The American Civil War

August 3. — General Sherman, commanding United States forces at Memphis, Tenn., issued an order directing that all able-bodied negroes who might apply for work on Fort Pickering or other Government work, should be received and employed by the proper officer in charge. Such negroes would be supplied with rations, necessary clothing and tobacco. An account would be opened with each individual, and his wages would be charged with the value of the clothing and the tobacco; but no wages would be paid until the courts determined whether the negro was slave or free.

—The British propeller Columbia, with a cargo of twelve Armstrong guns and equipments, several thousand Enfield rifles, and various other munitions of war, was captured, after a chase of seven hours, off the Bahamas, by the United States steamer Santiago de Cuba.—The town of Alexandria, Mo., was this day entered by a band of rebel guerrillas, who pillaged the Union stores of all their arms and ammunition.— The schooner Aquilla was captured by the United States gunboat Huron, while attempting to run the blockade of Charleston, S. C.

—A reconsoissance was made by a force of Union troops, under the command of Col. Averill, from the James River to within fourteen miles of Petersburgh, Va. When about five miles from Cox’s River, they encountered the Thirteenth Virginia cavalry, drawn up in line. The Union troops charged upon them, when they broke and ran for their encampment at Sycamore Church, a distance of two and a half miles, where they again formed, but were again put to flight, leaving behind them all their camp equipage and commissary stores, which the Union troops gathered together and burned. The rebels had six men wounded and two taken prisoners. The Union loss was one horse killed. After scouring the country in that neighborhood, the Unionists returned to their encampment on the James River.

August 2.—A woman named Belle Boyd, who had been acting as a rebel spy and mail-carrier to Richmond, from points within the lines of the Union army of the Potomac, was captured near Warrenton, Va., and sent to the old Capitol prison at Washington.—Gen. Butler transmitted to the Secretary of War copies of a correspondence between himself and Gen. Phelps, in relation to the military employment of the negroes of Louisiana.

—This morning at daylight a band of one hundred and twenty-five rebels attacked seventy-five National troops at Ozark, Mo. The commander of the troops, Capt. Birch, having been apprised of the meditated attack, abandoned his camp and withdrew into the brush. Soon afterward the rebel commander called on him to surrender, but received a volley of musket-balls for a reply. Upon this the rebels fled, leaving most of their arms, their muster-rolls, and correspondence.— (Doc. 167.)

—The bark Harriet Ralli, the first French vessel captured since the commencement of the rebellion, arrived at New-York, from New-Orleans, where she was seized by Gen. Butler a short time after the city was occupied by the National forces. —Large war meetings were held at Lancaster, Pa., and Pittsfield, Mass. At the latter a bounty of ten thousand two hundred dollars was voted.

—The Norfolk, Va., Union newspaper was this day suppressed, for publishing a burlesque proclamation, calculated to bring Commodore Goldsborough into ridicule.

—A sharp fight took place at Orange Court-House, Va., between a reconnoitring party of Union troops, under the command of Gen. Crawford, and a force of rebels, resulting in the flight of the latter. The Unionists had four men killed and twelve wounded.—(Doc. 168.)

August 1.—At about one o’clock this morning the rebels opened fire from their batteries stationed at Coggin’s Point, opposite Harrison’s Landing, Va., upon the Union army under Gen. McClellan and the gunboat fleet on the James River. After a brisk fire from the fleet, and land batteries, of nearly two hours’ duration, the rebel batteries were completely silenced. The rebels lost one killed and nine wounded.—Doc. 165.

—James D. Fessenden, Colonel Commanding the First regiment of South-Carolina volunteers, at Drayton’s, S. C, issued the following regimental order:

“The Colonel Commanding takes pleasure in announcing that free papers will soon be issued to those faithful soldiers who have steadfastly stood by their colors and performed with willingness and alacrity the duties of a soldier. They have shown by their prompt and willing obedience to the orders of their officers, and by their fidelity in the discharge of the various duties of camp, that they deserve to be free; and the Colonel Commanding hopes that their conduct hereafter will justify the exercise of the authority which has made them free men.”[1]

—A party of rebels, under the guerrilla Dunn, attacked Canton, Mo., to-day, and shot a man named William Craig, in order to get possession of some rifles stored in his warehouse. They then took possession of the rifles, and plundered all the stores in the place.

