The American Civil War

December 1.—Both Houses of the Congress of the United States met at Washington. The message of President Lincoln was received and read. Among the recommendations offered for adoption in the message, were the following resolution and articles emendatory to the Constitution of the United States:

Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, two thirds of both houses concurring, that the following articles be proposed to the Legislatures or Conventions of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures or Conventions, to be valid as part or parts of the said Constitution, namely:

Article —. Every State wherein slavery now exists, which shall abolish the same therein at anytime or times before the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred, shall receive compensation from the United States as follows, to wit:

The President of the United States shall deliver to every such State, bonds of the United States, bearing interest at the rate of —, for each slave shown to have been therein, by the eighth census of the United States; said bonds to be delivered to such State by instalments, or in one parcel at the completion of the abolishment, according as the same shall have been gradual or at one time within such State; and interest shall begin to run upon any such bond only from the proper time of its delivery as aforesaid, and afterward. Any State having received bonds as aforesaid, and afterward introducing or tolerating slavery therein, shall refund to the United States the bonds so received, or the value thereof, and all interest paid thereon.

Article—. All slaves who shall have enjoyed actual freedom, by the chances of the war at any time, before the end of the rebellion, shall be forever free; but all owners of such, who shall not have been disloyal, shall be compensated for them at the same rates as is provided for States adopting abolishment of slavery—but in such a way that no slave shall be twice accounted for.

Article —. Congress may appropriate money, and otherwise provide for colonizing free colored persons with their own consent, at any place or places without the United States.

—William W. Lunt, lately a private belonging to the Ninth regiment of Maine volunteers, was executed at Hilton Head, S. C, for desertion.— The National cavalry, belonging to the army of General Grant, under the command of Colonel Lee, took possession of the rebel forts on the Tallahatchie River. By a sudden descent, early in the morning, Colonel Lee captured a battery of six guns, with the horses attached thereto, on the north side of the river.—A slight skirmish took place in the vicinity of Horse Creek, Dade County, Mo., between a detachment of the Fourth Missouri cavalry, under the command of Major Kelly, and a small band of guerrillas, in which the rebels were routed, leaving five of their number in the hands of the Unionists.—Springfield Missourian.

—A Detachment of the Third Virginia National cavalry, under the command of Captain S. B. Cruger, entered Warrenton, Va., to-day, after routing the rebel cavalry, and capturing one prisoner, nine horses, and a wagon, without any Union loss.—T. R. Cressy, Chaplain Minnesota Second regiment, made a report of the operations of the regiment, from the first of August to this date.—(Doc. 56.)

—The British schooner George, from Nassau, K. P., laden with coffee, salt, etc., was captured off Indian River, Florida, by the United States gunboat Sagamore, Lieutenant Commanding Earle English.—Official confirmation of the hostile plans of “Little Crow,” and a portion of the northern Indians, was this day received by W. P. Dole, Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the United States.—St. Paul Press, January 1, 1863.

—A Union boat expedition, under the command of Acting Master Gordon, proceeded up Bell River, La., and captured an armed rebel launch, mounting a twelve-pounder brass howitzer.—This morning, Gen. Slocum, with a body of National troops, had a skirmish with the rebel cavalry, under White, Henderson, and Baylor, near Charlestown, Va., and succeeded in routing them. This evening he again attacked them at Berryville, killing five and wounding eighteen.— General Slocum’s Report.

November 30.—A skirmish took place near Abbeville, Miss., between a reconnoitring force of Union troops under the command of Colonel Lee, and the strong body of rebels, resulting in a retreat of the latter to their fortifications at Abbeville, with some loss. Not a man of the Union party was injured.

—An expedition to Yellville, Ark., by the First Iowa, Tenth Illinois, and Second Wisconsin regiments, under command of Colonel Dudley Wickersham, returned to General Herron’s camp, having been successful in destroying portions of the rebel saltpetre-works, arsenal, and store-houses, with about five hundred shot-guns and rifles.— General Curtis’s Detpatch.

—A rumor was prevalent in Washington, that a proposition for an armistice of thirty days was made by the rebel government, and that General Robert E. Lee was in that place negotiating the terms.—The Forty-seventh regiment of Massachusetts troops, under the command of Colonel Marsh, left Boston for the seat of war.—An expedition to Hyde County, N. C, under the command of Major Garrard of the Third New-York cavalry, returned to Newbern, having thoroughly destroyed all the bridges in that vicinity, besides capturing Colonel Carter, of the Thirteenth North Carolina volunteers, and a rebel sergeant belonging to the Fourth North-Carolina confederate troops.—George P. Kane, late Marshal of Baltimore, Md., issued an address to his fellow-citizens of the State of Maryland, setting forth a statement relative to his incarceration at Fort Warren, Mass. —The schooner Levi Rowe, while attempting to run the blockade of Wilmington, N. C, was captured by the steamer Mount Vernon.—The bark Parker Cook was captured and destroyed, in the Mona Passage, by the rebel steamer Alabama.

