The Rebellion Record—A Diary of American Events; by Frank Moore

April 9.—In the National House of Representatives, there was a very exciting discussion, in Committee of the Whole, on a resolution offered by Mr. Colfax to expel Mr. Alexander Long, of Ohio, for disloyal sentiments uttered in his speech on Friday last. During the discussion, Mr. Benjamin G. Harris, of Maryland, arose, and boldly avowed his gratification at the secession of the South, justifying it fully, and rebuking the Democratic party for not daring to come up to his standard of political morality. Mr. E. B. Washburne, of Illinois, instantly offered a resolution to expel Mr. Harris, which received eighty-one votes against fifty-eight; but two thirds being required, the resolution was not adopted. Mr. Schenck, of Ohio, then offered a resolution, severely censuring Mr. Harris, declaring him to be an unworthy member of the House, which was adopted. The proceedings were very turbulent, and the debates very sharp. —The heaviest freshet known in Virginia for ten years occurred this night on the line of the Orange and Alexandria road. Several bridges were seriously damaged, and one was washed away entirely.

—This morning, about two o’clock, a small tug was discovered approaching the flag-ship Minnesota, lying off Newport News, Va. She was hailed, and answered in reply to the question, “What boat is that?” “The Roanoke.” Still approaching, she was warned to keep off or she would be fired upon. Regardless of the warning, she came on, drifting with the tide, and when quite near, steamed straight at the port quarter, striking the Minnesota with a torpedo or infernal machine, which exploded, shaking the vessel with a terrible concussion from stem to stern, and throwing the tug several yards from the ship. Immediately steam was raised on the tug, and before any thing could be done by the people on board the ting-ship, the tug was safe off in the darkness.

The Government tug, laying alongside the flag-ship, that should have had steam up and given chase, as she was ordered on the spot, danced up and down on the disturbed waves, powerless for harm to the unknown midnight visitor.

—The battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, was fought this day.—(Doc. 131.)

April 8.—Last night, a scouting-party of one hundred men of the Second Missouri volunteers, from New-Madrid, was surprised in camp and in bed by guerrillas, at a point sixteen miles northwest of Osceola, in Arkansas. A member of the attacked band gives the following detailed account of the expedition and surprise. He says: “The rebels demanded a surrender, firing on our men in their beds, before they could get up, and as they sprang up, the assailants fired a dreadful volley from double-barreled shot-guns. Lieutenant Phillips, springing up, and calling to his men to rally, discharged one shot with revolver, and was struck in the left temple by a ball, and killed instantly. Major Rabb called to the men to rally, but they were so tightly pressed for the moment, that they fell back to a house at which was company K. The combatants were so close, that it was dangerous to our own men for those at the house to fire. The firing on our part was thus much curtailed for the moment. But all was soon over; the rebels have fallen back, and taken covering in the darkness of the night. But they were not all as fortunate as they might have wished; for at the close of the fray, some of them were heard to call out: ‘Don’t leave us, for we are wounded.’ The fact of finding some arms on the ground, twenty or thirty feet off, where Lieutenant Phillips lay, proved that some of them had got their rights, (Federal lead.) In a few minutes after the fray, Sergeant Reese was ordered to take eight men and carry the wounded to the house, which was done immediately. Here is the list of the unfortunate—Lieutenant Phillips, killed: Lieutenant Orr, severely wounded; Sergeant Handy, killed; Sergeant Millhouse, severely wounded; Sergeant Claypool, slightly, in arm; William Julian, slightly ; Thomas Jump, slightly, in leg; Joseph W. Davis, slightly; Milton R. Hardie, mortally, (has since died 😉 Able Benny, slightly, in leg; William Chasteen, mortally, (has since died in hospital.) Total—four killed, seven wounded, all of company I, Second Missouri.”

The dead were necessarily left, and after burying them, the party conveyed the wounded the long distance to the river, and taking the steamer Darling, returned to quarters at New-Madrid tonight.

—By a general order, issued this day from the headquarters of the army of the Potomac, all civilians, sutlers, and their employés, were ordered to the rear by the sixteenth. Members of the Sanitary or Christian Commissions, and registered news correspondents only, were allowed to remain. All property for which there was no transportation, also was ordered to the rear, and the authority of corps commanders to grant furloughs was revoked, and none to be granted save in extreme cases, or in case of reenlisted veterans.

