The American Civil War

November 21.—General Patrick, Provost-Marshal-General of the army of the Potomac, this morning crossed the Rappahannock to Fredericksburgh, Va., under a flag of truce, conveying to the rebel authorities of that city a letter from Major-General Sumner, commanding right grand division of the army, demanding its surrender. —(Doc. 54.)

—A sharp skirmish took place at Bayou Bontouca, near Fort Pike, La., between a small detachment of Union troops commanded by Captain Darling, Thirty-first Massachusetts, and a band of guerrillas, numbering one hundred and fifty, under Captain Evans. The fight lasted about half an hour, and resulted in a rout of the rebels, with a loss to them of four killed and several wounded. The Union force had none killed and but one wounded.

—Charles A. Davis, a chaplain in the army of the United States, was this day expelled from the Methodist Conference of Virginia, by that body in session at Petersburg.—Salem, Va., was occupied by the rebels.

November 20. — Colonel Carlin’s expedition, which had been patrolling the country between Nashville and Clarksville, Tenn., returned to the former place this evening, having captured forty-three rebels, eighteen horses, twenty mules, and one hundred muskets.—Louisville Journal.

—Just before daybreak this morning a party of rebel cavalry made it sudden descent upon the National pickets stationed at Bull Run bridge, Va., and captured three of their number.—Both Warrenton and Leesburgh were occupied by rebel cavalry.

November 19. — Colonel Dodge, of the New York Mounted Rifles, made a descent on a party of rebels at Blackwater, Va., and dispersed them, capturing a number of tents, rifles, and other implements of war.—James A. Seddon was appointed rebel Secretary of War, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of G. W. Randolph. Richmond Enquirer.

—A skirmish took place near Wallen’s Creek, Ky., between a small force of the Harlem County State Guard and a gang of rebel guerrillas, in which the latter were routed with the loss of all their camp equipage, including horses, guns, swords, etc.—The first General Council of the Episcopal Church of the rebel States met at Augusta, Ga.

—The Fiftieth regiment of Massachusetts volunteers, under the command of Colonel Messer, left Boston for the seat of war.—The rebel privateer Alabama succeeded in escaping from the harbor of Martinique. —See Supplement.

—General Rosecrans, from his headquarters at Nashville, Tenn., issued general orders defining the relations between soldiers and citizens.— General Order No. 19.

November 18.—A skirmish took place at Rural Hills, Tenn., between a force of Union troops under the command of Colonel Hawkins, and a body of rebel cavalry, resulting in a retreat of the latter, leaving sixteen of their number dead on the field.— (Doc. 46.)

—Lieutenant-colonel John Mix, with a force of the Third New-York cavalry, and a part of Allis’s artillery, went from Newborn, N. C, on a reconnoissance on the Dover road toward Kinston. At Cove Creek they encountered the Tenth regiment of North-Carolina rebel infantry, and a large portion of the Second cavalry belonging to the same State, who, after a spirited engagement, retreated from the field, leaving a number of arms, blankets, and other equipments. —N. Y. Herald.

—Falmouth, Va., was occupied by the advance column of the army of the Potomac, under the command of General Sumner.—(Doc. 47.)

—The English schooners Ariel and Ann Maria were captured off Little Run, S. C, by the United States gunboat Monticello, under the command of Captain Braine.

November 17.—Warrenton, Va., was finally evacuated by the army under General Burnside. — The Twenty-third regiment of Connecticut volunteers, under the command of Colonel Charles E. L. Holmes, arrived in New-York, en route for the seat of war.—The schooner Annie Dees was captured by the gunboat Seneca, while attempting to run the blockade of Charleston, S. C.

—At Gloucester Point, Va., an outpost picket-guard, belonging to the One Hundred and Fourth regiment of Pennsylvania, was attacked at about three o’clock this morning by a party of rebel cavalrymen, who succeeded in escaping from the National lines, after killing one of the guard, wounding three, and capturing two others. —Philadelphia Press.

—The Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in London issued an address, which they earnestly commended to the favorable consideration of their fellow-countrymen, and to the friends of humanity in all lands, with the object of evoking such an expression of sympathy as should encourage the emancipation party in the United States, in their most difficult position, to persevere in their endeavors to obtain justice for the slave.

