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

June 8.—Governor Yates, of Illinois, adjourned the Legislature of that State, fully believing “that the interests of the State will be best subserved by a speedy adjournment, the past history of the present Assembly, holding out no reasonable hope of beneficent results to the citizens of the State, or the army in the field, from its further continuance.”

—A Convention of Editors was held at New York, to consult upon the rights and duties of the public press in the present war crisis. After an interchange of opinions, the general sentiment was expressed in a series of resolutions affirming the duty of fidelity to the Constitution, the Government, and the laws ; that treason and rebellion are crimes nowhere so culpable as in a republic, where every man has a voice in the administration ; that while journalists have no right to incite or aid “rebellion or treason, they have the right to criticise freely and fearlessly the acts of public officers ; that ” any limitation of this right created by the necessities of war should be confined to localities wherein hostilities actually exist or are imminently threatened, and we deny the right of any military officer to suppress the issue or forbid the general circulation of journals printed far away from the seat of war.”

—Colonel Montgomery, with four companies of the Second South-Carolina colored regiment, on board the Harriet A. Weed and the John Adams, ascended Turtle River to within a short distance of Brunswick, Ga., and after throwing a few shells into the place, discovered that it was entirely deserted. The Harriet A. Weed getting aground, and the John Adams drawing too much water, it was deemed advisable not to occupy the city, or proceed further up the river.

Captains Apthorp and Adams, desiring not to return without accomplishing something, took a skiff with six men, rowed up to the bridge of the Savannah and Brunswick Railroad, fired it in four different places, and had the satisfaction of seeing it totally destroyed before they returned.

On their return to the steamer, they were fired upon from a thicket by some fifteen or twenty rebels, but with the exception of Sergeant Leonard, who received a slight flesh-wound in the arm, not a man was hit.

After shelling the woods by the John Adams, the party returned to St. Simon’s Island.

—The Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth regiments N. Y. S. V., returned to New-York from the seat of war, and were welcomed home by thousands of their fellow-citizens.

June 7.—The expedition under General P. P. Blair, sent out from Haines’s Bluff to the Big Black River, on the twenty-seventh of May last, returned to-day. The captures made during the expedition amount to five hundred head of cattle, five hundred horses and mules, one hundred bales of cotton, and ten thousand pounds of bacon, together with a number of small articles, taken by the soldiers and never accounted for. All bridges were either burned or demolished and the forage destroyed.—Partisan guerrillas burned the railroad bridge over the Little Harpeth River, at Brentwood, Tenn.—The battle of Milliken’s Bend was concluded this day. After a most desperate fight, the rebels were repulsed, and retired, leaving over one hundred dead on the field. The Union loss was three hundred and ten killed and wounded.— (Docs. 8 and 27.)

—The plantation of Jefferson Davis was visited by a party of Union troops, who “rifled it completely, destroying every implement of husbandry, all his household and kitchen furniture, defacing the premises, and carrying off every negro on the place. The plantation of Joe Davis, brother of the President, was treated in the same way, if we except four or five domestic servants which the robbers left.”—Jackson Mississippian, June 11.

—The schooner Alfred H. Partridge, belonging to Gloucester, Mass., was captured by the rebel privateer Clarence.

June 6.—The rebel General J. E. B. Stuart held a grand review of the forces under his command, at his camp near Culpeper, Va., preparatory to his advance into Maryland and Pennsylvania.—Near Nicholasville, Ky., a locomotive exploded, killing six and wounding three soldiers belonging to the Thirty-fifth Massachusetts, Seventh Rhode Island, Fifty-first New-York, and Ninth New-Hampshire regiments.—The schooner Statesman, loaded with cotton, was captured by the National gunboat Tahoma, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Semmes.—Shawneetown, Johnson County, Kansas, was sacked and burned by a force of rebel bushwhackers, under Cy Gordon, and Dick Yeager. They plundered a number of Union men, and killed four, who resisted. When they had obtained all the plunder possible, they fired the village in several places, and left by the light of the flames.—The bark Whistling Wind, in latitude 33° 38′, longitude 71° 29,’, was captured and burned by the rebel privateer Coquette.— Guerrillas destroyed portions of the railroad track, near Germantown, Tenn.—General Sibley’s command left St. Paul, Minn., for an expedition against the Sioux. There were two columns employed in this expedition. One started from Sioux City, Iowa, and consisted of three thousand cavalry, one battery of artillery, and a proportionate amount of infantry, under command of Brigadier-General Sully. The other column was under command of Brigadier-General H. H. Sibley, and numbered three full infantry regiments, one battery mountain howitzers, and one thousand two hundred mounted rangers. The two divisions will meet at a given rendezvous in Dacotah. The object in sending a part of the force up the Missouri is to cut off the retreat in that direction of the Indians.

