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

April 9.—Colonel N. U. Daniels, of the Second regiment of Louisiana National volunteers, with one hundred and eighty of his men, left Ship Island on an expedition to Pascagoula, Miss. He reached that place and landed his force at nine o’clock in the morning; took possession of the hotel, and hoisted the National flag. Immediately after this, he was attacked by a body of rebel cavalry, supported by one company of infantry, and after a severe fight, in which twenty of the rebels were killed and a large number wounded, he succeeded in repulsing them, and capturing three prisoners and their colors. Colonel Daniels held the place until two o’clock in the afternoon, when, hearing that large reinforcements for the enemy were coming up the Pascagoula River, he withdrew his men and returned to Ship Island.—(Doc. 165.)

—A large war meeting was held at Chicago, Ill., at which speeches were made by William A. Howard, of Michigan, Senator Trumbull, and others.—A sharp fight took place at Blount’s Mills, N. C.—(Doc. 166.)

April 8.—The Richmond Dispatch of this date, said: “We have published the gist of the correspondence between Mr. Mason and Lord Russell, on the question of the legality of the blockade of our ports by the Yankee Government, and the recognition of the Confederacy. No Southern man can read it without feelings of indignation and contempt—indignation for the cold and stony haughtiness, not to say rudeness of manner of the British Minister toward Mr. Mason, afterward only partially atoned for by a disavowal of any personal disrespect, and contempt for the subterfuges resorted to, to cover a selfish policy. . . We must not forget, whatever the ministry may do or propose, that our country has received the most valuable assistance from the people of England, and at this time there are schemes on foot there, of great importance to us.”—The English schooner Maggie Fulton, while attempting to run the blockade at Indian River Inlet, Fla., was captured by the bark Gem of the Sea.—The Union gunboat George Washington, while on a reconnoissance up Broad River, S. C, was stranded, and soon afterward attacked by a party of rebels on shore, who succeeded in throwing a shell into her magazine and blowing her up. Two of the Unionists were killed and eight wounded, all belonging to the Third Rhode Island artillery.—A party of rebel guerrillas, under Woodward, captured and burned the steamers Saxonia and Lovell, on the Cumberland River, after killing the captain of the latter, and severely wounding the captain of the former.

—The Tallahatchie fleet, consisting of the divisions under Generals Ross and Quimby, and numerous gunboats and mortar-boats, arrived at Helena, Ark. The expedition, which had been absent forty-three days, left Fort Greenwood on the fifth. As soon as the bustle was observed by the rebels, they opened a brisk fire upon the woods where batteries had been planted, which continued till the last boat steamed up the river. On the passage, the boats were frequently fired on by guerrillas. A number of soldiers were wounded and twenty-five or thirty killed.

April 7.—Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor, S. C., was this day attacked by a fleet of ironclad monitors and gunboats, under the command of Admiral Du Pont; but after a terrific bombardment of two hours’ duration, they withdrew from the contest discomfited.—(Doc. 158.)

—The United States gunboat Barataria was lost while making a reconnoissance in Amite River, La.—A successful expedition into Gloucester County, Va., to capture and destroy cattle and grain belonging to the rebels, was made by Colonel A. H. Grimshaw, of the Fourth Delaware infantry. He succeeded in destroying over ten thousand dollars’ worth of property that had been collected for the use of the rebels, and in capturing over three hundred cattle, sheep, etc.—Philadelphia Inquirer.

April 6.—The New-England Methodist Conference, in session at Charlestown, Mass., adopted a report supporting President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, expressing entire confidence in his administration, and pledging moral and material aid to him in his every effort to crush the rebellion.

— General R. B. Mitchell, with three hundred and fifty cavalry, went out from Nashville, on the Lebanon turnpike to Green Hill, Tenn. Dashing into a rebel camp where there was a large number of conscripts, on a sabre charge, he killed five and captured fifteen. He captured all their arms, horses, and equipments. The rebels were composed of parts of Morgan’s and McCoun’s men. Among the prisoners were Captain Bondy, of the Eighteenth Tennessee, and a lieutenant of Morgan’s cavalry. A still-house, containing forty casks of liquors, was destroyed. One man was wounded. General Mitchell’s command made the march of fifty-five miles in twelve hours.—National Intelligencer.

