The American Civil War

February 21.—The ships Golden Eagle and Olive Jane, in lat. 29° 17′, lon. 45° 15′, were captured and burned by the rebel privateer Alabama.—An enthusiastic Union meeting was held at Bloomfield, Indiana.—The National gunboats Freeborn and Dragon made a reconnoissance up the Rappahannock River, Va., a distance of sixty-five miles. Just below Fort Lowry they were fired on by a rebel battery, and an engagement of an hour’s duration occurred, in which the batteries were silenced. The Freeborn received unimportant injuries and had three men slightly wounded. The expedition was conducted by Lieut. Commander Samuel Magaw, and was a perfect success.—Official Report.

—A party of guerrillas, dressed as Union soldiers, made a descent upon South-Union, or Shakertown, Ky., this day, and destroyed a number of cars belonging to the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, besides a large quantity of property belonging to the National Government. After having finished their depredations they left the place, taking the road toward Greenville, when Colonel Benjamin H. Bristow of the Eighth Kentucky cavalry, sent a portion of his regiment in pursuit, and succeeded in capturing four of the guerrillas.—Cincinnati Gazette.

February 20.—Andrew Johnson, Military Governor of Tennessee, issued a proclamation warning all persons holding, renting, occupying, or using any real or personal property in that State belonging to rebels, not to pay the rents, issues, or profits thereof to the rebel owners or their agents, but to hold the same until some person should be appointed in behalf of the United States to receive them.—(Doc. 122.)

—Major Justus McKinstry, Quartermaster of the United States army, was finally dismissed the service by order of President Lincoln.—The United States Bank bill passed the House of Representatives, it having been adopted by the Senate previously.—Colonel Charles Carroll Hicks of the rebel army, was arrested at New-York.— Decimal and fractional currency being scarce in the loyal States, tradesmen and others gave out personal notes of the value of one, two, and three cents and upwards.— A battalion of the Fifth Illinois cavalry sent out to reconnoitre the banks of the Yazoo Pass, had a brisk skirmish with a company of sixty mounted rebels, dispersing them and killing six, wounding several, and capturing twenty-six. The National casualties were five wounded.—Chicago Tribune.

February 19.—A reconnoitring party from Yazoo Pass to Coldwater, Miss., under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Wood of the First Indiana cavalry, surprised two hundred rebel cavalry and routed them, killing six, mortally wounding three, and capturing fifteen.—See Supplement.

—Hopefield, Ark., opposite Memphis, Tenn., was this day burned by order of General Hurlbut. It was done because the guerrillas made the town their headquarters. — The office of the Daily Constitution, at Keokuk, Iowa, was destroyed by the soldiers in the hospital at that place.—The brig Emily Fisher was captured off Castle Island, Bahama, by the privateer Retribution, and after being partly unloaded, was released on bonds for her value.—A large meeting was held in Liverpool, England, in support of President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Resolutions applauding the course of Mr. Lincoln on the slavery question, and an address to be presented to him through Mr. Adams, were adopted At the same time a meeting was held at Carlisle, and a similar series of resolutions were adopted unanimously.

February 18.—At Charleston, S. C, General Beauregard issued the following proclamation: “It has become my solemn duty to inform the authorities and citizens of Charleston and Savannah that the movements of the enemy’s fleet indicate an early land and naval attack on one or both cities, and to urge that persons unable to take an active part in the struggle shall retire. It is hoped, however, that this temporary separation of some of you from your homes will be made without alarm or undue haste, thus showing that the only feeling which animates you in this hour of supreme trial is the right of being able to participate in the defence of your homes, your altars, and the graves of your kindred. Carolinians and Georgians! the hour is at hand to prove your country’s cause. Let all able-bodied men from the sea-board to the mountains rush to arms. Be not too exacting in the choice of weapons. Pikes and scythes will do for exterminating your enemies, spades and shovels for protecting your firesides. To arms, fellow-citizens! Come to share with us our danger, our brilliant success, or our glorious death.”—About noon to-day ten wagons sent out on a foraging expedition from Memphis, were attacked and captured in Nonconnah Bottom, by a party of one hundred and fifty rebel cavalry.

—Secretary Chase transmitted to Congress to-day a report of Hiram Barney, Government cotton agent at New-York, the footings of which showed that he had sold at public auction since the blockade commenced, three thousand three hundred and twenty-five bales of sea island and upland cotton, and one thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine bales of unginned cotton, valued at six hundred and ninety-six thousand five hundred and sixty-two dollars.

—The siege of Vicksburg was commenced to-day by the Union mortar-boats, which threw a number of shells into the city. The rebels opened three batteries of heavy guns on the boats, but their shot fell short, and did no injury.

—By order of General R. B. Mitchell, commanding the National forces at Nashville, Tenn., G. W. Donegan and W. H. Calhoun, two wealthy citizens of that place, were arrested and confined in the State penitentiary, as hostages for the safe return within the National lines of John A. Galty and T. T. Tabb, Union men held by the rebels at Chattanooga.—Clifton, Tenn., was captured and destroyed by a detachment of the Third Michigan cavalry under the command of Captain Cicero Newell.—Philadelphia Inquirer.

