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

June 27.—A squadron of Scott’s Nine Hundred cavalry, under Major Remington, on their way to Centreville, Va., this morning, encountered, near Fairfax, the Sixth Virginia cavalry, and dashed at them with the sabre. The Major made two charges, and drove the rebels for three miles into a wood, and there encountered a superior force, that checked him with the fire of carbines. The fight, from the beginning to the end, was fierce. Major Remington, after having had his horse shot twice, cut his way out and made his escape with eighteen men. Eighty were reported missing. Among them were Captain Bagwell, Captain Campbell, and Lieutenant Hazleton. The companies were B and C.

—Carlisle, Pa., was abandoned by the Union forces, and soon after occupied by the rebels advancing on Gettysburgh.—A large number of rebel cavalry under command of Fitz-Hugh Lee, made a dash into Annandale, Va., capturing several sutlers who were in the vicinity, and burning a number of hospital stores and sutlers’ wagons.

—The Maryland Club-house at Baltimore, having “degenerated into a resort for those who are disaffected toward the Government, and hostile to its legally constituted authorities,” was closed by order of Major-General Schenck. —Manchester, Tenn., was entered and occupied by the Union forces under General J. J. Reynolds.—Shelbyville, Tenn., was occupied by General Granger.—Joel Parker, Governor of New-Jersey, on the reception of a message from Governor Curtin, informing him of the second entrance of the rebels into Pennsylvania, renewed his call upon the citizens of the State to hold themselves in readiness for immediate service.—York, Pa., was occupied by the rebels under General Gordon.—(Doc. 81.)

—The schooner Varnum H. Hill was captured by the rebel privateer Florida, in latitude 30° north, longitude 48° 50′, but was released on a bond, on condition her master would take to Bermuda, the prisoners captured by the privateer, from the ships lately destroyed by her.— A skirmish occurred on the Walnut Bottom road, at a point five miles from Carlisle, near the Stone Farm, between a detail of Pennsylvania militia under Captain Murray, and a party of rebels, in which ten of the militia were captured and one wounded.—The rebel schooner Archer, a tender to the privateer Tacony, entered the harbor of Portland, Me., and captured the revenue cutter Caleb Cushing.—(Doc. 21.)

June 26.—Andrew G. Curtin, Governor of Pennsylvania, issued a proclamation, calling for sixty thousand men to serve for three months, or the period of the rebel invasion.—(Doc. 79.)

—Brashear City, La., was captured by the rebel forces under Generals Green and Mouton — (Docs. 19, 26, and 80.)

—The Twenty-first regiment of New-York militia, under the command of Colonel Nugent, left Poughkeepsie for Baltimore, Md.—The Fifth regiment of Massachusetts volunteers returned to Boston, and were welcomed by an imposing and enthusiastic demonstration.—McConnelsburgh, Pa., was evacuated by the rebels under General Stuart.—Rear-admiral A. H. Foote died at New-York City.—By direction of President Lincoln, Major-General N. J. T. Dana was assigned to the organization and command of the militia and volunteer forces and defences of Philadelphia, Pa.—Frederick, Md., was occupied by the National cavalry.

June 25.—This afternoon, a fight occurred at Liberty Gap, Tenn., between a rebel division under General Cleburn, and the Nationals, commanded by Generals Willich, Wilder, and Carter, resulting in the rout of the rebels, who fled, leaving their dead and wounded in the hands of the Nationals. The loss of the Nationals was forty killed and one hundred wounded.—(Doc. 112.)

—The ship Constitution, in sight of the Island of Trinidad, latitude 20° 31′, longitude 29° 16′, was captured by the rebel privateer Georgia.—Fairfax Court-house, Va., having been evacuated by the National troops, was occupied by a rebel guerrilla party during the evening.—An expedition under the command of Colonel S. P. Spear, of the Eleventh Pennsylvania cavalry, reached a point within six miles of Richmond, Va., creating a great panic in that place.—(Doc. 35.)

—As assault was made on the rebel works at Vicksburgh, by General McPherson’s corps, which ended in the capture of one of the forts.—(Doc. 36.)

—The English steamer Britannia, was captured by the Union gunboat St. Jago de Cuba, at a point one hundred and fifty miles from Abaco, having run the blockade of Charleston South-Carolina.

