March 31.—Colonel Powell Clayton, from his headquarters at Pine Bluffs, Ark., despatched the following to General Halleck, at Washington: “The expedition to Mount Elba and Long View has just returned. We destroyed the pontoon-bridge at Long View, pursued a train of thirty-five wagons loaded with confederate equipments, ammunition, some stores, etc., and captured three hundred and twenty prisoners; engaged in battle, yesterday morning, General Dockney’s division of about one thousand two hundred men, from Monticello; routed and pursued him ten miles, with a loss on his side of over one hundred killed and wounded. We captured a large quantity of small-arms, two stand of colors, many negroes, and have three hundred horses and mules. Our loss will not exceed fifteen in killed, wounded, and missing. We brought in several hundred contrabands. The expedition was a complete success.”—Lieutenant-General Grant, accompanied by General Meade, left Washington for Fortress Monroe.
The Rebellion Record—A Diary of American Events; by Frank Moore
March 29.—An expedition under Colonel Clayton, from Pine Bluff, made a descent upon a party of rebels who had been committing depredations in the neighborhood of Little Rock, Ark., and captured a large number of them.— The following order was issued by J. P. Sanderson, Provost-Marshal General of the department of the Missouri, from his headquarters at St Louis: “The sale, distribution, or circulation of such books as ‘Pollard’s Southern History of the War,’ ‘Confederate Official Reports,’ ‘Life of Stonewall Jackson,’ ‘Adventures of Morgan and his Men,’ and all other publications based upon rebel views and representations, being forbidden by the General Commanding, will be suppressed by Provost-Marshals, by seizing the same, and arresting the parties who knowingly sell, dispose, or circulate the same.”
—A battle took place this day at Cane River, La., between a portion of the National forces under General Banks, engaged on the expedition up the Red River, and the rebels commanded by General Dick Taylor.—(Doc. 131.)
—The United States steamer Commodore Barney, with fifty-six picked men from the Minnesota, all in charge of Captain J. M. Williams, left Fortress Monroe, Va., yesterday afternoon, proceeded up the Chuckatuck Creek, and landed the men in small boats at the head of the creek. They then took a guide to the headquarters of Lieutenant Roy, where they arrived at four o’clock this morning, when they immediately surrounded the houses, and captured two sergeants and eighteen privates, with their small-arms, without firing a shot. Masters Pierson and Wilder had charge of the Minnesota’s boats. The capture was important, as the officers taken prisoners were in the rebel signal service.
March 28.—A riot occurred at Charleston, Illinois, in which several persons were killed and wounded.—(Doc. 136.)
—The election, ordered by Major-General Banks, for delegates to the Constitutional Convention of Louisiana, was held, and resulted in the success of the Free State party.
—Two rebel spies were captured in the navy-yard at Mound City, Arkansas, this morning.— An express train, which left Louisville, Ky., this morning, for Lebanon, was captured by a body of guerrillas, and two of the cars were burned. A guard of seventeen National soldiers on the train surrendered without firing a gun.
March 27.—Colonel John M. Hughes, commanding the Twenty-fifth Tennessee rebel regiment, made application to Colonel Stokes, in command of the National forces at Sparta, Tenn., for the purpose of taking the oath of allegiance to the United States, and surrendering his command.
March 26.—President Lincoln issued a proclamation specifying the persons to whom the benefits of the Amnesty Proclamation of December last were intended to apply. He also authorized every commissioned officer in the United States service, either naval or military, to administer the oath of allegiance, and imposed rules for their government, in the premises.— (Doc. 113.)
—General Rosecrans, from his headquarters at St. Louis, Mo., issued the following special orders: “The attention of the General Commanding has been called to various articles of an incendiary, disloyal, and traitorous character, in a newspaper entitled the Metropolitan Record, without ecclesiastical sanction, called a ‘Catholic family newspaper,’ published in New-York March twenty-sixth, 1864. The articles on ‘Conscription,’ the ‘Raid upon Richmond,’ ‘Clouds in the West,’ and the ‘Address of the Legislature of Virginia,’ contain enough to satisfy the General Commanding that the reasonable freedom, nor even license, of the press, suffice for the traitorous utterances of those articles. They are a libel on the Catholics, who as a body are loyal and national; no man having a drop of Catholic charity or patriotism in his heart could have written them, expressing, as they do, hatred for the nation’s efforts to resist its own dissolution, and friendship for those who are trying to destroy the great free government under which so many have found an asylum from oppression in other lands.
“The Provost-Marshal General will cause to be seized all numbers of the Metropolitan Record containing those articles; and venders of them, if found guilty of having sold or distributed them, knowing their traitorous contents, will be punished.
“To protect the innocent from imposition, the circulation of this paper is prohibited in this department until further orders.”
