-five horses and mules, and one mar belonging to the Nineteenth New-York cavalry, besides killing one of the guerrillas and capturing nine.—A party of guerrillas attacked the Union garrison at Donaldsonville, La., but were repulsed, and compelled to retire with slight loss.

September 24.—General Robert E. Lee issued an order announcing to the rebel army in Virginia, “with profound gratitude to Almighty God, the victory achieved at Chickamauga by the army of Braxton Bragg,” and calling upon his soldiers to “emulate the heroic example of our brethren in the South, until the enemy shall be expelled from our borders, and peace and independence be secured.”—Between eight and nine o’clock this morning a squad of twenty-one guerrillas made a raid at Wood Station Number Thirteen, on the line of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, Va., about twelve miles from the latter place, stealing nine mules. Sergeant Highland, of Pennsylvania, who started in the direction of the plunderers, was taken prisoner.—President Lincoln issued a proclamation raising the blockade of the port of Alexandria, Va.—(Doc. 175.)

September 23.—The blockade-running steamer Phantom was chased ashore near Rich Inlet, N. C., by the Union gunboat Connecticut, and afterward deserted by her crew, who set her on fire before leaving; in the afternoon, men were sent on shore from the Connecticut, to destroy the boats of the steamer that had been drawn up on the beach. While in the act of destroying them, the men were attacked by a party of concealed rebels, who succeeded in driving them back to the gunboat with a loss of one killed and one wounded.—Lieutenant-general Longstreet issued General Orders to his troops, congratulating them on the brilliant victory which had crowned their heroic efforts at Chickamauga.— At one o’clock this morning, a raid was made upon a telegraph office opposite Donaldsonville, La., by a band of rebel guerrillas, who captured and carried off fourteen men of the Fourteenth regiment of New-York cavalry and the telegraph operator.—The English steamer Diamond, while attempting to run the blockade, was captured by the United States steamer Stettin, off St. Simon’s Sound, Ga.—A secret expedition from Beaufort, S. C., to the mainland, under Captain J. E. Bryant, of the Eighth Maine volunteers, and consisting of two companies of colored troops, the chaplain of Colonel Higginson’s regiment, a telegraph operator, and a lieutenant of the Fourth South-Carolina volunteers, returned with only partial success. The expedition started by order of General Gillmore, with the view, not of cutting the rebel telegraph between Charleston and Savannah, but of attaching a wire and receiving their despatches. Owing to the carelessness of the operator, the wire, instead of being hid behind the pole, was allowed to hang in plain sight, and was discovered by the passengers in the first passing train; not, however, until some very important messages had been received, and among others a telegram to the commander of the rebel troops in Savannah from Beauregard, ordering all his forces to Charleston, to engage in an attack on Folly Island.