—The United States gunboats Hartford, Switzerland, and Albatross, which had been blockading the mouth of the Red River, on the Mississippi, since the first instant, got under way early this morning, and proceeded down to Bayou Sara, where they stopped, seized upon and threw into the river ten thousand sacks of corn, after which they proceeded to Port Hudson, coming to anchor five miles above the rebel batteries.—Gold sold in Richmond, Va., at four hundred per cent premium.—The National steamer Fox (Whittemore) was captured by a party of rebels at Pass a L’Outre, Mississippi River.—Mobile Tribune.

April 5.—The ship Louisa Hatch was captured and burned by the rebel privateer Alabama, in latitude 3° 30′, longitude 26° 25′. — Eight thousand National troops left Newbern, N. C, by the way of the Neuse River, to reenforce General Foster, who was at Washington, surrounded by the rebels, but meeting a superior force of the enemy, they returned to Newborn.—An expedition, consisting of infantry and cavalry, under the command of General Steele, met a small body of rebels at a bridge over the Black Bayou, Miss., with whom they had a skirmish. The rebels were driven across the bayou, when they burned the bridge and retreated. The Union troops rebuilt the bridge, and proceeded on the march. oward Yazoo City.

—To-day the Union gunboats before Washington, N. C, shelled the rebel batteries at Hill’s Point for two hours, but without being able to reduce them.—Boston Traveller.

April 4.—To-day an attempt was made by the National forces at Washington, N. C, to capture the rebel battery at Rodman’s Point, commanding the Pamlico River, opposite Washington. A force of two hundred infantry, under the command of General Potter, embarked on board the gunboat Ceres, Captain McDermot, but she got aground a short distance from the rebel battery, when the troops were unable to land. The rebels immediately opened fire upon her, killing and wounding five men, when the Union party were obliged to retire.

—In retaliation for firing into and disabling the gunboat St . Clair, the gunboat Lexington, under the command of Lieutenant Leroy Fitch, visited the town of Palmyra, Tenn., and after giving the inhabitants time to leave, burned it to the ground.—General George W. Williamson and a Mrs. Atwood were arrested at New-York.—The Supreme Court of New-York, at Rochester, decided that United States legal tender notes were constitutional as to debts contracted before the passage of the law making such notes a legal tender. All of the judges concurred in the decision.

—The National steamer Sylvan Shore, which left Beaufort for Washington, N. C, this morning, when the few miles below the latter place was fired on by a rebel battery, which compelled her to return to Beaufort, with several of her crew killed and wounded.

April 3.—Secretary Welles issued an order, naming such of the petty officers, seamen, and marines of the United States Navy, as were entitled to receive the Medal of Honor authorized by Congress, to be given to such as should most distinguish themselves by gallantry in action, and other seamanlike qualities, during the present war.—(Doc. 156.)

—The British steamer Tampico was captured off Sabine Pass, Texas, by the United States gunboat New-London.—Phillip Huber and three others, having been arrested at Reading, Pa., on a charge of being connected with a treasonable organization known as “Knights of the Golden Circle,” were taken to Philadelphia and placed in prison. Considerable excitement existed at Reading in regard to the affair.—Philadelphia Press.

—Governor Bonham, of South-Carolina, sent a message to the Senate and House of Representatives of that State, informing them that the spirit of speculation had made such alarming strides in the State as to render their interposition necessary to arrest the evil. Large sums were invested in flour, corn, bacon, and other articles of prime necessity, to the monopoly almost of such articles in certain sections of the country; and that they were withheld from market, or were exported beyond the limits of the State, to the great enhancement of prices, and to the manifest injury of the consumer. He there fore recommended the passage of an act to arrest the purchase and monopoly of articles of prime necessity, even when it was not intended to export them beyond the limits of the State.— (Doc. 157.)

—Captain J. J. Worthington, with two companies of the First regiment of loyal Arkansas cavalry, returned to Fayetteville, Ark., from a scout in Carroll County, in that State. He had four skirmishes with the rebels, and succeeded in killing twenty-two and taking seven prisoners. Captains Smith and McFarland of the rebels were killed, and Captain Walker was taken prisoner. The National casualty was one man wounded.—General Curtis’s Despatch.