—Jefferson Davis, at Richmond, Va., issued the following order:

Lieutenant-General T. N. Holmes, Commanding

Trans-Mississippi Department:

General: Inclosed you will find a slip from the Memphis Daily Appeal, of the third instant, containing an account, purporting to be derived from the Palmyra (Missouri) Courier, a Federal journal, of the murder of ten confederate citizens of Missouri, by order of General McNeil of the United States army.

You will communicate by flag of truce with the Federal officer commanding that department, and ascertain if the facts are as stated. If they be so, you will demand the immediate surrender of General McNeil to the confederate authorities, and, if this demand is not complied with, you will inform said commanding officer that you are ordered to execute the first ten United States officers who may be captured and fall into your hands.

November 16. — The remaining corps of the army of the Potomac, which had been encamped around Warrenton, with the exception of the Fifth corps, and the cavalry under the command of General Pleasanton, followed in the advance on Fredericksburgh.—President Lincoln issued an order respecting the observance of the Sabbath-day in the army and navy.—(Doc. 32.)

—The advance of General Sill’s brigade had a skirmish with a party of rebel cavalry on the Murfreesboro road, seven miles from Nashville, Tenn., without any loss.

November 15.—A fight took place near Fayetteville, Va., between a detachment of Union troops, under the command of General Sturgis, and a large body of rebels, resulting, after about an hour’s duration, in a retreat of the rebels.—(Doc. 45.)

—An enthusiastic Union meeting was held at New-Orleans, La., at which J. A. Rozier presided, and speeches were made by Thomas J. Durant, Colonel Deming of the Seventy-Fifth N. Y. S. V., and others. After the meeting dispersed a procession was formed, and paraded through the principal streets of the city by torchlight.

—The iron-clad steamer Passaic, with Admiral Gregory, General Superintendent of iron-clads; Chief-Engineers Stimers, Lawton, and Robie, on board, made her trial-trip up the Hudson River, as far as the Palisades, where she fired several shots from her eleven-inch and fifteen-inch guns. The working of the guns, the turrets, and the sailing qualities of the vessel gave satisfaction to all on board.

—The Second army corps of the army of the Potomac, under the command of General Couch, loft Warrenton, in the advance on Fredericksburgh, Virginia.

November 14.—General Burnside issued an order reorganizing the army of the Potomac.—At New-Orleans, Brigadier-General Shepley issued a proclamation authorizing the election of members of the Congress of the United States, in those portions of the State of Louisiana held by the National forces.

November 13.—Earl Russell replied, officially, to the circular of Drouyn De Lhuys, proposing mediation in the affairs of the United States of America, dissenting from the French proposition for the reasons, that “there is no ground, at the present moment, to hope that the Federal Government would accept the proposal suggested, and a refusal from Washington, at the present time, would prevent any speedy renewal of the offer of the government.”—See Supplement.

—The Fifteenth regiment of New-Hampshire volunteers, under the command of Colonel John W. Kingman, left Concord, for the rendezvous of General Banks’s expedition, on Long Island, N. Y.—Governor Brown, of Georgia, sent a message to the General Assembly of that State, in reference to the raids of negroes in Camden County.—(Doc. 44.)

—At seven o’clock this morning, Colonel Lee, chief of cavalry on the staff of General Hamilton, took possession of Holly Springs, Miss., after a slight skirmish, in which four rebels were killed and a number taken prisoners.—President Lincoln issued an order dirccting that the Attorney-General of the United States be charged with the superintendence and direction of all proceedings under the Conscription Act, and authorizing him to call upon the military authorities to aid him in carrying out its provisions. —Lieutenant-colonel Beard, of the Forty eighth New-York regiment, in command of one hundred and sixty of the First South-Carolina (colored) volunteers, left Beaufort, S. C, on an expedition to the Doboy River, Ga., where he succeeded in loading the U. S. steamers Ben Deford and Darlington with about three thousand feet of lumber.—(Doc. 48.)

Colonel Shanks, with four hundred men, attacked a camp of rebel guerrillas, above Calhoun, Ky., on Green River, a few nights since. The rebels broke and ran in every direction, leaving their horses, arms and all their camp equipage to fall into the hands of the Union forces.—Governor Letcher, of Virginia, issued a proclamation informing the people that he had reason to believe that the volunteers from that State, in the rebel army, were not provided with the necessary supply of shirts, drawers, shoes, stockings, and gloves, and appealing to them to furnish such of these articles as they might be able to spare for the use of the troops.—(Doc. 53.)