June 24—McConnellsburgh, Pa., was occupied by the rebel cavalry this evening, after a short resistance by the Twelfth Pennsylvania cavalry.—Great excitement existed at Harrisburgh, Pa., on the approach of the rebels, who were “slowly advancing on Carlisle;” many merchants packed up their goods ready for shipment, and martial law was proposed, “to prevent all the able-bodied men from leaving the city.” The Mayor issued an order, calling upon the people to stand firm, and prohibiting the sale of all liquors.—The Eleventh New-York artillery left Rochester, for Harrisburgh.

—Shippensburgh, Pa., was evacuated by the National troops, and immediately occupied by rebel cavalry.—At Shclbyville, Tenn., the rebels were defeated by the National troops, under Gen era! Mitchell.—(Docs. 84 and 112.)

—The following General Orders were issued from the War Department at Washington:

I. By direction of the President, that part of the Middle Department west of Hancock, including the adjacent counties of Ohio, will constitute the Department of West-Virginia. Brigadier-General B. P. Kelley is placed in command of the Department of West-Virginia.

II. Major-General W. S. Hancock, U. S. volunteers, is, by direction of the President, assigned to the command of the Second army corps, in place of Major-General D. N. Couch, transferred to another command.

—The rebel General R. S. Ewell, at Chambersburgh, Pa., issued the following order:

First. The sale of intoxicating liquors to this command, without written permission from a major-general, is strictly prohibited.

Second. Persons having liquor in their possession are required to report the fact to the provost-marshal, or the nearest general officer, stating the amount and kind, that a guard may be placed over it, and the men prevented from getting it

Third. Any violation of Part I. of these Orders, or failure to comply with Part II., will be punished by the immediate confiscation of all liquors in the possession of the offending parties, besides rendering their other property liable to seizure.

Fourth. Citizens of the country, through which the army may pass, who are not in the military service, are admonished to abstain from all acts of hostility upon pain of being dealt with in a summary manner. A ready acquiescence to the demands of the military authorities will serve to lessen the rigors of war.

—The army of the Cumberland, excepting the division under General Van Cleve, commenced a forward movement from Murfreesboro, marching by the Shelbyville and Manchester Roads, and skirmishes took place at Guy’s, Liberty, and Hanover Gaps, Tenn.—(Docs. 37, 112, and 120.)

—Colonel J. K. Mizener returned to La Grange, Tenn., from an extensive cavalry expedition south, from the same point, and reported as follows: He broke up the command under General George, at Panola; destroyed the railroad bridge at the Yocokaway, and the trestle-work just beyond, and a portion of the road from there north.

He then crossed the Tallahatchie, coming north, and pursued Chalmers beyond Coldwater, on the Helena Road. He made for the Tallahatchie to cross, and at the mouth of the Coldwater he killed fifteen or twenty of Chalmers’s men, and took forty prisoners. Ho paroled all the sick at Panola, brought away and destroyed all the army supplies, workshops, mills, tanneries, and depots. He passed within three miles of Austin and Commerce, destroying an immense amount of forage and subsistence, took from six to eight hundred horses and mules, and five hundred head of cattle. He sent detachments north and north-east, from Panola, to destroy or bring away all subsistence, forage, horses, and mules. He passed through five counties, travelled two hundred miles, and crossed three streams.

Chalmers had with him Stokes’s, Slemmcr’s, and Blythe’s men, nine hundred, with three pieces of artillery. The remainder of his force, nine hundred, fled south, via Charleston, under General George. He destroyed all the ferries at Panola and Coldwater, and lost one man killed and five wounded.

—Colonel Wilder, with his mounted infantry, hadd a sharp skirmish at Beech Grove, Tenn., with a body of rebel infantry, and succeeded in killing and disabling a large number of them, with a loss of forty of his own men.—(Doc. 120.)

June 23.—The State of New-York responded nobly to the call for troops to drive the rebels from the soil of Pennsylvania and Maryland. Twenty regiments at this time had been armed, equipped, and supplied with subsistence and transportation, and had gone to Harrisburgh and Baltimore. Sixteen of these regiments moved from New-York, two from Brooklyn, and two from Buffalo. The following is a list of the regiments that had left: The Seventh, Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth, Twenty-second, Twenty-third, Twenty-eighth, Thirty-seventh, Forty-seventh, Fifty-second, Sixty-ninth, Sixth, Seventy fourth, Seventy-first, Sixty-fifth, Fifty-sixth, Fifth, Thirty-second, Fifty-fifth, Fourth artillery, and a consolidated regiment from Staten Island.

