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

December 9. —A fight took place near La Vergne, Tenn., between a detachment of Union troops, acting as a guard and escort to a forage-train of fifty wagons, and a large force of rebels, resulting in a retreat of the latter with considerable loss (Doc. 66.)

—Yesterday the steamer Lake City was set on fire and destroyed by a band of guerrillas at Concordia, Ark., and to-day the United States naval despatch-boat De Soto went to Concordia, and burned forty-two houses.

—Theodorus Bailey, Acting Rear-Admiral of the United States Navy, assumed command of the Eastern Gulf Blockading squadron, and issued general orders to that effect.—At New-Orleans, La., General Butler issued a repetition of General Order No. 55, by which certain cotton-brokers, who had subscribed to aid the rebellion, were assessed at the rate of twenty-five per cent on the amount of their subscription, for the relief of the poor of the city.—Butler’s General Order!, No. 105.

—A skirmish took place near Brentville, Tenn., between a reconnoitring party of Union troops, under the command of Colonel John A. Martin, and a body of rebels, resulting in a precipitate retreat of the latter, leaving their guns on the field in their flight.— (Doc. 67.)

December 8.— Andrew Johnson, Military Governor of Tennessee, issued a proclamation appointing and ordering elections to be held on the twenty-ninth day of December, 1862, to fill the vacancies in the Thirty-seventh Congress.—Rumors of an invasion of New-Mexico, by outlaws from Texas, were received at Barclay’s Fort, N. M., and preparations were made to repel it.— The iron-clad steamer Shenandoah was launched at Philadelphia, Pa.—At New-Orleans, La., notice was given, by direction of the Commanding General, that all persons arriving at that place would be required to take the oath of allegiance to the United States.

December 7.—The United States mail steamer Ariel was captured off the eastern shore of Cuba by the rebel privateer Alabama, but was released after some detention, on giving a bond for two hundred and twenty-eight thousand dollars, payable in thirty days after the acknowledgment of the rebel government.—General A. P. Hovey, returned to Friar’s Point on the Mississippi, this morning.

—The battle of Prairie Grove, or Fayetteville, Arkansas, was this day fought between the National forces under the command of Generals Blunt and Herron, and the rebels under Generals Hindman, Marmaduke, Parsons, and Frost, resulting in the defeat of the latter with heavy loss.— (Doc. 24.)

—A fight took place at Hartsville, Tenn., between the body of Union troops under the command of Colonel A. B. Moore, of the One Hundred and Fourth Illinois, and a numerically much superior force of rebels under General John H. Morgan, resulting in the surrender of the whole Union force.—(Doc. 65.)

December 6.—General A. P. Hovey, from the headquarters of his expedition, issued an order to the officers and soldiers under his command, thanking them for their cheerfulness and bravery during the expedition to Mississippi. In concluding, he said: “Brigadier-General Washburne’s energy” and skill deserve particular mention.”

—The rebel schooners Southern Merchant and Naniope, laden with sugar and molasses, were this day captured in Chicot Pass, on the Mississippi, by United States gunboat Diana, under the command of Acting Master Goodwin.—General Viele, Military Governor of Norfolk, Va., issued a proclamation and a writ of election for a member of Congress for the Norfolk district of Virginia.—Major-General Dix, commanding Department of Virginia, issued an address from his headquarters at Fortress Monroe to the inhabitants of Norfolk, Princess Anne, Nansemond, and Isle of Wight Counties, informing them that smuggling goods across the line to the rebels was prohibited; that every person detected in the attempt would be put at hard labor in Fort Norfolk, and the property seized and sold for the benefit of the poor. Also, that in order they should resume their place in the Union, with the full enjoyment of all their rights as citizens of the United States, an election would be immediately ordered, enabling them to return a member to represent them in the next House of Representatives.

—The schooner Medora, of Baltimore, Md., laden with borax, medical stores, military uniforms, shoes, blankets, ammunition, etc., supposed to be intended for the rebel army, was captured by a company of Union troops under the command of Captain Kearney, while lying at anchor near Hackett’s Point, Md.

—A fight took- place near Lebanon, Tenn., between the Ninety-third Ohio infantry. Colonel Charles Anderson, acting as the guard of a forage train, and a force of rebels, resulting in the retreat of the latter.—(Doc. 64.)

