The American Civil War

June 5.—Contrabands in the vicinity of Suffolk, Va., having signified their intention of serving the United States as armed soldiers, orders were issued by Major-General Peck to Captain John Wilder, “to recruit a company of colored troops, subject to no molestation in removing those so recruited to the place of rendezvous, at Craney Island.”—A Squadron of the Sixth New-York Cavalry, commanded by Major William P. Hall, on an expedition from Yorktown, Va., to Warwick River, succeeded in destroying twenty-three boats and one schooner belonging to the rebels.—Brigadier-general Alexander P. Stewart, of the rebel army, having been promoted to the rank of Major-General, took leave of his brigade, and assumed command in the corps of General Hardee, at Wartrace, Tenn. -—Chattanooga Rebel, June 7.

—The steamer Isaac Smith, which was captured by the rebels on the first of February last, was sunk while trying to run the blockade of Charleston, S. C., by the national gunboat Wissahickon.—The rebel privateer Alabama, in latitude 14° S., longitude 34° W., captured and destroyed the ship Talisman.—The Second division of the Sixth army corps, under the command of General A. P. Howe, crossed the Rappahannock River at Deep Run, on a rcconnoissance. During the passage of the river, the rebel sharp-shooters made some opposition, and after the division had crossed there was some brisk skirmishing, the rebel rifle-pits were carried, and over thirty prisoners captured. The National casualties were six killed and thirty-five wounded, among the former Captain Charles E. Cross, of the engineers.—(Doc. 5.)

June 4.—Joseph A. Gilmore was inaugurated Governor of New-Hampshire. In his message he stated that over eighteen thousand troops had been furnished for the war, and continued: “In such a contest as that in which we are now involved, I am unable to discriminate between the support of the Government and the support of the National Administration. It is no time now to speculate upon the causes of the rebellion. The only facts which we need are that it exists, and that it is our duty to put it down. It was a remark made to me, by a former Governor of this State, the late venerable Isaac Hill, in which I fully concur, that ‘a man who will not stand by his Government is a coward and a traitor.'”

—Prince Gortchakoff, in a dispatch to Mr. Clay, the American Minister at St Petersburgh, after expressing the satisfaction of the Emperor at the reply of Secretary Seward to the proposal of France to join the diplomatic intervention in favor of Poland, remarks: “Such facts draw closer the bonds of sympathy between Russia and America. The Emperor knows how to appreciate the firmness with which Mr. Seward maintains the principle of non-intervention.”

—Major-General Stahl sent the following dispatch to the War Department, from his headquarters at Fairfax Court-House, Va.: “All is quiet along our lines and in front, on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. This morning, when the relief passed, our pickets were attacked on Sawyer’s road by guerrillas. Colonel Gray at once started, with about one hundred and twenty men, in pursuit of them, but could find nothing of them in the woods. He then went on to scout the whole country, and when he passed Frying Pan, his rear-guard was attacked by about one hundred rebels, who were hidden in a thick wood. Colonel Gray turned his column, and charged the rebels, who fled in great haste through the woods. He followed them up to Aldie, and from there returned, via Drainesville. Our entire loss is three, and some horses wounded. We captured their surgeon, Dr. Alexander.”

—An expedition left Yorktown, Va., proceeding to West-Point, and thence to Walkerstown, by way of the Mattapony. Thence it proceeded to Aylette’s Warehouse, about ten miles from the point of landing. At this place, the iron foundry, machine-shops, cotton mills, lumberyard, and four government warehouses, containing large quantities of corn and grain, were burned; also a large mill owned by Colonel Aylette, of the rebel army, with six thousand bushels of grain. The Colonel made his escape, although in the vicinity. The surgeon of the Fourth Delaware captured his horse, which was ready, saddled and bridled. A great number of barns, containing stores for the rebels, such as grain, corn, whisky, cotton goods, etc., were destroyed.—(Doc. 56.)