—The Raleigh (N. C.) Standard of this date favored a convention of all the States, to procure peace, either by reconstruction of the Union or by peaceable separation.—Rev. R. I. Graves, of Hillsboro, N. C., who was committed on the fourth of February last, on the charge of treason to the rebel government, was discharged, through the efforts of W. A. Graham.—The London Times publishes an elaborate article against the employment of negroes, as soldiers, in the army of the United States.

—In the Missouri State Convention, Governor Gamble, Chairman of the Committee on Emancipation, presented the following ordinance from the majority of the committee:

First. That the first and second clauses of the Twenty-sixth Section of the Third Article of the Constitution be abrogated.

Second. That slavery, or involuntary servitude, except for the punishment of crime, shall cease to exist in Missouri on the fourth of July, 1876; and that all the slaves within this State on that day be hereby declared free.

Third. That all slaves hereafter brought into the State, not now belonging to citizens of the State, shall thereupon be free.

Fourth. That all slaves, removed by the consent of their owners to any seceded State, after the passage of the ordinance of secession, and hereafter brought into this State by then-owners, shall thereupon be free.

Fifth. The General Assembly shall have no power to pass laws to emancipate slaves without the consent of their owners.

A minority report was also submitted, abrogating some clauses of the Constitution as above, declaring slavery abolished on the first of January, 1864, provided they and their issue be apprenticed to their former owners until the fourth of July, 1876; requiring the Legislature to pass laws regulating the relation between said apprentices and their masters, to secure them humane treatment, necessary education, and providing against importation or emigration of any negro or mulatto in the State. No future assessment of slave property shall be collected, nor shall the right to the services of apprentices be subject to taxation. Provisions were also made to submit the ordinance to a vote of the people.

—Colonel S. H. Saunders returned to Boston, Kentucky, from the expedition sent by General Burnside, into East-Tennessee, and reported as follows:

“I arrived here with my command at eleven o’clock this morning. I struck the railroad at Lenoir, destroyed the road up to Knoxville, made demonstrations against Knoxville, so as to have the troops drawn from above, destroyed the track, and started for Strawberry Plains; burnt Slate Creek Bridge, three hundred and twelve feet long, and the Strawberry Plain Bridge, one thousand six hundred feet long, and also Mossy Creek Bridge, three hundred and twenty-five feet long. I captured three pieces of artillery, some two hundred boxes artillery ammunition, over five hundred prisoners, ten thousand stand of arms, destroyed a large amount of salt, sugar, flour, meal, saltpetre, and one saltpetre works, and other stores. My command is much fatigued. We have had but two nights’ sleep since leaving Williamsburgh. The force in East Tennessee was larger than I had supposed. I did not attack Loudon Bridge, for reasons that I will explain. At Mossy Creek I determined to return. In the mountains I had very great difficulties that were unexpected. I found the gaps, through which I intended to return, strongly guarded with artillery and infantry, and blockaded with fallen timber. A force was also following in our rear. I determined to cross at Smith’s Gap, which I did.”

—Chambersburgh, Pa., was reoccupied by the rebels, under General Rodes; and the National troops, commanded by General Knipe, retreated to the main body.

—The rebel sloop, John Wesley, which had evaded the blockade of St Mark’s, Fla., on the thirteenth, was captured by the Union steamer Circassian.—The Fifth regiment of Massachusetts volunteers, whose term of service had expired, arrived at Fortress Monroe, from Newbern, N. C., and again volunteered their services to General Dix.—The Union gunboat Sumter was sunk off Cape Henry.—Several wagons, with ammunition, forage, and other articles belonging to the National troops, were destroyed by a party from Mosby’s rebel cavalry, on the Chantilly road, near Bull Run, Va.—The sloop Kate, from Nassau, N. P., was captured in Indian River, Fla., by the Union bark, Pursuit.

June 22.—Three steamers laden with military stores, and convoyed by two Union gunboats, were fired into by rebels at Cypress Bend, on the Mississippi River, and a number of persons were killed and wounded. The rebels were finally driven off by the gunboats.—The correspondence between James M. Mason, the rebel commissioner at London, and Moncure D. Conway, was made public.—The rebels were driven out of Cumberland, Md., by the National forces under General B. F. Kelley. — The schooners Marengo and Florence, and the fishing-vessels Elizabeth Ann Thomas, Rufus Choate, and Ripple, were captured by the confederate privateer Tacony.—At Acquia Creek, Va., the quartermaster’s buildings, left standing by the Union troops on the evacuation of that place, were burned by the rebels.—Mr. Vallandigham, who was banished to the Southern States for a stated period, arrived at Bermuda in the confederate steamer Lady Davis, from Wilmington. It was reported that Mr. Vallandigham was on his way to Canada, and there to await coming events.—Bermuda Royal Gazette, June 23.