December 5.—A fight took place near Coffeeville, Miss., between a force of Union cavalry, numbering about two thousand, under the commands of Colonels Dickey and Lee, and a body of rebel infantry about five thousand strong, resulting, after a contest of about two hours’ duration, in a retreat of the Unionists with a loss of about one hundred men killed, wounded, and missing. —(Doc. 63.)

—To-day the Thirtieth Iowa and Twenty-ninth Wisconsin regiments arrived at Helena, Ark., and after pitching their tents, were attacked by a body of three hundred rebels, whom they repulsed, killing eight and capturing thirty.—General Winfield Scott, through the columns of the National Intelligencer, replied to the letter of James Buchanan.

December 4.—A sharp fight occurred between six United States gunboats lying off Port Royal, on the Rappahannock River, Va., and the rebel batteries behind the town. The firing was very rapid, and lasted about two hours, completely riddling some of the houses, when the rebels ceased firing, and the gunboats dropped down the river one and a half miles. Some of the rebel shot struck very near the boats, but no damage was done them.

—The North-Carolina House of Commons unanimously passed a series of resolutions, expressive of their confidence in the patriotism and uprightness of Jefferson Davis, and his ability to sustain the government of the rebels; also heartily approving the policy for the conduct of the war set forth by Governor Vance, and finally declaring that the “separation was final, and that North-Carolina would never consent to reunion at any time or upon any terms.”—A skirmish took place near Tuscumbia, Ala., in which the rebels were compelled to abandon their camps, after losing a large number of horses, and seventy taken prisoners.—Winchester, Va., surrendered to a reconnoitring force of Union troops under the command of General Geary.—(Doc. 59.)

—A Sharp fight took place at Watervalley, Miss., between two brigades of Union troops, commanded by Colonels Hatch and Lee, and a large body of rebels. After a charge from the Union troops, the rebels were routed, leaving three hundred of their number, and fifty horses in the hands of the Unionists.

—The rebel General Hindman, before making his attack on the National forces in Arkansas, issued an address to his soldiers, in which he told them what to do, and what not to do in battle.— (Doc. 60.)

December 3.—Major A. P. Henry, with a party of National troops, belonging to the Ninety-first Indiana infantry and Fifteenth Kentucky cavalry, entered and took possession of Princeton, Ky., at eight o’clock this morning, capturing a number of guerrillas and other persons inimical to the Government of the United States. — The schooners Emma Tuttle, Brilliant, and J. P. Boker were captured while attempting to run the blockade; the first two at New-Inlet, and the last at Deep Inlet, N. C.

—A series of skirmishes occurred near Oxford, Miss., between a brigade of Union troops under the command of Colonel Hatch, and a considerable force of the rebels, resulting in the capture by the Unionists of ninety-two prisoners, and the killing and wounding of twenty of their number.—Cincinnati Commercial.

December 2.—Abbeville, Miss., was evacuated by the rebels, and occupied by the National cavalry belonging to the army of General Grant—A fight took place near Franklin, Va., between a force of Union troops, under the command of Colonel Spear, Eleventh Pennsylvania cavalry, and a body of rebel cavalry, supported by artillery, resulting in a complete rout of the rebels, with considerable loss.—(Doc. 57.)

—Lieutenant Hoffman of the First New-Jersey cavalry, and six of his men, were surprised while on picket-duty, at a point three miles from Dumfries, Va. In their unsuccessful resistance, private Thomas Buffin was seriously wounded.— General Averill sent a reconnoisance from Brooks’s Station, up the Rappahannock River, which succeeded in capturing a number of rebel pickets, and obtaining valuable information.—At three o’clock this morning parts of two companies of the Eighth Pennsylvania cavalry, numbering sixty men, under the command of Captain Wilson, were attacked at King George Court-House, Va., by a large body of rebels, who succeeded in getting between their station and the main body of the National cavalry, and thus compelled them to retreat with some loss.—A portion of the expedition under the command of Major-General Banks, sailed from New-York.—Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, in an elaborate letter to the National Intelligencer, refuted the charges, made by a New-Orleans journal, reflecting on his conduct as Commissioner of the United States, in that city.—Major-General Halleck made a report of the operations of the armies of the Union, from the twenty-third day of July, when, in compliance with the President’s order, he assumed command as General-in-Chief, to this date.—(Doc. 58.)

