The American Civil War

February 11.—William H. Seward, Secretary of State, in answer to the call of the Senate of the United States for information concerning the French Minister’s (M. Merrier) visit to Richmond, Va., said that “since March fourth, 1861, no communication, direct or indirect, formal or informal, save in relation to prisoners of war, has been held by this Government, or by the Secretary of State, with the insurgents, their aiders or abettors; no passport has been granted to any foreign Minister to pass the military lines, except by the President’s direction.” — At the Lord Mayor’s banquet at London, this day, the rebel Commissioner, J. M. Mason, was present, and delivered a speech.—London News.

February 10.—George P. Hodges, of Kentucky, introduced the following preamble and resolution in the rebel House of Representatives, which was agreed to:

Whereas, information has reached this Congress of the passage by the Congress at Washington, D. C, of a bill for the enlistment of negroes as soldiers in the armies of the United States, which armies are to be engaged in the further invasion of the confederate States of America;

And whereas, the Constitutions both of the confederate States and the United States recognize Africans and their descendants as property;

And whereas, we cannot consent to any change in their political status and condition; therefore,

Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be instructed to inquire into the expediency of bringing in a bill providing the proper forms for the disposition of all negroes or mulattoes who may be captured from the enemy in such manner that those of them who are fugitives from their masters may be returned to their rightful owners, and those for whom no masters can be found shall be sold into perpetual bondage, for the purpose of raising a fund to reimburse citizens of this Confederacy who have lost their slave property by reason of the interference therewith by the enemy.

—A fight took place at Old River, La., between a National force, under Captain T. Tucker of the First Kansas volunteers, and the First battalion of the Third regiment of Louisiana cavalry.—(Doc. 120.)

—A. D. Mahony, President of the “Prisoners of State Association,” published a notice calling upon “all such persons as had been arrested without charge, imprisoned without trial, and discharged from confinement on the mere order of Abraham Lincoln, or of some one of his subordinates, to convene on the fourth day of March next, in the city of New-York, for the purpose of devising, adopting, and putting into practical effect, such means as might be deemed best to obtain satisfaction for the outrages to which we, prisoners of state, have been subjected, and reparation done us in person and property, and for the further purpose of doing what becomes us as American patriots to preserve our Constitution and Government from total subversion, and the liberties of the people from subjection to arbitrary power.”

—Information was received at the War Department at Washington, that a party of loyal Delaware and Shawnee Indians, of Kansas, had taken the rebel Wachita agency in Texas, killed Leoper the agent, and captured a hundred disloyal Indians, together with a large number of horses, papers and rebel bonds. Among the papers were treaties made with the rebel government, and signed by Albert Pike. The party returned to Kansas, with the loss of four men.

February 9. — A cavalry skirmish occurred near Summerville, Va., between a detachment of Union cavalry belonging to Major Knox’s command, and a scouting-party of rebels, in which the latter were compelled to retreat, with the loss of several of their number killed and wounded. The National party were uninjured.—Philadelphia Inquirer.

—It having been frequently reported to General Rosecrans, that rebel soldiers approached his lines, near Murfreesboro, Tenn., dressed in the uniform of the National troops, and that they had even carried the colors of the United States, like savages to deceive his men, he ordered that none so dressed should receive, when captured, the rights of prisoners of war, and that in battle, no quarter should be given them.—General Order No. 16.

February 8.—Colonel W. R. Penick, from his headquarters at Independence, Mo., sent a detachment of fifty men from the Fifth cavalry of Missouri volunteers, under the command of Lieutenant D. A. Colvin, in pursuit of a guerrilla camp, which he ascertained existed in the vicinity. His scout came up with the enemy at two o’clock this afternoon, when a running fight commenced, which lasted about thirty minutes, and resulted in the rout of the guerrillas, with eight killed, two wounded, and all their arms captured. To test the fighting qualities of the negro, Colonel Penick sent a contraband with the party at his own request. The negro was severely wounded in the shoulder, but expressed “his willingness to again fight the bushwhackers as soon as he should recover.”—Colonel Penick’s Report.