—John H. Winder, the rebel General, issued the following from his headquarters at Richmond, Va.: “The obtaining of substitutes through the medium of agents is strictly forbidden. When such agents are employed, the principal, the substitute, and the agent will be impressed into the military service, and the money paid for the substitute, and as a reward to the agent, will be confiscated to the government The offender will also be subjected to such other punishment as may be imposed by a court-martial.”

—This evening the Yankees infesting the waters of James River, landed at “Maycock’s,” the elegant residence of Mrs. Dr. Wm. Cole, and set fire to the dwelling and all the outhouses, which were completely destroyed. Mrs. Cole and her children were absent at the house of a neighbor, but her comfortable home, and all the furniture it contained, has fallen a prey to Yankee madness and malignity. The dwelling at Maycocks was one of the handsomest specimens of cottage architecture on James River, nearly new, and cost some fifteen thousand dollars.— Richmond Enquirer, August 5.

—Six hundred Union troops crossed the James River at Harrison’s Landing, and destroyed all the houses at that point. After accomplishing their object they returned to the Landing without losing a man. — The oath of allegiance to the United States was this day administered to the employés in the Government Navy-Yard, at Brooklyn, N. Y. A few of the men refused to subscribe the oath, and were dismissed from the service.

—A fight took place at Newark, Mo., between a company of the State militia, under the command of Captain Lair, and a superior force of rebel guerrillas, under Colonel Porter. The fight lasted about two hours, the Nationals taking refuge in the houses, from whence they killed a large number of their enemies, but the rebels threatened to burn them out, and they surrendered. The rebels captured about one hundred guns, a large number of horses, a quantity of commissary stores, a number of tents, and eight or ten thousand rounds of cartridges.—(Doc. 166.)

—A series of skirmishes occurred along the Rapidan River, in the vicinity of Orange Court-House, Va., between a reconnoitring party of National troops under the command of General Bayard, and a force of rebels, resulting in the retreat of the latter.

—Yesterday Jeff Davis sent a letter to General Lee, of the rebel army, inclosing an order dated this day, which recapitulated, first, the order of President Lincoln, issued on the twenty-second July, wherein the commanders of the armies of the United States were directed to seize and use any property within the rebel States which might be necessary or convenient for their several commands; second, the order issued by General Pope on the twenty-third July, directing commanders of army corps, divisions, brigades, and detached commands, to arrest all rebels within their lines, and such as would not take the oath of allegiance to the United States to be sent South, and those having violated the oath to be shot, and their property seized and applied to the public use; and third, the order issued on the thirteenth July, by General Steinwehr, directing five prominent citizens of Page County, Va., to be held as hostages, and to suffer death in the event of any of his command being shot by bushwhackers. On account of these orders it was declared in that now issued by Jeff Davis that Generals Pope and Steinwehr were not to be considered as soldiers, and therefore not entitled, in case they should be captured, to the benefit of parole of prisoners of war, but that they, or any commissioned officer serving under them taken captive, should be held in close confinement so long as the above orders of the United States should continue in force. The order further declared that in the event of any rebels being executed by virtue or under the pretext of the above orders, whether with or without trial, or under the pretence of being spies or hostages, or any other pretence, it should be the duty of the General commanding the rebel forces to hang an equal number of the Union commissioned officers who might happen to be prisoners of war in his hands.

[1] The following is a copy of one of the “free papers” loaned to the colored soldiers:

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,

Port Royal, S C, August 1, 1862.

The bearer, Prince Rivers, a sergeant in First regiment South Carolina volunteers, lately claimed as a slave, having been employed in hostility to the United States, is hereby, agreeably to the law of the sixth of August, 1861, declared FREE FOR EVER. His wife and children are also free. D. Hunter,

Major-General Commanding.

July 31.—The Secretary of War issued an order revoking all furloughs and leaves of absence from the army, except those given by the War Department, on Monday, the eleventh day of August, and ordering all officers capable of service to join their regiments forthwith, under penalty of dismissal from the service or court-martial. On Monday, the eighteenth August, each regiment and corps would be mustered, the absentees would be marked, and if not appearing within forty-eight hours would be dismissed from the service or treated as deserters.