—A party of guerrillas entered Shelbyville, Ky., at one o’clock A.M., this day, stole seven horses, and broke open the Branch Bank of Ashland; but before they could rifle it of its contents, they became alarmed at the proximity of the Twelfth Ohio cavalry, and decamped. The rest of them were arrested, and confined in Taylorsville jail.—This evening, the National cavalry, under the command of General Grierson, made a descent upon a bridge over Wolf River, Tenn., which had just been completed by the rebel General Forrest, and succeeded in capturing and destroying it, with a loss of eight killed and wounded, and the capture of two rebel prisoners.

—The battle of Sabine Cross-Roads, La., took place this day. A participant in the fight gives the following account of it: “On the morning of the eighth of April, the regiment broke up camp at Pleasant Hill, and with the Twenty-fourth Iowa, Fifty-sixth Ohio, Forty-sixth Indiana, and Twenty-ninth Wisconsin, which composed the Third division, moved in the direction of Mansfield. After marching ten miles, the division halted and went into camp, as was supposed, for the night At half-past two o’clock P.m., we (the Twenty-eighth Iowa) were ordered into line, and forward with the division, to support General Lee’s cavalry and the Fourth division of the Thirteenth army corps, then engaging the enemy. A rapid march of an hour brought us to the scene of action. The Twenty-eighth Iowa was formed on the extreme left, supported by four companies of the Twenty-fourth Iowa, and advanced into an open field to meet the enemy. Here the regiment (the Twenty-eighth) halted, and was ordered to fire. After a spirited contest of about fifteen minutes, being exposed to a terrible fire of grape, shell, and shrapnel from the enemy’s batteries, causing sad havoc in our ranks, we were ordered to fall back a short distance to secure a better position. This was accomplished in the best possible manner. Our second position was taken behind a fence, near a small ravine, and held two hours, receiving the constant fire of the enemy’s infantry, and being exposed to their artillery. At this time the enemy had gained our left flank and rear, and were pouring a deadly fire upon us. Our ammunition being, in a great measure, exhausted, and having no support whatever, we were obliged to retreat with the rest of the division. After a running fight of three miles, in which we harassed the advance of the enemy, we were met by the Nineteenth army corps, and, with their assistance, succeeded in checking them. Night soon caused a cessation of hostilities.”—(Doc. 131.)

—Colonel Howell, of the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania volunteers, continued his reconnoissances toward the rebel outposts, in the neighborhood of Hilton Head, S. C. To-day, he advanced up the May River, in the patrol-boats Foulk and Croton, guarded by the gunboat Chippewa. Detachments from the Seventy-sixth and Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania volunteers accompanied the expedition. Landing on Hunting Island, the forces drove in the rebel pickets, and skirmished with the force in their rear. Captain Phillips, with some men of the Eighty-fifth, drove away the pickets in another locality, and regained the main body without casualty. Meanwhile, the Chippewa shelled the woods on and about the neighboring shores. Reembarking, the force proceeded toward Bluffton, shelling that place and its vicinity.

—Major-general John J. Peck, in official orders, issued the following from his headquarters at Newbern, N. C: “The Commanding General has the satisfaction of announcing another expedition against the enemy, in which both the military and naval forces of North-Carolina took part, sharing the honors equally.

“On the twenty-fifth of March, Colonel J. Jourdan, commander of the sub-district of Beaufort, with two hundred men of the One Hundred and Fifty-eighth New-York volunteer infantry, embarked on board the United States gunboat Britannia, Lieutenant Huse commanding, and steamed for Bogue and Bear Inlets, for the purpose of capturing two of the enemy’s vessels en gaged in contraband trade, and also a body of cavalry reported to be at Swansboro. Nearing the inlets, a portion of the command was transferred to small boats, and an effort made to effect a landing and move on Swansboro. All night long, in the breakers and storm, these little boats, with their patient crows, were tossed about. Several craft, in the violence of the gale, were dashed to pieces; but, through the energetic exertions of Colonel Jourdan and others, no lives were lost, although one officer (Captain David, of the One Hundred and Fifty-eighth New-York volunteers) was seriously injured.

“In the morning the storm abated, and another attempt was made. As the boats moved up, instead of seeing the expected cavalry, they were saluted by heavy volleys of musketry from the river-banks. The enemy proving too strong, the party was obliged to return to the vessel.