April 2.—At Richmond, Va., a riot occurred in which a large number of women were engaged. They broke open the rebel government stores, and took bread, clothing, and such other materials as they desired, when the militia were ordered out to suppress their proceedings.— (Doc. 163.)

—Eight regiments of General Crufts’s and Hazen’s brigades, of General Palmer’s division, made an effort to capture a rebel brigade stationed at Woodbury, Tenn. Last night at ten o’clock the party, accompanied by a body of Ohio cavalry, left Murfreesboro. General Hazen made a detour of fifteen miles, expecting to begin the attack at daylight this morning. Crufts’s brigade went direct. During the night the rebel pickets extended their lines, so that the advance began skirmishing before General Hazen had posted his troops, and in consequence the rebels escaped, the National cavalry keeping up a running fight for three miles, and capturing thirty of the rebels, besides killing and wounding twelve of their number. Corporal Jacob R. Shaveles, of company E, Third Ohio, was the only one wounded on the National side. “He acted very gallantly, charging a squad of rebels single-handed, and sabreing half a dozen before being shot.”—Cincinnati Gazette.

—At daylight this morning, Admiral Farragut, with the National squadron, left Grand Gulf, Miss., and proceeded to the mouth of Red River, destroying on the way a large number of rebel skiffs and flatboats. He arrived at the Red River at sundown.—Secretary Gabandau’s Report.

—Major W. C. Ransom, of the Sixth Kansas cavalry, destroyed the band of rebel guerrillas under Colonel Hicks, in Jackson County, Mo., killing seventeen and hanging two who were engaged in the robbery of the steamer Sam Gaty. He also recovered a portion of the contrabands captured from that steamer, besides taking twenty-one of the guerrillas’ horses, and their camps, with all their equipage, ammunition, etc.—General Curtis’s Despatch.

—As the National gunboat St. Clair was passing Palmyra, twenty-four miles above Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland River, she was fired into by a section of King’s rebel Missouri battery, belonging to the army under General Van Dorn. The third shot struck the supply-pipe of the steamer, rendering her unmanageable, and wounding two of her crew. She was taken in tow by the steamer Luminous, and carried to Cairo, Ill.—General Wright, in command of the National forces in California, issued a proclamation which concluded as follows: “Although the great mass of people on the Pacific coast are eminently patriotic and devoted to the Union, yet, fellow-citizens, we must not disguise the fact that we have traitors in our midst, who are doing all in their power to involve this country in the horrors of civil war; to such persons, I say, pause and reflect well before plunging into the yawning abyss of treason. An indignant people will rise in their majesty, and swift retributive justice will be their certain doom.”

—General Stanley, with two thousand cavalry, and an infantry brigade under Colonel Mathews, left Murfreesboro, on an expedition to capture Morgan’s and Wharton’s rebel regiments of infantry and cavalry at Snow Hill, Tenn. Beyond Auburn they drove in the rebel pickets, the Seventh Pennsylvania cavalry turning the rebel right while Minty’s cavalry, with a battery under Captain Newell, moved up in front. The rebels fled, but were again encountered at Smith’s Ford and on Dry Fork, from both of which places they were driven with some loss. Finally they formed a third line on Snow Hill, when the Second and Fourth Ohio cavalry sent to their rear, succeeded in breaking their line and putting them to flight, with a loss of fifty killed and wounded, and sixty taken prisoners. The Union loss was one private of the Seventh Pennsylvania cavalry killed, and two slightly wounded. Three hundred horses were captured by General Stanley, and carried into Murfreesboro.—General Rosecrans’s Despatch.

April 1.—Admiral Farragut with the National gunboats Hartford, Switzerland, and Albatross, engaged the rebel batteries at Grand Gulf, Miss., and succeeded in passing below them without material damage.—Secretary Gabandau’s Report.

—The National Bank of Erie, Pa., was organized by M. Sanford and associates, to commence business on the first of May.—Captain Mosby, of the rebel cavalry, made a raid near Broad Run, Va. His force was encountered by a portion of the First Vermont cavalry, when a sharp fight ensued. The rebels took up a position behind a fence which the Union cavalry could not get over, and from which they were unable to dislodge the rebels. During the fight Captain Flint, of the First Vermont cavalry, and a lieutenant of the same regiment, were severely wounded.