—Several vessels belonging to the mortar-fleet, under the command of Commodore Porter, arrived at Fortress Monroe, Va., having left the south-west pass of the Mississippi on the seventeenth of the month.—The rebel steamer Memphis was captured by the United States gunboat Magnolia, she having run the blockade of Charleston, S. C, on the night of the twenty-seventh. —Simeon Draper, of New-York, was appointed by the War Department a Special Commissioner to superintend the execution of the order respecting officers and privates absent from the army of United States.

—Large and enthusiastic meetings were held in Milwaukee, Wis., Bergen, N. J., and Cincinnati. O., to promote enlistments into the army under the call of President Lincoln, for additional troops Patriotic speeches were made and resolutions adopted, sustaining the Government in a more vigorous prosecution of the war, recommending the confiscation of the property of traitors everywhere, expressing unalterable opposition to compromise with rebels or traitors, and that they would sustain the Government in resisting hostile foreign intervention.

July 30.—The rebel Colonel, John H. Morgan, reported to Major-General E. Kirby Smith, commanding department of East-Tennessee, the result of his expedition into Kentucky. He left Knoxville, Tenn., on the fourth, with about nine hundred men, and returned to Livingston, in the same State, on the twenty-eighth instant, with nearly twelve hundred men, having been absent twenty-four days, during which time he travelled over a thousand miles, captured seventeen towns, destroyed the Government supplies and arms in them, dispersed about fifteen hundred home guards, and paroled nearly twelve hundred regular troops. He lost in killed, wounded, and missing, of the number that he carried into Kentucky, about ninety.—(See Supplement.)

—The bells contributed to the rebel government, by the churches, planters, and others, to be cast into cannon, and seized by Gen. Butler at New-Orleans, were sold at auction in Boston, Massachusetts.

—The Bishop of Oxford, England, addressed a letter to the archdeacons in his diocese, directing them to instruct their clergy as follows:

“You are earnestly desired to make your supplications to Almighty God, who is the author of peace and lover of concord, that he will promote peace among our brethren in America, and inspire their hearts with Christian unity and fellowship.”

—John R. Lee, Acting Master of the United States steamer E. B. Hale, with a party from that vessel ascended Todd Creek, Ga., and destroyed a salt manufactory in successful operation on the plantation of H. H. Floyd.

—A band of guerrillas under the lead of Joe Thompson, (many of whom had taken the oath and given bond,) entered Paris, Ky., cut down the flag-pole, took the Sheriff and the clerks of the Circuit and County Courts prisoners, forced the keys of the jail from the jailer, set at liberty a man who was indicted for murder in the first degree, demanded of the Sheriff the warrant of commitment and all the money which he had collected for taxes, but he having disposed of it, they got none. They took the two clerks to the jail, in a room of which was the Clerk’s office, and forced the Clerk of the Circuit Court to deliver such indictments as Joe Thompson wanted. They took from some of the stores such goods as suited them, amounting to hundreds of dollars, pressed a wagon, and then loaded it and drove it off, forced the people to deliver their money, furnish them supper, etc. About night some four hundred joined them, also taking supper. After dark they left, taking off one prisoner. They were followed by a party of the Ninth Pennsylvania cavalry, under Lieutenant-Colonel James, who overtook them, killing twenty-seven and capturing thirty-nine, thirty of whom were wounded.—Louisville Journal.

—An attempt to capture the steam-tug Achilles, lying off Harrison’s Landing, on the James River, Va., was made by a party of rebels from the south side of the river, but they were driven off.

July 29.—Major-General Pope, accompanied by his staff, left Washington for the headquarters of his army in the field. Before his departure he ordered that passes to the lines of his forces should not be granted to others than those having official business there.—John Johnson, an alleged rebel officer from New-Orleans, was arrested at Roxbury, Mass., and committed to prison.—The English brig Napier was captured by the United States steamer Mystic, while endeavoring to run the blockade of Wilmington, N. C.

—A skirmish took place at Mount Stirling, Ky., between a number of the citizens of that place and a force of about two hundred and forty rebel guerrillas, resulting in a complete rout of the latter, with a loss of about seventy-five of their number in killed, wounded, and prisoners. —(Doc. 164.)

—A fight occurred near Bollinger’s Mills, Mo., between a force of Union troops, under the command of Captain Whybank, and a body of rebel guerrillas, under Major Tenley, resulting in the defeat of the rebels, with a loss of ten killed and a number wounded. The Unionists also captured a number of guns, horses, etc.—(Doc. 161.)