“At the same time, Lieutenant King, of Colonel Jourdan’s staff, with a body of men in boats, moved up Bear Inlet: he found and burned one of the vessels sought, together with its cargo of salt and leather. He returned to the gunboat, bringing with him forty-three negro refugees. The whole expedition arrived at Beaufort on the morning of the twenty-sixth ultimo, without the loss of a man.

“Great credit is due Colonel Jourdan and the officers and men of his command, together with the officers and men of the navy, for the efficient service performed. The Commanding General tenders his thanks especially to Colonel Jourdan, Captain Cuff, and Lieutenant King, of the army, and to Commander Dove and Lieutenants Huso and Cowie, of the navy.”

April 7.—The rebels made a dash within the National picket-lines at Port Hudson, La., and a brisk skirmish ensued, without important results to either side. A detachment of the One Hundred and Eighteenth Illinois mounted infantry, and a section of Barnes’s battery, Twenty-first New-York, with one gun, had been out mending the line of telegraph to Baton Rouge, and on their return were attacked by a superior force of rebel cavalry and driven in. Simultaneously an attack was made on the pickets by an equally large force, and the detachment on the telegraph road was cut off and flanked. The cavalry came in by wood roads, but the piece of artillery was spiked and left, and afterward carried off by the enemy. In the several skirmishes the Nationals lost one killed, four wounded, and six prisoners. They took two prisoners, one of them an officer. General Ullman’s division marched several miles outside, but on the approach of the infantry the rebels left without hazarding a tight. The rebel force was the Wirt Adams’s cavalry from up the river, numbering nearly a thousand. They were well mounted and equipped.— The rebel schooner Spunky was captured by the National schooner Beauregard, off Cape Canaveral.

April 6.—Brigadier-General Guitar, from his headquarters at Macon, Missouri, issued general orders relinquishing his command of the district of North-Missouri, to Brigadier-General C. B. Fisk.

—Reuben Patrick, captain of a company of secret service employed by order of Governor Bramlette, by Colonel G.W. Gallup, commanding the district of Eastern Kentucky, with fifteen men of company I, Fourteenth Kentucky, and four of his own company, surprised Captain Bradshaw, with eighty men of Hodge’s brigade, on Quicksand Creek. He drove them in all directions, they leaving all their horses, arms, and camp equipage in Patrick’s possession, who selected thirty of the best horses, and, with three prisoners, made quick time for camp, where he arrived, having left ten dead rebels, and seven mortally wounded on the ground. The captured arms were destroyed by burning them. This is the same Patrick who stole Humphrey Marshall’s artillery out of his camp at Shelbyville, last spring.

—An election was held in Maryland, to determine whether a convention should be called for the purpose of amending the Constitution of the State. The question was carried by a large majority.—The schooner Julia A. Hodges was captured off Matagorda Bay, Texas, by the National vessel Estrella.

April 5.—The government powder-mills, belonging to the rebels, at Raleigh, North-Carolina, exploded this day, and killed several persons.

April 4.—The gunboat Scioto, under the command of Lieutenant Commander George H. Perkins, captured the rebel schooner Mary Sorley. Two hours and a half previous to the capture, the Mary Sorley was seen coming out of Galveston, Texas, in a gale. The Scioto gave chase, and after running south by west about twenty-five miles, made the capture beyond signal distance of any of the blockading vessels. All the official papers were found on board.—Captain Marchand’s Report.

—By direction of the President of the United States, the following changes and assignments were made in army corps commands:

Major-General P. H. Sheridan was assigned to the command of the cavalry corps of the army of the Potomac.

The Eleventh and Twelfth corps were consolidated and called the First army corps. Major-General J. Hooker was assigned to command.

Major-General Gordon Granger was relieved from the command of the Fourth army corps, and Major-General O. O. Howard was assigned in his stead.

Major-General Schofield was assigned to the command of the Twenty-third army corps.

Major-General Slocum would report to Major-General Sherman, commanding the division of the Mississippi, and Major-General Stoneman would report to Major-General Schofield, commanding the department of the Ohio, for assignment.

Major-General Granger would report by letter to the Adjutant-General of the army.

Captain Horace Porter, United States ordnance department, was announced as an aid-de-camp to Lieutenant-General Grant, with rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.— General Orders.