November 28.—The battle of Cane Hill, Ark., was fought by the Union forces under General Blunt, and the rebel troops under the command of General Marmaduke, which resulted in a retreat of the latter with considerable loss.—(Doc. 34.)

—This morning, while doing picket-duty near Hartwood Church, about fifteen miles from Falmouth, Va., the first and third squadrons of the Third Pennsylvania cavalry, belonging to General Averill’s brigade, were suddenly attacked by a numerically superior force of rebel cavalry, and after a brief resistance, in which four of the Unionists were killed and nine wounded, were finally taken prisoners.

—An important reconnoissance was this day made by a large Union force under the command of General Stahel, to Upperville, Paris, Ashby’s Gap, Snickersville, Berryville, etc.—(Doc. 50.)

—An expedition consisting of five thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry, under the command of General A. P. Hovey, yesterday left Helena, Ark., and to-day arrived at Delta, Miss., for the purpose of cutting the road and telegraph wires, on the Tennessee and Mississippi railroads, and creating a panic in the rebel forces under General Price. Bridges on both roads were destroyed, together with two locomotives and thirty or forty freight-cars.—The cavalry under General Washburne had several skirmishes with General Price’s rear-guard, the main body of whose army being in full retreat to the Big Black River, driving them and capturing about fifty prisoners. The expedition was considered to be very successful.—New-Albany Ledger.

November 27.—Colonel Kirk, commanding the Fifth brigade of General Sill’s division, made a reconnoissance from Nashville toward La Vergne, Tenn., with two companies of the Third Indiana cavalry, and that portion of his brigade not on picket-duty. He came upon the rebel outposts of cavalry three quarters of a mile beyond Scrougesville. The rebels fired a few rounds and fled, until they fell in with their other outposts on the right and left of the road, when they made a stand at a church three fourths of a mile beyond. Here they discharged several rounds at the Union advance, slightly wounding Lieutenant Colonel Hurd, of the Thirtieth Indiana, who was bravely leading his men. This regiment, under lead of Colonel Dodge, quickly drove the guerrillas from their position, who retreated until they reached their artillery, which was planted on a hill. They fired a few rounds and continued retreating. The National troops chased them some two miles beyond La Vergne, when the rebels fled so fast, that they soon became invisible. Several of the rebels were killed and wounded, a number of them being seen to fall. They were carried off by their friends. The Nationals had ten privates wounded; none killed. A guerrilla, who was captured, stated that General Wheeler, who was in command, was wounded. — Nashville Union, November 29.

—A Union cavalry force, two thousand five hundred strong, under the command of Brigadier General C. C. Washburne, left Helena, Ark., this afternoon, on an expedition into the State of Mississippi.—(Doc. 61.)

—Political prisoners were released from Fort Warren, Mass. —At Louisville, Ky., General Boyle issued the following order: “All commanding officers serving in this district are ordered not to permit any negroes or slaves to enter the camps, and all officers and privates are forbidden to interfere or intermeddle with the slaves in any way.”—The schooner Mary E. Mangum, while entering the port of Roseau, Dominica, was fired into by the rebel steamer Alabama, without damage.—This morning the United States forces consisting of the Ninth Illinois and part of the Fourteenth Missouri regiments, under the command of Colonel Mersey, evacuated Rienzi, Miss., carrying away all the government stores and property. This movement was made in anticipation of an attack upon Corinth by the rebels, who were reported to be advancing in two heavy columns upon that place, respectively from the south and cast—Missouri Democrat.

November 26.—A fight took place at Cold Knob Mountain, Va., between the Second Virginia volunteer cavalry, Colonel J. C. Paxton, and a force of rebel troops, in which the latter were routed, with the loss of over one hundred of their number taken prisoners, with their horses, etc.—(Doc. 49.)

—Between two and three o’clock this morning, a gang of twenty or thirty rebel guerrillas, led by Evan Dorsey, crossed into Maryland and visited the village of Urbanna, seven miles south-east of Frederick, on the road leading to Washington. They made a descent upon the store of Thomas A. Smith, the Postmaster at Urbanna, and, after robbing the store, made Smith and a young man named Harris, the assistant postmaster, mount two of Smith’s horses, with the design of carrying them off as prisoners. Smith, who was a resolute man, watched his opportunity, and gave them the slip in the darkness of the night. The rebels fired three or four shots after him, but missed him. Thinking Harris might also escape, one of the gang shot him through the body, saying: “We’ll make short of you, before you try on the same game.” They then rode away, leaving him for dead by the roadside.—National Intelligencer.