— A large and enthusiastic Union meeting was held at Chicago, Ill., this evening, at which speeches were made by Senators Trumbull and Doolittle and others.—Colonel A. Baird, in command of the garrison at Franklin, Tenn., was attacked by a force of rebels under General Forrest, and driven into his intrenchments, but being reenforced by a brigade of infantry sent by General Granger, he succeeded in repulsing the enemy with a heavy loss. At the same time an attack was made on Triune, but the rebels were driven off with a loss of two hundred men, four hundred horses, and a large quantity of camp and garrison equipage.—(Doc. 4.)

—General Burnside’s order suppressing the circulation of the Chicago Times was revoked.— The Twenty-second regiment N. Y. S. V., under the command of Colonel Phelps, returned to Albany from the seat of war.

—A fight took place at Sartoria, Miss., between a body of National troops, under General Nathan Kimball, and two thousand rebels commanded by General Wirt Adams, resulting in the defeat and rout of the latter after a contest of half an hour. The National loss was one killed and seventeen wounded, while the rebels lost over one hundred taken prisoners, and a number killed and wounded.—Simmsport, on the Atchafalaya River, La., was destroyed by the Union ram Switzerland, under the command of Lieut-Colonel John A. Ellet—(Doc. 53.)

—The rebel General Wheeler, with a body of cavalry, made an attack upon the National troops on the Shelbyville road, near Murfreesboro, Tenn., and skirmishing was kept up the whole day. The Second Indiana cavalry, on picket-duty, was first attacked, but being reenforced by the Thirty-ninth Indiana, under the command of Colonel Thos. J. Harrison, they succeeded in putting the rebels to rout, with a loss of several killed and wounded. The National loss was one killed and a number wounded.

June 3.—Col. Kilpatrick returned from an expedition through the country situated between the Rappahannock and York Rivers, in Virginia, having been entirely successful.—(Doc. 3.)

—A meeting was held at Sheffield, England, under the presidency of Mr. Alderman Saunders, at which the following resolution was adopted:

“That this meeting has heard with profound regret of the death of Lieutenant-General Thomas Jefferson Jackson, of the confederate States of North-America; a man of pure and upright mind, devoted as a citizen to his duty, cool and brave as a soldier, able and energetic as a leader, of whom his opponents say he was ‘sincere and true and valiant.’ This meeting resolves to transmit to his widow its deep and sincere condolence with her in her grief at the sad bereavement, and with the great and irreparable loss the army of the confederate States of America have sustained by the death of their gallant comrade and general.” It was decided to request Mr. Mason to transmit the resolution to Mrs. Jackson and the troops lately commanded by the deceased General. —Ashepoo, S. C., was destroyed by the National forces, under the command of Colonel Montgomery, of the Second South-Carolina colored volunteers.—(Doc. 55.)

—Admiral Du Pont ordered Lieutenant Commander Bacon to proceed with the Commodore McDonough on an expedition against Bluffton, on the May River, S. C., a stream emptying into the Calibogue.

The army forces were landed near Bluffton, by the gunboat Mayflower and an army transport, under the protection of the Commodore McDonough, and took possession of the town, the rebels having retreated. By the order of Colonel Barton, the town was destroyed by fire, the church only being spared; and though the rebel troops made several charges, they were driven back by the troops, and the shells and shrapnel of the Commodore McDonough. Bluffton being destroyed, the soldiers reembarked without casualties, and returned to Hilton Head.—(Doc. 54.)

June 2.—The circulation of the newspapers, Chicago Times and New-York World, was prohibited, in the Department of the Ohio, by a general order from Major-General Burnside, their “repeated expressions of disloyal and incendiary sentiments” being “calculated to exert a pernicious and treasonable influence.”—At Nashville, Tenn., C. F. Jones was arrested for writing treasonable correspondence to the Freeman’s Journal of New-York.—F. H. Pierpont, Governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation, calling upon the commandants of the State militia to hold their regiments in readiness for the field at an hour’s warning, as “the enemies of their liberty and prosperity were again threatening their homes.” — The- Twenty-fourth regiment of New-York volunteers returned to Oswego.—The city government of Portsmouth, Va., was organized. —West-point, Va., was evacuated by the Union troops.—The ship Amazonian was captured in latitude 11° 15′, longitude 34° 30′, by the rebel privateer, Alabama.

