The American Civil War

December 21.—A skirmish occurred near Nashville, Tenn., between a party of National troops belonging to General Van Cleve’s division of the army of Tennessee, and a reconnoitring party of rebels, supported by four pieces of artillery, who were driven off, after exchanging a few shots.— Secretaries Seward and Chase having sent in their resignations, President Lincoln acknowledged their reception, and informed the Secretaries that the acceptance of them would be “incompatible with the public welfare.” They accordingly resumed their respective portfolios. —The expeditionary forces under General Foster, which left Newbern, N. C, on the eleventh instant, returned to their former quarters in that town to-day, having successfully accomplished the objects of the expedition.—(Doc. 73.) •

—A fight took place at Davis’s Mills, Wolf River, Miss., between the Union garrison stationed at that post, composed of two hundred and fifty men, under the command of Colonel William H. Morgan, Twenty-fifth Indiana, and a force of over five thousand rebel cavalry under General Van Dorn, resulting, after a desperate contest of three and a half hours’ duration, in the withdrawal of the latter, leaving in the hands of the Unionists twenty-two dead, thirty wounded, twenty prisoners, and one hundred stand of arms. The rebels carried off the field, in ambulances and otherwise, between two and three hundred of their wounded.—(Doc. 81.)

December 20.—Holly Springs, Miss., was this day entered and sacked by the rebel army under General Van Dorn. An immense amount of public and private property was carried off or destroyed. The garrison surrendered after a very short resistance.—(Doc. 79.)

—A skirmish occurred near Halltown, Va., between a detachment of Union cavalry, under the command of Captain Vernon, and a body of rebel guerrillas. After a short fight the rebels were routed, leaving three of their number in the hands of the Unionists.—Frederick (Md.) Examiner.

—Trenton and Humboldt, Tenn., were this day entered and captured by the rebel forces under General Forrest. They burned the depots, and all the Government stores they could not carry off— (Doc. 80.)

—A train of wagons, twenty-seven in number, laden with provisions for the army of the Potomac, and a guard of one hundred and seventy men, were captured near Occoquan, Va., by a detachment of rebel cavalry under the command of General Wade Hampton.—Richmond Dispatch, December 24.

—The expeditionary army under command of Major-General W. T. Sherman, embarked at Memphis, Tenn., in over one hundred transports, for Vicksburgh.— (Doc. 91.)

December 19.—To-day Colonel Dickey, in command of a detachment of Union cavalry, returned with his command to camp near Oxford, Miss., after an absence of six days on a scouting expcdition, during which time he and his party marched about two hundred miles, worked two days at the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, of which they destroyed thirty-four miles, captured one hundred and fifty prisoners, and a large amount of rebel stores, and returned, passing around a body of rebels numbering nine to one, and reached camp without having a man killed, wounded, or captured.— (Doc. 77.)

—Yesterday a party of General Stuart’s rebel cavalry captured a train of twenty-six wagons laden with army supplies, at Occoquan, Va., and to-day twelve of them were recaptured by a squadron of Union cavalry under Colonel Rush, after a sharp fight, in which the rebels were defeated, they having to destroy the remainder of the wagons in their flight.—The funeral obsequies of the late Brigadier-General George Dashiel Bayard, took place this day at Princeton, N. J.— Rev. Dr. McPheters, of Saint Louis, Mo., was ordered by the Provost-Marshal General to leave the State within ten days for encouraging the rebellion, and sustaining disloyalty in his church. —A general dissolution of President Lincoln’s Cabinet was announced.—The Legislature of Connecticut adopted a resolution declaring its confidence in the President of the United States, and pledging itself to support and sustain him in the prosecution of all measures which might be found necessary to suppress the rebellion.

December 18.—Lexington, Ky., was this day entered and occupied by a large force of rebel troops under General Forrest. Before capturing the town the rebels encountered a body of Union troops under the command of Colonel R. G. Ingersoll, Eleventh Illinois cavalry, but after a fight of three hours’ duration, in which the rebels lost forty of their number killed and wounded, the Unionists were forced to yield, leaving two piece s of artillery in the hands of the rebels.

—Yesterday the steamer Mill Boy, while lying at Commerce, Miss., was fired into by a body of rebel cavalry, killing three persons. On arriving at Helena, Ark., the Mill Boy reported the fact, when the gunboat Juliet, and transport City Belle, with detachments of the Eleventh and Forty-seventh Indiana, were despatched to Commerce, where they arrived to-day, and burnt the town and plantations for five miles around.

December 17.—Four hundred and sixty Union soldiers, including eleven commissioned officers, taken prisoners before Fredericksburgh, arrived at Richmond, Va.—The one Hundred and Seventy-third regiment of New-York volunteers left New-York for the seat of war.—Baton Rouge, La., was occupied by a portion of the command of General Banks.

—Major-general Grant, commanding Department of the Tennessee, issued an order from his headquarters at Oxford, Miss., expelling every Jew within his department, within twenty-four hours after the publication of the order.

—A fight took place at Goldsboro, N. C., between the expeditionary force of Union troops, under the command of General Foster, and a body of rebels, under General Evans. The object of the Union General was to destroy the Goldsboro railroad bridge, which being accomplished, after nearly two hours’ fighting, he retired, unmolested by the rebels.-—(Doc. 73.)

December 16.—A detachment of Union troops, under command of Major Withers, Tenth Virginia infantry, while on a reconnoitring expedition, entered the village of Wardensville, Va., and captured the whole rebel mail, consisting of several hundred letters and a large quantity of newspapers.— Wheeling Intelligencer.