—The case of the seizure of the suspected gunboat Alexandra, at Liverpool, England, was announced in the Court of the Queen’s Bench at London, before Chief Baron Pollock.—(See Supplement, Vol. II.)

June 21.—At Baltimore, Md., as a matter of precaution against rebel demonstrations, earthworks were erected around the north and west sides of the city. The Council appropriated a forge sum of money, and a very large force of laborers (mostly contrabands) were impressed into the service. A line of barricades, composed of tobacco hogsheads and empty sugar and molasses hogsheads, filled with brick and sand, was erected within the city, extending from the high ground on the east to the south-western extremity. “These, if the rebels should come,” said a participant, “will be defended by the Union League men, who are being armed by General Schenck, and should a cavalry force manage to dash past the batteries, they would here meet a formidable resistance. The Union men are entirely confident that should the rebels be so rash as to attempt a raid in this direction, they will be able to effectually defeat them.”

—The Aeronautic corps of the army of the Potomac was dispensed with, and the balloons and inflating apparatus were sent to Washington.

—The fight at Lafourche Crossing, La., was renewed this day, and ended in the defeat of the rebels with a loss of sixty killed, two hundred and forty wounded, and seventy prisoners. The Union loss was eight killed and sixteen wounded.—New-Orleans Era, Jane 23.

—Major-General Pleasanton, with his cavalry, attacked the rebels, under General Stuart, at Middleburgh, Va., and after driving them over eight miles, succeeded in capturing two pieces of artillery, and sixty prisoners, besides killing and wounding over one hundred men.—(Doc. 77.)

—The ship Byzantium and bark Goodspeed were captured and burned by the rebel privateer Tacony off the coast of Massachusetts.—On the approach of the rebels toward Shippensburgh, Pa., the proprietor of the Union Hotel in that town blurred his sign over with brown paint.— The steamer Victory was captured off Cuba by the gunboat Santiago de Cuba, and the English schooner Frolic off Crystal Run, Florida, by the gunboat Sagamore.—This afternoon a party of the First Maryland cavalry, under Major Cole, dashed into Frederick, Md., driving out the rebels and capturing one. On the retirement of the Nationals, however, the rebels returned and reoccupied the town.

June 20.—The First regiment of New-York cavalry encountered a portion of Jenkins’s rebel force near Greencastle, Pa., and after a short skirmish defeated them, capturing twenty prisoners.—Extracts from the World, Express, and Caucasian, published in New-York, the Cincinnati Enquirer and Chicago Times, were suppressed within the limits of the Eighth army corps, by order of General Schenck.—The fishing-boat L. A. Macomber, of Noank, Ct, while at anchor at a point twenty-two miles south-east of the South Shoal light, Mass., was boarded by the privateer Tacony, and afterward burned.— The rebel schooner Hattie was captured while attempting to run the blockade of Wilmington, N. C., by the National gunboat Florida.

—A part of General Lee’s army is already in the valley of Virginia, and a part probably in Maryland. The rest will probably follow on. At all events, Richmond is about to be uncovered of the defence afforded by the proximity of his troops. They will be removed to some more distant point, whence they cannot be brought instantly and readily to our assistance, if assistance we should need. This summer’s campaign cannot be conducted efficiently, if large numbers of our regular troops are detailed to guard and protect our cities, and other assailable points.

In country and in town we must protect ourselves against raiding parties by means of the militia and of volunteer associations for home defence.

We learn from the United States papers that it is proposed in Pennsylvania to call out the militia up to sixty years of age, to repel apprehended invasion. Shall we do less to repel actual invasion? If she be ready to make such sacrifices to subjugate us, should we not be willing to make greater sacrifices to defend ourselves? Boys, from twelve to eighteen, are excellent marksmen, and although it might demoralize their principles, injure their characters, and endanger their health, to enlist them regularly in the army and expose them to the hardships of the camp, of long marches, and of indifferent diet, yet they may be drilled mote readily than old men, and made efficient soldiers in a sudden emergency to aid in the defence of the city and its environs.—Richmond Sentinel, June 20.

—The expedition that left Suffolk, Va., on the eleventh instant, returned to-day. Its leading object was to investigate the strength of, and destroy the three leading strongholds of the rebels on the Blackwater River, all of which were within a distance of twenty-five miles from Suffolk.—The citizens of Pittsburgh, Pa., held a mass meeting, at which martial law was called for and skulkers denounced. A general suspension of business and the raising of volunteer companies for defence were strenuously advocated.