—General Pope and his staff arrived at Warrenton, Va., at noon, creating great consternation among the secessionists, nearly all of whom had taken the rebel oath of allegiance, and insisted that Gen. Pope dared not carry out the intentions declared in his proclamations.—Col. Lloyd, of the Sixth Ohio cavalry, in pursuance of General Pope’s order, arrested all the male inhabitants of Luray, Va., and lodged them in the court-house preparatory to administering the oath of allegiance.

—The rebel batteries at Genesis Point, on the Ogeechee River, Georgia, were shelled by the National gunboats.—Savannah Republican, July 30.

—Russellville, Ky., was this day captured by a band of rebel guerrillas, under Col. Gano. The town was defended by the home guard, but they were overpowered by superior force. Seval of their number were killed and one wounded. —Large meetings were held at Bath, N. Y., and Rutland, Vt, for the purpose of promoting enlistments into the army, under the call of President Lincoln for three hundred thousand additional troops. At Bath two thousand dollars were raised to aid volunteering.

—A detachment of Union cavalry, under the command of Captain Dollin, attacked a force of rebels, numbering about eighty, near Brownsville, Tenn., and captured forty of them. The rebels were afterwards reenforced, and recaptured twenty-nine men and fourteen horses. The National loss was four killed and six wounded; the rebel loss was about the same.

July 28.—General Grant ordered Gen. Sherman to take possession of all unoccupied dwellings, stores, and manufactories, in Memphis, Tenn., and also to collect the rents of such property for the United States Government, where the owners were rebels absent from the place.— Union meetings were held at Burlington, Vt., and Baltimore, Md. At the latter Gov. Bradford presided, and delivered a speech, advocating the cause of the Government and the Constitution. Resolutions were adopted expressing patriotic devotion to the Union, invoking the young men of the State to tender their services to the Government to fill up Maryland’s quota; approving the policy of the confiscation of the property of the leaders of the rebellion, and declaring the slaves of every rebel free from all obligations to obey those who refuse to obey the laws.

—In reply to a letter written by Mr. Seward to the American Minister at London, Earl Russell sent a despatch to the British Minister at Washington, in which he said:

“From the moment that intelligence first reached this country, that nine States and several millions of inhabitants of the great American Union had seceded, and had made war on the Government of President Lincoln, down to the present time, her Majesty’s Government have pursued a friendly, open, and consistent course. They have been neutral between the two parties to a civil war.

“Neither the loss of raw material of manufacture, so necessary to a great portion of our people, nor insults constantly heaped upon the British name in speeches and newspapers, nor a rigor, beyond the usual practice of nations, with which the Queen’s subjects, attempting to break loose from the blockade of the Southern ports, have been treated—have induced her Majesty’s government to swerve an inch from an impartial neutrality.

“At this moment they have nothing more at heart than to see that consummation which the President speaks of in his answer to the Governors of eighteen States, namely, ‘the bringing of this unnecessary and injurious civil war to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion.'”

—A fight took place near Bayou Barnard, Cherokee Nation, between a force of Union troops, under the command of Col. Phillips, and a body of rebels under Col. Taylor, resulting in the utter rout of the latter with great loss. The rebels had one hundred and twenty-five men killed, including Colonel Taylor.—(Doc. 162.)

—Great excitement pervaded the town of Parkersburgh, Ya., caused by the report that a band of guerrillas was about to attack the town. The report was without foundation, but the citizens were so terrified that they tore up the flooring of the bridge across the Little Kanawha, and planted a cannon at their end of it The City Council held a meeting and appointed a committee to go out with a flag of truce, and prevail upon the marauders not to burn the town. The money in the bank was removed to Marietta, Ohio. Numbers of persons fled from the town, and crossed over into Ohio.

—The office of the St Croix Herald, in St. Stephens, N. B., was again visited by a mob, and the work of destruction this time is nearly complete. Most of the type was knocked into “pi,” the press injured, and much of the material was scattered outside, and thrown into the river. The Herald is about the only newspaper in New Brunswick that has advocated the Union cause. —Boston Journal, July 30.