Major-General Banks, at Port Hudson, La., issued an order forbidding the passage of steamers from New-York past the quarantine at New Orleans, without a special order, unless they should be mail steamers or others transporting stores for the Government. This regulation was made necessary by the continued “refusal to transport the soldiers’ mails, except upon inadmissible conditions.” The provost-marshal was charged with the execution of the order. —Ax expedition into Tappahannock, Va., was made by a party of Union soldiers, who succeeded in destroying a large quantity of stores belonging to the rebels, besides carrying off a number 0f negroes.—Richmond Enquirer, June 6.

—At Philadelphia, Pa., a meeting was held to protest against the arrest of C. L. YVallandigham. Judge Ellis Lewis was appointed chairman, and speeches were made by Messrs. Bigler, Biddle, and Charles J. Ingersoll. The latter counselled obedience to the laws and the constitutional authorities, but resistance to any attempt to control the elections.—Governor David Tod, of Ohio, appeared before the Court of Common Pleas of Fairfield County, in obedience to his recognizance, to answer the charges filed against him by Dr. Edson B. Olds, when the case was continued to the next term of the court

—A good deal of publicity has been given to a rumor that General Lee is preparing for a forward movement, from which the newspapers in the United States infer that it is only a ruse to cover a demonstration in some other quarter, since they affect to believe that we would be more reticent if an advance were really in contemplation. The month of June, upon which we have this day entered, will unravel the mystery. In the mean time, the confederate army and people can well afford to possess their souls in patience, and to leave their cause in the hands of that kind Providence which has guided us thus far through this bloody wilderness.—Savannah Republican.

—An expedition, under the command of Colonel James Montgomery, ascended the Combahee River, S. C., and succeeded in destroying a large quantity of rebel stores and other property. —(Doc. 1.)

—The bombardment of Vicksburgh continued. All the guns in position opened fire at midnight, and continued their fire until daylight this morning. After a short cessation the firing was renewed, and kept up all day.—The second party of recalcitrants left St Louis for the South. They numbered seventeen, among whom were the wife and two daughters of Trusten Polk.

—A large meeting, to procure funds to send supplies to the wounded at Vicksburgh, was held at Chicago, Ill., at which nearly six thousand dollars were raised.—The schooner Echo was captured yesterday, in the Gulf of Mexico, by the United States steamer Sunflower.—A fight took place at Clinton, La., between the Union forces under the command of Colonel Grierson, and the rebel forces stationed in that town, resulting in the loss of twenty-one killed and wounded of the rebels, and a number of the Nationals.

May 31.—A battle occurred in Lincoln County, Mo., between a large body of guerrillas, and the enrolled militia of the county, resulting in the defeat of the latter, with a loss of ten men.—The National gunboat Alert, lying at the navy-yard at Norfolk, Va., took fire this morning. The fire soon reaching her magazine, a shell exploded, which went through her bottom, and she sank immediately. — A cavalry reconnoissance was made from Somerset, Ky., to within four miles of Monticello, during which, sixteen rebels, with their arms and horses, were captured.

—A force of Union cavalry, under the command of Colonel F. M. Cornyn, Tenth Missouri cavalry, returned to Corinth, Miss., after the successful raid into Alabama. They were absent five days, during which time, they had a fight (May twenty-seventh) with a body of rebel guerrillas, under Colonel Roddy, at Florence, Ala., routing them with considerable loss; they destroyed seven cotton factories, with all their contents, valued at one million five hundred thousand dollars; a number of steam flour-mills and sawmills, a number of blacksmiths’ shops, a large number of wagons, an immense quantity of powder, and other ammunition, and a large quantity of English-manufactured arms. The bridge at Florence, and a number of houses were burned, and the Nationals returned with six hundred head of horses, mules, and oxen, one hundred prisoners, and a large number of negroes.