November 29.—The steamer Star was captured and burned by guerrillas at a point about two miles below Plaquemine, La. This morning the Star went up as high as Plaquemine; she soon left, and came down about a mile, when she landed and took in forty-five hogsheads of sugar; after which she crossed over to the left bank, at a wood-pile about another mile lower down, to take in wood. She had not got more than a cord when she was surprised by a gang of guerrillas, who took possession of her and moved her to the opposite side of the river, and after rolling out about thirty hogsheads of sugar, set her on fire. Captain McKiege and the engineer, William Dewey, were detained as prisoners, but the rest of the crew were given their liberty.—New-Orleans Delta, December 2.
—A skirmish occurred between a scouting-party from Captain Mear’s Maryland Home Guard, stationed at Berlin, and a body of Bob White’s rebel cavalry, in which the latter were put to flight with a loss of two men.—General Curtis, at St. Louis, Mo., reported to the War Department at Washington, that a cavalry expedition, under Major Torry, to the forks of the Mingo and St. Francis Rivers, had captured Colonel Phelan and ten men of the rebel army.
—The Savannah Republican says that “the people of Charleston, S. C, have pulled up their lead pipes and contributed sixty thousand pounds to the government, and that the government will issue receipts for all lead pipes and other fixtures, and binds itself to replace them at the end of the war.”—The advance column of the Union army under General Grant, passed through Holly Springs, Miss., this morning.—(Doc. 55.)
It is reported that nineteen feet of water can be carried over the bar. If this be true, the frigate Mississippi can be got over without much difficulty. The Colorado draws about twenty-two feet; she lightens one inch to twenty-four tons; her keel is about two feet deep. The frigate Wabash, when in New York in 1858, drew, without her spar-deck guns, stores, water casks, tanks, and coal (excepting thirty tons), aft twenty feet four inches, forward sixteen feet, or on an even keel eighteen feet four inches. This would indicate a very easy passage for this noble vessel, and, if it be possible to get these two steamers over, and perhaps a sailing vessel also, you will take care to use every exertion to do so. The powerful tugs in the bomb flotilla will afford the necessary pulling power. The tops of these large steamers are from thirty to fifty feet above the fort, and command the parapets and interior completely with howitzers and musketry. The Wachusett at Boston; the Oneida, Richmond, Varuna, and Dakota at New York; and the Iroquois from the West Indies, are ordered to report to you with all practicable dispatch, and every gunboat which can be got ready in time will have the same orders. All of the bomb-vessels have sailed, and the steamers to accompany them are being prepared with great dispatch. It is believed the last will be off by the 16th instant.