—Captain Phelps, of gunboat Number Twenty-six, captured a rebel mail-carrier near Crockett’s Bluff, Ark., with five thousand letters from Richmond and other points, and sixty thousand percussion-caps for General Price’s army. The letters contained official communications from Shreveport, and a considerable sum of Federal money.—The Metropolitan Fair, for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission, was inaugurated at New-York City, with imposing ceremonies.— New York Papers.

—T. A. Henderson, Provost-Marshal of the district of Florida, issued the following circular from his headquarters at Jacksonville:

“All refugees from the rebel lines, and deserters from the rebel armies, and all persons desiring to become such, are hereby informed that they will not, under any circumstances, be compelled to serve in the United States army against the rebels. This assurance is fully given in General Orders Number Sixty-four, of date February eighteenth, 1864, from the War Department.

“All such refugees and deserters, who are honest in their intentions of for ever deserting the rebel cause, will be allowed every opportunity of engaging in their usual avocations; or, if they desire employment from the United States, will, as far as expedient, be employed on the government works, receiving proper compensation for their services.

“All refugees or deserters who may bring horses or mules into the Union lines will be paid their full value.”

April 3.—This night a band of forty rebels landed at Cape Lookout, took possession of the lighthouse, put the keeper and his wife in durance, and exploded a keg of powder, which seriously damaged the building. They then retired on the approach of the steamer City of Jersey.

—General J. P. Hatch, commanding the district of Florida, issued the following order from his headquarters at Jacksonville: “The Brigadier-General Commanding desires to make known to his command the successful accomplishment of a daring and difficult expedition, by a detachment of twenty-five men of the One Hundred and Fifteenth New-York volunteers, commanded by Captain S. P. Smith, of the same regiment. This little party, sent from Pilatka to a point thirty-two miles from the post, surprised and captured a picket of the enemy, consisting of one sergeant and nine men, with their arms, and thirteen horses, and equipments complete. To bring off the horses, it was necessary to swim them across the St. John’s River, and force them for a mile and a half through a swamp previously considered impracticable. The energy, intrepidity, and skill with which this expedition was conducted demands the praise of the commander of this district, and the imitation of troops hereafter detached on similar expeditions.

“II. The Brigadier General Commanding announces that the Marine Battery, which was so promptly and cheerfully placed on the line of our intrenchments when they were first thrown up in the vicinity of Jacksonville, and at a time when it was much needed, has been ordered on board the sloop-of-war Mahaska. He takes this opportunity to return his thanks to Captain G. B. Balch, commanding United States naval forces on St. John’s River, for his kindness, and to Ensign Augustus E. French, and the petty officers and men under him, for their valuable services, very good conduct, and exhibition of excellent discipline, throughout their intercourse with the troops of this command.”

April 2.—Captain Schmidt, of company M, Fourteenth New-York cavalry, while scouting near Pensacola, Florida, with thirty of his men, came upon a party of fifty rebels belonging to the Seventh Alabama cavalry, under command of Major Randolph, C. S. A. The Nationals immediately charged them, and after a hand-to-hand fight of about ten minutes, defeated them with a loss of from ten to fifteen killed and wounded, eleven prisoners, one lieutenant, two sergeants, and eight men. The loss of the Nationals was First Lieutenant Lengerche and two men slightly wounded.

April 1.—The funeral ceremonies of Owen Lovejoy, were held at his late residence near the town of Princeton, Illinois.—The steamer Maple Leaf, while returning to Jacksonville from Pilatka, struck a rebel torpedo, which exploded, tearing off the steamer’s entire bow, the vessel sinking in ten minutes. Two firemen and two deck-hands were drowned. The passengers, sixty in number, were safely landed, but their baggage was all lost, including that of two or three regiments.—The battle of Fitzhugh’s Woods, Ark., was fought this day.—(Doc. 128.) —A party of rebels made an attack on Brooks’s plantation, (which was being worked on a Government lease,) near Snydersville, on the Yazoo River, and destroyed all the valuable buildings and machinery. The First Massachusetts cavalry, (colored,) six hundred strong, drove the rebels off, after an hour’s fight. The enemy numbered nearly one thousand five hundred. The Union loss was sixteen killed. Ten killed and wounded of the rebels were left on the field.