—In obedience to orders from President Lincoln, Major-General Banks issued a proclamation assuming command of the Department of the Gufl (Doc. 75.)

—A body of rebel troops, numbering about one thousand two hundred men, encamped in the vicinity of New-Haven, Ky., was surprised and captured by a detachment of Wolford’s cavalry, under command of Captain Adams, First Kentucky, without firing a shot,—(Doc. 76.)

—The army of the Potomac was withdrawn from Fredericksburgh, Va., to the north side of the Rappahannock, because General Burnside felt fully convinced that the rebel position in front could not be carried, and it was a military necessity either to attack the enemy or retire. A repulse would have been disastrous to the National arms, under the then existing circumstances. The army was withdrawn at night without the knowledge of the rebels, and without loss either of property or men. — General Burnnside’s Despatch.

—An artillery fight took place along both banks of the river Neuse, near Whitehall, N. C., between the forces under General Foster and the rebel forces under General Evans, resulting, after an hour’s firing, in the withdrawal and silence of the rebel guns.—(Doc. 73.)

December 15.—The National War Committee of the citizens of New-York addressed an urgent memorial to Congress, asking for the passage of a law authorizing the granting of commissions to private armed vessels for the capture of the Alabama, and other cruisers, and the offer of a suitable reward for the capture.

—The General Assembly of the State of Louisiana, in accordance with a proclamation of the rebel Governor, Thomas O. Moore, met at Opelousas, “to consider and provide for the exigencies of public defence.”—The advance of General Banks’s expedition arrived at New-Orleans.— General Hovey’s expedition returned to Helena, Ark.

—General Butler having been superseded by General Banks, as commander of the Department of the Gulf, issued his farewell address to the “Soldiers of the Army of the Gulf,” and another “To the People of New-Orleans,” in which he reviewed his government since he had been appointed to the command of the department.— (Doc. 74.)

December 14.—A skirmish occurred at Wireman’s Shoals, about five miles below Prestonsburgh, Ky., between a body of Union troops, numbering two hundred men, under Captain Thornbeery, who was sent by Colonel Dills, of the Thirty-ninth Kentucky, to guard some arms, munitions, etc., intended for his regiment, and a force of rebels, estimated at eight hundred men, which resulted in the defeat of the Unionists, and the capture by the rebels of seven hundred muskets, forty thousand rounds of cartridges, several hundred uniforms, and a large supply of provisions.

—The True Presbyterian and the Baptist Recorder, published in Louisville, Ky., were suppressed, and the editor of the Recorder sent to the military prison.—Coffeeville, Miss., was this day occupied by the Union forces under Colonel Mizner and Colonel Lee.

—A battle was fought near Kinston, N. C, by the expeditionary forces under General Foster, and a strong body of rebel troops under the command of General Evans, resulting in a retreat of the rebels, and the capture and occupation of the town by the Unionists. In this affair a rebel battery of field-pieces and four hundred prisoners were taken.—(Doc. 73.)

—At Helena, Ark., a picket-guard, consisting of a Lieutenant and twenty-three men of the Sixth Missouri, were surrounded and made prisoners by a party of rebel guerrillas. — A skirmish took place at Woodsonville, Tenn., without any result—This evening about eight o’clock, a body of rebel cavalry under Major White, made a raid into Poolesville, Md., and captured a party of the Scott Nine Hundred cavalry.—A wagon train, laden with provisions and clothing for the troops at Ringgold Barracks, Texas, escorted by a small party of soldiers on the way from Fort Brown to the Barracks, was this day attacked by a party of Mexicans and captured. All the soldiers and teamsters, except one man who escaped, were killed.—Brownsville Flag.

December 13.—To-day the battle of Fredericksburgh, Va., was fought, between the Union army of the Potomac, under the command of Major General Burnside, and the rebel forces, under General Lee. The battle was fiercely and stubbornly contested on both sides, and resulted in the repulse of the Unionists.—(Docs. 25, 68.)

—Jefferson Davis reviewed the rebel forces, under General Bragg, at Murfreesboro, Tenn.— John N. Cocke and company, of Portsmouth, Va., having refused to pay their debts to Northern citizens, on the ground that a law of the rebel Congress had released them from all obligations to Northern creditors, General Viele issued a proclamation informing them that their excuse was not valid, and that they must pay or a sufficient amount of their property would be seized and sold.—Two regiments of Union infantry, and one company of cavalry, surprised a band of rebels, at Tuscumbia, Ala., completely routing them, and capturing seventy prisoners, their horses and baggage. The National loss was four killed and fourteen wounded.

—Governor Johnson, of Tennessee, this day issued an order assessing certain individuals in the city of Nashville, in various amounts, to be paid in five monthly instalments, “in behalf of the many helpless widows, wives, and children in the city of Nashville, who have been reduced to poverty and wretchedness in consequence of their husbands, sons, and fathers having been forced into the armies of this unholy and nefarious rebellion.”

—The Michigan Twenty-sixth infantry, Colonel J. S. Farrar, numbering nine hundred and three men, this day left Jackson, Mich., for the seat of war in Virginia.—A fight took place at South-West Creek, N. C, between a detachment of the expeditionary forces, under General Foster, and a body of rebel troops, in which the latter were routed with the loss of a number of prisoners, a six-pounder gun, caisson, etc.—(Doc. 73.)

—A fleet of small boats, under the command of Captain Murray, left Newbern, N. C, to attack the rebel works on the river at Kinston; but owing to the lowness of the water, only one boat— under Colonel Manchester, marine artillery—was brought into action, and the works being found too strong, she was obliged to retire.—(Doc. 73.)