—The ship Southern Cross was captured and burned in latitude 1° 34′ south, longitude 36° west, by the rebel privateer Florida.—Major General John C. Fremont addressed a letter to the Secretary of War, on the subject of the ranking officer in the army of the United States.— A skirmish took place near Berryville, Va.— (Doc. 57.)

—The battle of Milliken’s Bend commenced this day.—(Docs. 5, 8 and 27.)

—General Foster, in command of the Union forces at Newborn, N. C., received instructions from the authorities at Washington, to place in close confinement all rebel officers captured by him.—The rebel steamer Lady Walton, was surrendered by her crew. She was engaged in the carrying trade for the Confederacy up Arkansas River, and left Little Rock under orders to proceed through the cut-off into White River, thence up that river for a load of corn. On reaching White River, her Captain, Moses Pennington, a native of Illinois, and W. H. Caldwell, another of the crew, put in execution, with the concurrence of the rest of those on board, being three white men and six negroes, a scheme they had long meditated, and, instead of going up White River, turned her head down-stream, and coming into the Mississippi, under a flag of truce, delivered her over to the officers of the first gunboat they met, which was near Island No. 82.

June 5.—Contrabands in the vicinity of Suffolk, Va., having signified their intention of serving the United States as armed soldiers, orders were issued by Major-General Peck to Captain John Wilder, “to recruit a company of colored troops, subject to no molestation in removing those so recruited to the place of rendezvous, at Craney Island.”—A Squadron of the Sixth New-York Cavalry, commanded by Major William P. Hall, on an expedition from Yorktown, Va., to Warwick River, succeeded in destroying twenty-three boats and one schooner belonging to the rebels.—Brigadier-general Alexander P. Stewart, of the rebel army, having been promoted to the rank of Major-General, took leave of his brigade, and assumed command in the corps of General Hardee, at Wartrace, Tenn. -—Chattanooga Rebel, June 7.

—The steamer Isaac Smith, which was captured by the rebels on the first of February last, was sunk while trying to run the blockade of Charleston, S. C., by the national gunboat Wissahickon.—The rebel privateer Alabama, in latitude 14° S., longitude 34° W., captured and destroyed the ship Talisman.—The Second division of the Sixth army corps, under the command of General A. P. Howe, crossed the Rappahannock River at Deep Run, on a rcconnoissance. During the passage of the river, the rebel sharp-shooters made some opposition, and after the division had crossed there was some brisk skirmishing, the rebel rifle-pits were carried, and over thirty prisoners captured. The National casualties were six killed and thirty-five wounded, among the former Captain Charles E. Cross, of the engineers.—(Doc. 5.)

June 4.—Joseph A. Gilmore was inaugurated Governor of New-Hampshire. In his message he stated that over eighteen thousand troops had been furnished for the war, and continued: “In such a contest as that in which we are now involved, I am unable to discriminate between the support of the Government and the support of the National Administration. It is no time now to speculate upon the causes of the rebellion. The only facts which we need are that it exists, and that it is our duty to put it down. It was a remark made to me, by a former Governor of this State, the late venerable Isaac Hill, in which I fully concur, that ‘a man who will not stand by his Government is a coward and a traitor.'”

—Prince Gortchakoff, in a dispatch to Mr. Clay, the American Minister at St Petersburgh, after expressing the satisfaction of the Emperor at the reply of Secretary Seward to the proposal of France to join the diplomatic intervention in favor of Poland, remarks: “Such facts draw closer the bonds of sympathy between Russia and America. The Emperor knows how to appreciate the firmness with which Mr. Seward maintains the principle of non-intervention.”

—Major-General Stahl sent the following dispatch to the War Department, from his headquarters at Fairfax Court-House, Va.: “All is quiet along our lines and in front, on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. This morning, when the relief passed, our pickets were attacked on Sawyer’s road by guerrillas. Colonel Gray at once started, with about one hundred and twenty men, in pursuit of them, but could find nothing of them in the woods. He then went on to scout the whole country, and when he passed Frying Pan, his rear-guard was attacked by about one hundred rebels, who were hidden in a thick wood. Colonel Gray turned his column, and charged the rebels, who fled in great haste through the woods. He followed them up to Aldie, and from there returned, via Drainesville. Our entire loss is three, and some horses wounded. We captured their surgeon, Dr. Alexander.”