—The expedition under Generals Davis and Morgan, sent from Nashville, Tenn., in pursuit of Forrest and Wheeler’s rebel force, who were retreating to the West, returned this evening. Seven miles east of Charlotte, thirty rebel prisoners were captured, among whom were Colonel Carroll, and Major Rembrant, of Forrest’s staff.— Lebanon, Tenn., was entered and occupied by the National forces, who succeeded in capturing six hundred rebels, most of them belonging to the command of General Morgan.—The work of cutting the canal at Vicksburgh continued rapidly, a large force being engaged upon it night and day.—Rear-Admiral Porter reported the capture of three rebel transport steamers on the Red River, Ark., by the Queen of the West, under the command of Colonel Ellet.—The circulation of the Chicago Times newspaper was prohibited in the command of General Hurlbut, by a general order issued at Memphis, Tenn.

February 7.—This morning a deserter from the rebel army came to the National headquarters at Yorktown, Va., and stated that there were some twenty-five more of the rebels nine miles from Williamsburgh that wanted to give them selves up, but were afraid to come into the lines for fear of being fired upon. Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis, in command of the Fifth Pennsylvania, sent a squadron of his cavalry after them. When the main body of the squadron had reached the spot where the men were said to be waiting, they were fired upon by guerrillas in ambush, and twenty saddles were emptied the first volley. At the same time a body of rebel cavalry was seen charging down the road at some distance off. What remained of the Union cavalry, immediately started to receive them. They had just got under good speed, when they came in contact with telegraph wires that the guerrillas had suspended across the road and tied to the trees on each side, throwing horses and riders to the ground and tumbling them in a heap together, cutting and bruising both man and horse terribly. One captain and one lieutenant were taken prisoners, one captain was mortally wounded, and one lieutenant was killed. Thirty-five of the men were missing, and were either killed or taken prisoners.

—The guerrilla leader, Captain Dawson, and several of his men, were this day captured by a detachment of Union troops, under the command of Colonel Wood, Twenty-second Ohio volunteers, in the vicinity of Dyersburgh, Tenn.—Chicago Tribune.

—The steamers T. D. Wagner, Leopard, and Ruby, all from Nassau, N. P., with “large and valuable cargoes,” ran the blockade and arrived at Charleston, S. C, at an early hour this morning.—J. P. Benjamin, the rebel Secretary of State, addressed a circular to the foreign consuls in the Southern States, informing them that the National fleets having been dispersed at Galveston, and Sabine Pass, Texas, those ports were open to the trade of the merchants of their several nations.—Eli Thayer, at the Cooper Institute at New-York, delivered an address advocating the colonization of Florida with loyal colonists from the North.

February 6.—A detachment from companies H and F, of the Fifth New-York cavalry, under the command of Captain Penfield, made a raid into Middleburgh, Va., and at Aldie captured eight of the First Virginia rebel cavalry, and the post-master at Little Washington. They were en route to a ball given to them by the citizens of that place, and were fully armed and equipped.— The rebel Colonel Cushman, the celebrated “cotton-burner,” was arrested at his residence, near Ripley, Tenn., and taken to Columbus.—Cincinnati Gazette.

—A party of the Twelfth Virginia rebel cavalry, attacked the mail-coach between Martinsburgh and Winchester, Va., this afternoon, and captured the driver and occupants of the coach, Brigadier-General Cluseret’s assistant adjutant general and aid-de-camp among the number. The aid managed to escape, and reported the affair to General Milroy, who immediately ordered out two companies of the First New-York cavalry to cut off their retreat. Companies A and K, commanded by Captain Jones, and Lieutenant Laverty respectively, were sent out. Captain Jones left Lieutenants Laverty and Watkins with a small party at Millwood, thirteen miles from Winchester, while he and Lieutenant Boyd went on still further. The Captain’s party had scarcely moved away, when the rebels made their appearance at Millwood, with all they had captured. Lieutenant Laverty immediately ordered a charge, and dashed upon them, when the rebels broke and ran, though fighting desperately as they fled. They were chased seven miles. The expedition resulted in the recapture of all which the rebels had taken, and the killing of one of them, and taking prisoner of another. The escape of the remainder of the rebels was owing to its being night. Lieutenant Laverty was the only one injured, on the National side.