—A Successful reconnoissance was made this morning by a detachment of Union troops, under the command of General Geary, from Harper’s Ferry, along the Shenandoah to the vicinity of Berryville, Va. They captured a number of prisoners, destroyed a rebel cloth factory, which cost over one hundred thousand dollars, and obtained some valuable information concerning the numbers and position of the rebel forces.

—The Seventh Illinois cavalry attacked a force of rebel troops encamped near Summerville, Miss., and captured twenty-eight of their number, including a captain and two lieutenants, with their horses, arms, etc.

November 25.— J. W. Shirk, of the gunboat Lexington, had a skirmish with a body of rebels at a plantation on the Mississippi River, twenty miles below Helena, Ark. The gunboat was fired upon by a party of infantry, assisted by a piece of artillery, without damage, however, except to the wood-work of the vessel. Captain Shirk brought his guns to bear on the attacking party, and soon compelled them to retreat, leaving behind several killed and wounded. He afterward landed a party of sailors, who captured and carried off twenty contrabands, and sixteen bales of cotton.—Official Report.

—James Buchanan, in the National Intelligencer of this day, closed a controversy between General Winfield Scott and himself, on subjects growing out of the rebellion.—The Eighth and Fifty-first regiments of Massachusetts volunteers, under the command of Colonels Coffin and Sprague, embarked from Boston for Newbern, N. C.

—This morning at daylight, a body of rebel cavalry entered Poolesville, Md., seized the government telegraph operators stationed there, paroled them, and then permitted them to telegraph to the authorities at Washington an account of what had befallen them.—Colonel Dodge, with two battalions of mounted rifles and one howitzer, had a spirited but short engagement with the rebels at Zuni, on the Backwater River, Va., resulting in the rout of the rebels, with the wounding of one private on the National side.

—Henderson, Tenn., was captured by the rebel cavalry, who burned the railroad station at that place, and made prisoners of a company of Union troops.—The rebel guerrilla Burke was killed at Shepherdstown, Md., by a party of the Second Massachusetts regiment, under the command of Captain Cogswell.—Baltimore American.

—A party of rebel guerrillas, who were making a raid in Crawford County, Mo., robbing the farmers of their fire-arms, horses, harness, clothing, negroes, etc., were to-day overtaken in the vicinity of Huzza River, Iron County, by a company of volunteers, under the command of Captain N. B. Reeves, and dispersed, with the loss of all their plunder, two of the party being killed.—(Doc. 69.)

November 24.—General Kelley sent out a party of National scouts from New-Creek, who succeeded in capturing a rebel cavalry picket of twelve men, with horses and accoutrements, within four miles of Winchester, Va. The prisoners reported that Stonewall Jackson had left that vicinity with his command for Richmond, leaving only a regiment of cavalry, who were instructed to follow in a few days.—Notice was given to women desiring to go to their friends in the rebel States, that their applications would have to be presented in writing, and verified by oath, previous to the sixteenth day of December following.—The schooner Retribution ran the blockade of Wilmington, N. C. —General R. H. Milroy, commanding the Cheat Mountain (Va.) division of the Union army, issued an order suppressing the circulation of the Wheeling (Va.) Press within his lines.—General Orders, No. 86.

—At noon to-day, several hundred mounted guerrillas attacked a Federal supply train of forty-seven wagons, in Texas County, Mo., between Hartsville and Houston, about thirty miles south of Lebanon. The train escort consisted of fifty men of the Third Missouri cavalry. They made a vigorous resistance, had five of their number killed, and about a dozen wounded, and inflicted an equal if not greater loss upon the enemy. The latter succeeded in capturing only twenty of the wagons. The rest were brought off in safety, with their contents, by the escort and the teamsters.—Missouri Democrat.

—The schooner Agnes, and sloop Ellen, from Nassau, N. P., had run into Indian River, Fla., and discharged their cargoes, and when returning in ballast, were captured by a boat expedition from the United States gunboat Sagamore, some eight miles down the river.

November 23.—Lieutenant Cushing, in command of the United States steamer Ellis, proceeded up New-River, N. C, on a reconnoitring expedition. At Jacksonville, he captured two schooners, and in returning down the river, succeeded in running his own vessel on a shoal and losing her.—(Doc. 33.)