—An expedition left Yorktown, Va., proceeding to West-Point, and thence to Walkerstown, by way of the Mattapony. Thence it proceeded to Aylette’s Warehouse, about ten miles from the point of landing. At this place, the iron foundry, machine-shops, cotton mills, lumberyard, and four government warehouses, containing large quantities of corn and grain, were burned; also a large mill owned by Colonel Aylette, of the rebel army, with six thousand bushels of grain. The Colonel made his escape, although in the vicinity. The surgeon of the Fourth Delaware captured his horse, which was ready, saddled and bridled. A great number of barns, containing stores for the rebels, such as grain, corn, whisky, cotton goods, etc., were destroyed.—(Doc. 56.)

— A large and enthusiastic Union meeting was held at Chicago, Ill., this evening, at which speeches were made by Senators Trumbull and Doolittle and others.—Colonel A. Baird, in command of the garrison at Franklin, Tenn., was attacked by a force of rebels under General Forrest, and driven into his intrenchments, but being reenforced by a brigade of infantry sent by General Granger, he succeeded in repulsing the enemy with a heavy loss. At the same time an attack was made on Triune, but the rebels were driven off with a loss of two hundred men, four hundred horses, and a large quantity of camp and garrison equipage.—(Doc. 4.)

—General Burnside’s order suppressing the circulation of the Chicago Times was revoked.— The Twenty-second regiment N. Y. S. V., under the command of Colonel Phelps, returned to Albany from the seat of war.

—A fight took place at Sartoria, Miss., between a body of National troops, under General Nathan Kimball, and two thousand rebels commanded by General Wirt Adams, resulting in the defeat and rout of the latter after a contest of half an hour. The National loss was one killed and seventeen wounded, while the rebels lost over one hundred taken prisoners, and a number killed and wounded.—Simmsport, on the Atchafalaya River, La., was destroyed by the Union ram Switzerland, under the command of Lieut-Colonel John A. Ellet—(Doc. 53.)

—The rebel General Wheeler, with a body of cavalry, made an attack upon the National troops on the Shelbyville road, near Murfreesboro, Tenn., and skirmishing was kept up the whole day. The Second Indiana cavalry, on picket-duty, was first attacked, but being reenforced by the Thirty-ninth Indiana, under the command of Colonel Thos. J. Harrison, they succeeded in putting the rebels to rout, with a loss of several killed and wounded. The National loss was one killed and a number wounded.

June 3.—Col. Kilpatrick returned from an expedition through the country situated between the Rappahannock and York Rivers, in Virginia, having been entirely successful.—(Doc. 3.)

—A meeting was held at Sheffield, England, under the presidency of Mr. Alderman Saunders, at which the following resolution was adopted:

“That this meeting has heard with profound regret of the death of Lieutenant-General Thomas Jefferson Jackson, of the confederate States of North-America; a man of pure and upright mind, devoted as a citizen to his duty, cool and brave as a soldier, able and energetic as a leader, of whom his opponents say he was ‘sincere and true and valiant.’ This meeting resolves to transmit to his widow its deep and sincere condolence with her in her grief at the sad bereavement, and with the great and irreparable loss the army of the confederate States of America have sustained by the death of their gallant comrade and general.” It was decided to request Mr. Mason to transmit the resolution to Mrs. Jackson and the troops lately commanded by the deceased General. —Ashepoo, S. C., was destroyed by the National forces, under the command of Colonel Montgomery, of the Second South-Carolina colored volunteers.—(Doc. 55.)

—Admiral Du Pont ordered Lieutenant Commander Bacon to proceed with the Commodore McDonough on an expedition against Bluffton, on the May River, S. C., a stream emptying into the Calibogue.

The army forces were landed near Bluffton, by the gunboat Mayflower and an army transport, under the protection of the Commodore McDonough, and took possession of the town, the rebels having retreated. By the order of Colonel Barton, the town was destroyed by fire, the church only being spared; and though the rebel troops made several charges, they were driven back by the troops, and the shells and shrapnel of the Commodore McDonough. Bluffton being destroyed, the soldiers reembarked without casualties, and returned to Hilton Head.—(Doc. 54.)