— Colonel J. M. Glover, commandant at Rolla, Mo., having intelligence that several hundred rebels were in camp on Current River, at the head waters, on the thirtieth ultimo, proceeded with one hundred and thirty men to attack them. His force were parts of companies A and B of the Third Missouri cavalry, and part of company H, Ninth Missouri cavalry. This morning he found a light force of the enemy in the gorges of the Ozarks and routed them, killing four, capturing two, and taking four horses. The detachment marched two hundred miles in seven days, and not a man of it was harmed. No considerable body of the rebels could be found, and the force returned to Rolla.—General Curtis’s Despatch.

—A successful reconnoissance was this day made from Bolivar Heights, Va., by a force of Union troops, under the command of General Geary, to Charleston, Berryville, Winchester, etc—(Doc. 59.)

December 1.—Both Houses of the Congress of the United States met at Washington. The message of President Lincoln was received and read. Among the recommendations offered for adoption in the message, were the following resolution and articles emendatory to the Constitution of the United States:

Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, two thirds of both houses concurring, that the following articles be proposed to the Legislatures or Conventions of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures or Conventions, to be valid as part or parts of the said Constitution, namely:

Article —. Every State wherein slavery now exists, which shall abolish the same therein at anytime or times before the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred, shall receive compensation from the United States as follows, to wit:

The President of the United States shall deliver to every such State, bonds of the United States, bearing interest at the rate of —, for each slave shown to have been therein, by the eighth census of the United States; said bonds to be delivered to such State by instalments, or in one parcel at the completion of the abolishment, according as the same shall have been gradual or at one time within such State; and interest shall begin to run upon any such bond only from the proper time of its delivery as aforesaid, and afterward. Any State having received bonds as aforesaid, and afterward introducing or tolerating slavery therein, shall refund to the United States the bonds so received, or the value thereof, and all interest paid thereon.

Article—. All slaves who shall have enjoyed actual freedom, by the chances of the war at any time, before the end of the rebellion, shall be forever free; but all owners of such, who shall not have been disloyal, shall be compensated for them at the same rates as is provided for States adopting abolishment of slavery—but in such a way that no slave shall be twice accounted for.

Article —. Congress may appropriate money, and otherwise provide for colonizing free colored persons with their own consent, at any place or places without the United States.

—William W. Lunt, lately a private belonging to the Ninth regiment of Maine volunteers, was executed at Hilton Head, S. C, for desertion.— The National cavalry, belonging to the army of General Grant, under the command of Colonel Lee, took possession of the rebel forts on the Tallahatchie River. By a sudden descent, early in the morning, Colonel Lee captured a battery of six guns, with the horses attached thereto, on the north side of the river.—A slight skirmish took place in the vicinity of Horse Creek, Dade County, Mo., between a detachment of the Fourth Missouri cavalry, under the command of Major Kelly, and a small band of guerrillas, in which the rebels were routed, leaving five of their number in the hands of the Unionists.—Springfield Missourian.

—A Detachment of the Third Virginia National cavalry, under the command of Captain S. B. Cruger, entered Warrenton, Va., to-day, after routing the rebel cavalry, and capturing one prisoner, nine horses, and a wagon, without any Union loss.—T. R. Cressy, Chaplain Minnesota Second regiment, made a report of the operations of the regiment, from the first of August to this date.—(Doc. 56.)

—The British schooner George, from Nassau, K. P., laden with coffee, salt, etc., was captured off Indian River, Florida, by the United States gunboat Sagamore, Lieutenant Commanding Earle English.—Official confirmation of the hostile plans of “Little Crow,” and a portion of the northern Indians, was this day received by W. P. Dole, Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the United States.—St. Paul Press, January 1, 1863.

—A Union boat expedition, under the command of Acting Master Gordon, proceeded up Bell River, La., and captured an armed rebel launch, mounting a twelve-pounder brass howitzer.—This morning, Gen. Slocum, with a body of National troops, had a skirmish with the rebel cavalry, under White, Henderson, and Baylor, near Charlestown, Va., and succeeded in routing them. This evening he again attacked them at Berryville, killing five and wounding eighteen.— General Slocum’s Report.