—An official announcement from Washington was made, that Illinois was twelve thousand four hundred and thirty-six “ahead of all quotas under the calls of President Lincoln for more troops.”
March 25. — Major-Generals Newton and Pleasanton, having been relieved of their commands in the army of the Potomac, issued general orders in accordance therewith.—Padccah, Kentucky, was attacked by the rebel forces under General Forrest—(Docs. 1, 127, and 139.)
—The steamer La Crosse was captured and burned by a party of rebel guerrillas, at a point on the Red River, below Alexandria; her crew was released, but the officers were carried off.
March 24.—Major-Gen. Wm. H. French having been detached from the army of the Potomac in consequence of its reorganization, issued his farewell order to his command.—General Neal Dow delivered an address in Portland, Maine, describing his captivity in the South.— The rebel sloop Josephine was captured by the steamer Sunflower, at Saversota Sound.
—A large force of rebels, under General Forrest, captured Union City, Ky., and after destroying the buildings, carried off the entire force of Nationals prisoners of war.—(Docs. 1 and 127.)
March 23.—An expedition under the command of General Steele left Little Rock, Ark., and went in pursuit of the rebel General Price.—The following order was issued by Brigadier General Nathan Kimball on assuming command of troops in the department of Arkansas: “The Commanding General intends to protect, to the fullest extent of his power, all citizens who may be in the country occupied by troops under his command, in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; knowing that in so doing he will assist in accomplishing the primary object of the government he serves.
“He will devote all his energies to the defeat of the enemies of that government; and although, as a soldier, he can feel respect for those openly in arms against it, yet robbers and guerrillas who have taken advantage of the unsettled state of the country to burn dwellings, murder their neighbors, and insult women, are in no respect soldiers, and when taken will not be treated as such.
“He requires all citizens to aid and assist the officers of the United States Government, and to stand firm in their allegiance to it.
“The loyal shall be protected, and the sympathizers with rebellion, though they may have taken the oath of allegiance to the Government of the United States, will be treated as rebels, unless they conform, in word and act, to the spirit of that oath.”
—By order of the Commander-in-Chief, the corps of the Army of the Potomac were reduced to three, namely, the Second, Fifth, and Sixth corps. The First and Third were temporarily reorganized and distributed among the Second, Fifth, and Sixth. Major-General G. K. Warren was assigned to the command of the Fifth corps, General W. S. Hancock continued to command the Second corps, and Major-General Sedgwick the Sixth.
—A daring rebel raid was made into the southern part of Green County to within five or six miles of Springfield, Mo., by a band of rebels numbering from eight to twelve, yesterday. Among the number were Louis Brashears and William Fulbright, (youngest son of Ephraim Fulbright,) both formerly of that county. The citizens collected and drove them out of the county to-day, and in a little fight with them killed Fulbright. In their flight southward the rebels killed Elijah Hunt and one Dotson, both of whom had formerly been in the rebel service.— Missouri Democrat, March 30.
March 22.—Major-General Lew. Wallace assumed command of the Middle Department, Eighth army corps, headquarters at Baltimore, Md., and issued orders in accordance therewith.— The Supreme Court of Georgia to-day unanimously affirmed the constitutionality of the confederate anti-substitute law.—A heavy snowstorm prevailed in Richmond, Va., and vicinity, the average depth being about one foot.
—Major-General Banks, from his headquarters at New-Orleans, Louisiana, issued general orders constituting a Board of Education, and defining their duties and powers.
March 21.—A battle occurred at Henderson’s Hill, La., between a portion of General A. J. Smith’s forces, under the command of General John A. Mower, and the rebels under General Richard Taylor, resulting in the defeat and rout of the latter, with a loss of five guns with caissons, four hundred horses, and about two hundred and fifty men, in killed, wounded, and missing. In a skirmish previous to the battle, Colonel II. B. Sargent, of General Banks’s staff, was wounded severely.—(Docs. 90 and 131.)
—Last night a body of rebels made an attack on the Union pickets, near Jenkins’s Island, South-Carolina, but were repulsed at every point by the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania regiment, Colonel Campbell, doing duty at that point. The rebels approached in eight large flatboats, and came in force, evidently with a view of cutting off the pickets. Another attempt to gain a foothold on the island this night was baffled by Captain Kness’s company of the Seventy-sixth, which fired several deadly volleys into the boats, and drove them off. No casualties occurred on the Union side in either affair.—The steamer Chesapeake, surrendered by the British authorities, arrived at Portland, Maine.
—The rebel steamer Clifton, formerly the United States gunboat of that name, while attempting to run the blockade at Sabine Pass, with over a thousand bales of cotton, got aground on the bar. She remained immovable, and was burned to prevent her from falling into the hands of the Nationals. — The rebel schooner Wild Pigeon was captured by the Hendrick Hudson.