June 2.—The circulation of the newspapers, Chicago Times and New-York World, was prohibited, in the Department of the Ohio, by a general order from Major-General Burnside, their “repeated expressions of disloyal and incendiary sentiments” being “calculated to exert a pernicious and treasonable influence.”—At Nashville, Tenn., C. F. Jones was arrested for writing treasonable correspondence to the Freeman’s Journal of New-York.—F. H. Pierpont, Governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation, calling upon the commandants of the State militia to hold their regiments in readiness for the field at an hour’s warning, as “the enemies of their liberty and prosperity were again threatening their homes.” — The- Twenty-fourth regiment of New-York volunteers returned to Oswego.—The city government of Portsmouth, Va., was organized. —West-point, Va., was evacuated by the Union troops.—The ship Amazonian was captured in latitude 11° 15′, longitude 34° 30′, by the rebel privateer, Alabama.

Major-General Banks, at Port Hudson, La., issued an order forbidding the passage of steamers from New-York past the quarantine at New Orleans, without a special order, unless they should be mail steamers or others transporting stores for the Government. This regulation was made necessary by the continued “refusal to transport the soldiers’ mails, except upon inadmissible conditions.” The provost-marshal was charged with the execution of the order. —Ax expedition into Tappahannock, Va., was made by a party of Union soldiers, who succeeded in destroying a large quantity of stores belonging to the rebels, besides carrying off a number 0f negroes.—Richmond Enquirer, June 6.

—At Philadelphia, Pa., a meeting was held to protest against the arrest of C. L. YVallandigham. Judge Ellis Lewis was appointed chairman, and speeches were made by Messrs. Bigler, Biddle, and Charles J. Ingersoll. The latter counselled obedience to the laws and the constitutional authorities, but resistance to any attempt to control the elections.—Governor David Tod, of Ohio, appeared before the Court of Common Pleas of Fairfield County, in obedience to his recognizance, to answer the charges filed against him by Dr. Edson B. Olds, when the case was continued to the next term of the court

—A good deal of publicity has been given to a rumor that General Lee is preparing for a forward movement, from which the newspapers in the United States infer that it is only a ruse to cover a demonstration in some other quarter, since they affect to believe that we would be more reticent if an advance were really in contemplation. The month of June, upon which we have this day entered, will unravel the mystery. In the mean time, the confederate army and people can well afford to possess their souls in patience, and to leave their cause in the hands of that kind Providence which has guided us thus far through this bloody wilderness.—Savannah Republican.

—An expedition, under the command of Colonel James Montgomery, ascended the Combahee River, S. C., and succeeded in destroying a large quantity of rebel stores and other property. —(Doc. 1.)

—The bombardment of Vicksburgh continued. All the guns in position opened fire at midnight, and continued their fire until daylight this morning. After a short cessation the firing was renewed, and kept up all day.—The second party of recalcitrants left St Louis for the South. They numbered seventeen, among whom were the wife and two daughters of Trusten Polk.

—A large meeting, to procure funds to send supplies to the wounded at Vicksburgh, was held at Chicago, Ill., at which nearly six thousand dollars were raised.—The schooner Echo was captured yesterday, in the Gulf of Mexico, by the United States steamer Sunflower.—A fight took place at Clinton, La., between the Union forces under the command of Colonel Grierson, and the rebel forces stationed in that town, resulting in the loss of twenty-one killed and wounded of the rebels, and a number of the Nationals.

May 31.—A battle occurred in Lincoln County, Mo., between a large body of guerrillas, and the enrolled militia of the county, resulting in the defeat of the latter, with a loss of ten men.—The National gunboat Alert, lying at the navy-yard at Norfolk, Va., took fire this morning. The fire soon reaching her magazine, a shell exploded, which went through her bottom, and she sank immediately. — A cavalry reconnoissance was made from Somerset, Ky., to within four miles of Monticello, during which, sixteen rebels, with their arms and horses, were captured.

—A force of Union cavalry, under the command of Colonel F. M. Cornyn, Tenth Missouri cavalry, returned to Corinth, Miss., after the successful raid into Alabama. They were absent five days, during which time, they had a fight (May twenty-seventh) with a body of rebel guerrillas, under Colonel Roddy, at Florence, Ala., routing them with considerable loss; they destroyed seven cotton factories, with all their contents, valued at one million five hundred thousand dollars; a number of steam flour-mills and sawmills, a number of blacksmiths’ shops, a large number of wagons, an immense quantity of powder, and other ammunition, and a large quantity of English-manufactured arms. The bridge at Florence, and a number of houses were burned, and the Nationals returned with six hundred head of horses, mules, and oxen, one hundred prisoners, and a large number of negroes.