—A Democratic Convention which met to-day at Frankfort, Ky., for the purpose of nominating candidates for State officers for the ensuing August election, was broken up and dispersed by Colonel S. A. Gilbert, under orders received from Brigadier-General Q. A. Gillmore, commanding the district. The members of the Convention were said to be avowed rebel sympathizers.

February 17.—In the British House of Commons Mr. Bentick rose to ask the noble Lord at the head of the government whether the government were in possession of any official information on the subject of the reported defeat by the rebels of the blockading squadron off Charleston; and if so, whether that information was of a character to raise the question of the legality of the future blockade of that port . Lord Palmerston replied that Her Majesty’s government had had no information with regard to the transaction other than that which had been conveyed by the telegrams. They simply state that the blockade was raised on the morning of one day, and reimposed on the succeeding day. With regard to the application of the general law of nations to a transaction of that kind, his lordship would give no opinion, because, he said, the application of that law depended so much upon the circumstances of the case, that until it was well known what had really happened, it would be improper in Her Majesty’s government to commit themselves to any opinion as to the effect which this occurrence might have.

—At a point five miles west of Romney, Va., a forage train under an escort composed of companies from the One Hundred and Sixteenth and One Hundred and Twenty-third Ohio infantry, was captured by a party of rebels who escaped with the train, after paroling the Nationals, who were allowed to return to Romney.—Pittsburgh Chronicle.

February 17.—By order of General Grant all restrictions imposed on the circulation of the Chicago Times, were rescinded.—The steamer Hercules was burned by guerrillas this day at a point a few miles above Memphis, Tenn.—A heavy snow-storm prevailed on the Rappahannock and its vicinity.

February 16.—The act for enrolling and calling out the National forces, and for other purposes, was passed by the Senate of the United States at midnight.—(See Supplement.)

February 15.—A party of the One Hundred and Twenty-third Illinois regiment, under the command of Colonel James Monroe, in company with twenty of Stokes’s Tennessee cavalry, encountered a body of rebel cavalry belonging to Gen. J. H. Morgan’s force, at a point near Cainesville, Tenn., and after a sharp conflict completely routed them, killing twenty, wounding a large number, and taking six prisoners. He also captured fifty horses and destroyed three hundred stands of arms. During the action three of Colonel Monroe’s men were wounded.—Cincinnati Gazette.

—A detachment of fourteen men of the Second Minnesota volunteers, under the command of Sergeant L. N. Holmes, while escorting a wagon-train near Nolensville, Tenn., were attacked by a party of rebel guerrilla cavalry, numbering one hundred and thirty-five men. The small Union party stood firm, and returned the rebel fire with such effect, that in a few minutes they had killed eight, wounded twenty, and taken four of their number prisoners, beside killing eight horses and capturing four. The rest of the rebel party retreated.—Nashville Union.

—A fight took place at Arkadelphia, Ark., between a small party of Unionists under the command of Captain Brown, which lasted from sunrise until noon, when the rebels were routed, with a loss of fourteen killed and twelve wounded. Captain Brown lost two killed and twelve wounded.—General Hooker issued an order to the army of the Potomac, announcing that the order of the War Department authorizing the enlistment of volunteers into the regular service had been rescinded.

February 14.— A squadron of the Fifth Michigan cavalry regiment was surprised at Annandale, Va., by a superior force of rebels, and were forced to retreat with a loss of fifteen killed and missing and several wounded.—The rebel steamer Era No. Five, laden with four thousand five hundred bushels of corn, was this day captured in the Red River, La., by the United States gunboat Queen of the West, under the command of Colonel Charles R. Ellet.

—The United States gunboat Queen of the West got aground near Gordon’s Landing, Red River, La., in full range of a powerful rebel battery which poured into her several volleys of shot and shell, cutting the steam-pipe, thereby necessitating her abandonment.—(Doc. 105.)

February 13.—A large and enthusiastic public meeting of unconditional Union men was this evening held in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas. Speeches were made by General Blunt, and others, and loyal resolutions were unanimously adopted, proclaiming “all who ask for peace with rebels in arms against the Government, except on the terms of unconditional submission to the Constitution and the laws, or who propose a separation of the Union in any manner,” to be traitors, and indorsing the President’s Emancipation Proclamation.

—Yesterday, about one o’clock in the afternoon, a squad of Baylor’s rebel cavalry attacked a small scouting-party of twelve men, of the Twelfth Pennsylvania cavalry from Kearneysville, near Smithfield, Va., killing one, wounding two, and capturing four men and several horses. About four o’clock P.M., General Kelly’s scouts from Harper’s Ferry, Md., fell in with the same party a few miles south of Charlestown, and after a running fight of several miles recaptured the men and horses, and captured Lieutenant Baylor, two of his men, and several horses.—General Kelly’s Despatch.

—A skirmish took place to-day in the vicinity of Bolivar, Tenn., between the detachment of National cavalry and a body of rebels, in which four of the latter were killed, five taken prisoners, and a number wounded. The rebels also lost several of their horses. The Union party had none killed or wounded.—Chicago Tribune.

—To-night the United States gunboat Indianola, under the command of Captain Brown, successfully passed the rebel batteries before Vicksburgh. Twenty heavy guns were fired at her, but she escaped without being hit.—The steamer Douglass ran out of Charleston, S. G, with James B. Clay, of Kentucky, on board, as a passenger, for Liverpool. She successfully passed the blockading fleet.—Charleston Mercury.