—The ship Isaac Webb, in lat. 40° 35′, long. 68° 45′, was captured by the rebel privateer Tacony, and released on giving bonds for forty thousand dollars; the crew and passengers of the brig Umpire, which was captured and destroyed by the Tacony on the sixteenth instant, in lat. 37°, long. 69° 57½’, were put on board the Isaac Webb to be carried to New-York.—A. J. Bokeman was inaugurated as the first Governor of the State of West-Virginia.—The resistance to the enrolment in Holmes County, Ohio, ended.— A spirited engagement took place at Lafourche Crossing, La., this afternoon. Nearly two thousand rebels attacked the National forces —who were guarding the bridge and were repulsed.— Frederick, Md., was occupied by the rebels under J. E. B. Stuart.

June 19.—A committee from the planters of Louisiana, made a formal application to the President of the United States, for readmission into the Union.—(Doc. 75.)

—General Gregg, with his cavalry, met the rebel line of skirmishers in a piece of wood a short distance west of Middleburgh, Va., and forced them back about five miles on the road leading to Ashby’s Gap, where the enemy had two brigades of infantry. Artillery was used occasionally on both sides, but most of the time the fight was more of an Indian warfare than any thing else. Nearly all the charges made were in woods where the enemy fought from behind trees, stone walls and natural rifle-pits. A large number of the Nationals were dismounted, and they proved themselves to be quite as great adepts in the Indian style of warfare as the enemy. As the latter were driven out of one piece of timber, they would retreat into another, and thus the contest was kept up, from early morning until four o’clock p.m., almost without intermission.

During the early portion of the day the brigade commanded by Colonel Gregg was alone engaged. During the day, General Kilpatrick’s command came up, and, at a late hour, the regular cavalry, which had been sent up the Snicker’s Gap road, made a sudden dash upon the left flank of the rebels, creating quite a panic. As the regulars passed up the Snicker’s Gap pike, a squadron of the First cavalry was placed to guard the bridge across Goose Creek. The main column had been gone only a short time, when the guard was attacked by a superior force, and driven away, when the bridge was set on fire. The First Maine, Tenth, Second, and Fourth New-York, Fourth and Sixteenth Pennsylvania did most of the skirmishing. The First Maine made five charges under the most unfavorable circumstances, and added new laurels to their fame. The National loss in killed and wounded, yesterday and to-day, will probably not exceed fifty, and of the whole number there are not half a dozen wounds of a serious character. On the other hand, at the close of the day, there were thirty of the enemy’s dead and wounded at the hospital, a majority of the wounds being of a serious character. Some forty prisoners were captured, including six officers, a lieutenant-colonel, a major, a captain and three lieutenants. When the Tenth New-York entered Middleburgh yesterday, they found five of the missing First Rhode Island troopers locked up in a store, their captors not having an opportunity even to parole or carry them off, so sudden was the charge into the town made.

—The rebels at Williamsport carried all their stores to the north side of the Potomac River, with the purpose of making that their base of operations for raids into Pennsylvania.—Boonsboro, Md., was evacuated by the rebels, who carried off a number of horses and some other property.—The Seventy-fourth and Sixty-fifth regiments of New-York militia, left Buffalo, for Harrisburgh, Pa.—Two members of the staff of General Hooker, Major Sterling and Captain Fisher, were captured by guerrillas near Fairfax, Va.—Horatio Seymour, Governor of New York, issued an order organizing the National Guard of the State.—The Fifty-sixth and Fifth regiments of New-York militia, left home for Harrisburgh, Pa.—The ship Conrad, was captured by the privateer Alabama.

—A detachment of Jenkins’s rebel force on their retreat from Chambersburgh, entered McConnellsburgh, Pa., surprising the citizens and capturing a large number of horses and cattle, besides helping themselves to such provisions and wearing apparel as they could find in the stores. After thoroughly rifling the town, they left, taking the road to Hancock, Maryland.— The brig Isabella Thompson, having on board a cargo of turpentine and cotton, was captured by the Union gunboat United States, commanded by R. W. Mead, Jr.—The British schooner Glenn, of Yarmouth, N. S., from Matamoras for Nassau, being six hundred miles out of her course, was overhauled by the National steamer Cumbria, and her papers not being satisfactory, a prize crew was put on board, and she was ordered to New York.