February 5.—Captain Wm. K. Ranney, of the Fortieth regiment of Missouri militia, while on a scouting expedition on Bear Creek, Johnson Co., Mo., encountered a party of rebel guerrillas. “On seeing them he put spurs to his horse and commanded his men to follow, which they did with a will, and coming up with the enemy, routed them on the double-quick, the fleeing rebels leaving seven dead on the field. Pursuing the rebels about seven miles, night came on, and the weather being extremely cold, he gave up the chase. Captain Ranney and all of his men escaped unharmed.”—Lieutenant-Colonel Brown’s Stport.

—The British Parliament was opened and the Queen’s-speech was read, in which she said: “Her Majesty’s relations with foreign Powers continue to be friendly and satisfactory. Her Majesty has abstained from taking any step with a view to induce a cessation of the conflict between the contending parties in the North-American States, because it has not yet seemed to Her Majesty that any such overtures could be attended with a probability of success. Her Majesty has viewed with the deepest concern the desolating warfare which still rages in those regions; and she has witnessed with heartfelt grief the severe distress and suffering which that war has inflicted upon a large class of Her Majesty’s subjects, but which have been borne by them with noble fortitude and with exemplary resignation. It is some consolation to be led to hope that this suffering and this distress are rather diminishing than increasing, and that some revival of employment is beginning to take place in the manufacturing districts.”

—A small detachment of National cavalry was attacked at Wigginton’s Mills, near Stafford Store, Va. At the first fire, Dixon, the scout who was wounded a few days previous in a skirmish with a party of South-Carolinians, was again wounded seriously. The rebels were finally dispersed, and several of the neighboring farmers were arrested. —New-York Times.

—Captain Robert Maupin, of the rebel army, was captured in the vicinity of Columbia, Mo., by a party of National troops under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Russell, of the Sixty-First Missouri regiment.—Missouri Statesman.

February 4.—Colonel George E. Waring, Jr., commanding the cavalry division in the brigade of General J. W. Davidson, made a descent on Batesville, Ark., driving the rebels under Marmaduke out of the town, killing and wounding many, and capturing some prisoners; among them, Colonel Adams. Captain Roses, of the Fourth Missouri cavalry, led the charge into the town most gallantly. Such of the rebels as could not crowd into the boats, swam the river. Colonel Waring remounted his men from the country. —General Davidson’s Despatch.

—Thanksgiving was celebrated in Texas, “for the successes that had attended the confederate arms.” — The ram Fulton, on the way to Vicksburgh, was fired into by a rebel battery at Cypress Bend, and disabled. One negro on board was killed, and another so frightened that he jumped overboard and was drowned. Before the rebels could capture the ram, the steamers Rattler and Wilson came up and dispersed them.

—The National troops had a brief skirmish with a small body of rebels, five miles from Lake Providence, in which they lost several men, and over thirty of the rebels were killed, wounded, and captured. More than ninety horses were taken.—The examination of Rev. R. J. Graves took place at Hillsboro, N. C, before Judge M. E. Manly, at the conclusion of which he was bound over to appear at the rebel court at Richmond, Va., to stand his trial on a charge of treason.—Raleigh Progress.

February 3.—A fight took place at Mingo Swamp, Missouri, between a detachment of Union troops under the command of Major Reeder, and a numerous gang of rebel guerrillas under the leadership of Dan McGee, resulting in a complete rout of the latter. McGee and eight of his men were killed, and twenty wounded.—(Doc. 117.)

—A successful reconnoissance was this day made to Liberty, Auburn, and Lebanon, Tenn., by a body of National troops under the command of General J. J. Reynolds. They obtained important information concerning the position and operations of the rebel forces; ascertained that the inhabitants of many portions of Tennessee hitherto unvisited by National troops, were loyal to the Union; obtained large material results in the capture of supplies, and in destroying rebel means of support; broke up a rebel camp, dispersing the rebels in all directions; had several skirmishes with guerrillas, routing them on each occasion with great slaughter.

—Fort Donelson, Tennessee, garrisoned by only six hundred of the Eighty-third Illinois, under the command of Colonel Harding, was attacked by a large rebel force under Generals Wheeler and Forrest, and after a desperate contest of five hours’ duration, the rebels were repulsed and retreated.— (Doc. 118.)