—Colonel Guitar, of the Ninth Missouri regiment, reenforced by Lieut.-Col. Shaffer and Major Clopper, of Merrill’s Horse, and Major Caldwell, of the Third Iowa cavalry, six hundred and fifty strong, were attacked at Moore’s Mills, seven miles cast of Fulton, Mo., this day, by the rebels Porter and Cobb, nine hundred strong, and after fighting till after four o’clock P.m., the rebels were completely routed, with a loss of from seventy-five to one hundred killed and wounded, and one taken prisoner. Colonel Guitar reports a loss of forty-five killed and wounded. He captured guns, ammunition, baggage, etc., in profusion. The officers and men behaved splendidly. Col. Guitar resumed tho pursuit, and followed them over the Jordan.—(Doc. 163.)

—Jeremiah Hoy, one of the band of rebel guerrillas commanded by Quantrel, was shot at Fort Leavenworth for murder and treason.— Leavenworth Conservative, July 29.

July 27.—Two rebel schooners were captured up the Chipoaks Creek, James River, near Claremont, Va., by a boat expedition under the command of Lieutenant Gibson of the United States gunboat Yankee, and brought out of the creek without molestation, although a force of rebel cavalry was stationed only three quarters of a mile distant—Official Report.

— A reconnoitring expedition, consisting of the United States gunboats Paul Jones, Unadilla, Huron and Madgie, left Savannah bay and proceeded up the Ogecchee River, Ga., until they arrived near Fort James, the strength of which they discovered by bombarding it for about two hours, when they returned to their former anchorage.—A number of young ladies of New-Albany, Indiana, proposed to act as clerks and salesmen for the young men of that place who would enlist, and give them half their salaries while they are absent, and surrender their positions to them on their return.

—Richmond, Ky., was visited by a band of guerrillas, under John Morgan, who plundered the stores, houses, and stables of the Union men of the place.—Richmond Messenger, August 1.

July 26.—Madison Court-House, Va., was occupied by the First cavalry of Connecticut, a portion of General Sigel’s advance, after a slight skirmish with the rebel cavalry under Robertson, who were driven out of the town. — Prominent citizens of Hayward County, Tenn., were captured by the rebel guerrillas for selling cotton.—The Union transport schooner Louisa Reeves, of New York, laden with forage for the army of the Potomac, was this day captured and burned by a party of rebel troops, at Coggins’s Point, James River, Va.

—A skirmish took place near Patten, Missouri, between a company of the Tenth battalion of State militia, under Major Chevreaux, and two hundred guerrillas, in which the latter were defeated and put to flight, with a loss of twenty-five killed and wounded. The National loss was three wounded.—St. Louis News, July 29.

—Yesterday the towns of Van Buren, Lysander and Marcellus, N. Y, subscribed four thousand five hundred dollars to aid in raising a regiment under the call of President Lincoln for more troops, issued on the first instant, and to-day the Salt Company of Onondaga, N. Y., subscribed ten thousand dollars for the same purpose.

— A slight skirmish occurred near Young’s Cross-Roads, at the head of White Oak River, N. C, between a reconnoitring party of Union troops, under Colonel Heckman, of the Ninth New-Jersey regiment, and a body of rebel cavalry, numbering about two hundred men, which resulted in the complete defeat of the rebels.

— Yesterday a skirmish took place near the Mountain Store, about twenty miles from Houston, Missouri, between a body of Union troops under the command of Captain Bradway, Third Missouri cavalry, and a force of rebel guerrillas under Colonel Coleman, resulting in the retreat of the latter towards the Big Piney River, where they were encountered to-day by the same party of Unionists, and after a sharp fight, were completely routed. In these two skirmishes the rebels had five men killed and twelve wounded. The Union party were uninjured.—(Doc. 161.)

— Large and enthusiastic meetings were held in Philadelphia, Pa., and Wheeling, Va., for the purpose of promoting enlistments into the army under the call of President Lincoln for more troops. In the meeting at Philadelphia, resolutions were unanimously adopted recommending the employment of all the power and means the Executive could command to put down the rebellion; thanking President Lincoln for the change in policy in the treatment of the property of rebels; pledging the Government their earnest support in resisting any foreign interference, and recommending every able-bodied citizen to unite himself to some military organization, to be ready for any emergency. A large amount of money was subscribed to the bounty fund. In the meeting at Wheeling a memorial was adopted, praying the County Court to make a levy of twenty thousand dollars to aid volunteering.