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

September 27.—The Thirty-first regiment of New-Jersey volunteers, under the command of Colonel A. P. Berthoud, left Flemington to-day for Washington, nine hundred and seventy-seven strong, armed with Enfield rifles.

— Two infantry and one cavalry regiment, under command of Colonel Toland, of the Thirty-fourth Ohio regiment, made an ineffectual attempt to capture Jenkins’s rebel cavalry, in camp at Buffalo, on the Kanawha River, Va. His troops advanced in three directions from Point Pleasant. The centre column surprised Jenkins’s cavalry, five hundred strong, before the other columns arrived, drove the rebels out of their camp, and captured and destroyed all their camp equipage, killing seven, and capturing nine. They pursued them about one and a half miles, when they were reenforced by two regiments of infantry and three pieces of artillery. The National force then fell back without the loss of a man.

— Major John J. Key was dismissed from the service of the United States for having replied to the question propounded to him—”Why was not the rebel army bagged immediately after the battle near Sharpsburgh?” — that it was “not the game; that we should tire the rebels out and ourselves; that that was the only way the Union could be preserved, we come together fraternally, and slavery be saved.”

— Augusta, Ky., was captured by a force of rebel guerrillas, under Captain Basil Duke. The home guard, under the command of Colonel Bradford, vigorously attacked the rebels from the houses; but, being outnumbered, they were compelled to surrender, but not before killing and wounding a large number of their enemies.— (Doc. 212.)

September 26.—The Fifth and Sixth regulars, with Capt. Robertson’s battery of horse-artillery, went out from Bolivar Heights, Md., on a reconnoissance, under command of Major Whiting of the Second cavalry. At Halltown, five miles off, they encountered the rebel pickets, and drove them in. Approaching within a mile and a half of Charlestown, they met the rebels in force, with infantry, cavalry, and one battery. There was considerable picket-firing, but no casualties on the National side. The expedition, ascertaining that the enemy occupied Charlestown in force, returned, bringing five or six prisoners. Several of them rode horses branded “U. S.,” which they said were captured at the first Bull Run battle.

—The rebel General Bragg issued a proclamation from Bardstown, Ky., addressed to the people of the North-Western States, announcing the motives and purpose of his presence with an army among them. He informed them that the free navigation of the Mississippi River was theirs, and always had been, without striking a blow.

—A skirmish took place near Warrenton Junction, Va., between a reconnoitring force of Union troops, under the command of Col. McLean, and a body of rebel cavalry, resulting in a rout of the latter, leaving in the hands of the Nationals a large quantity of commissary and quartermaster’s stores.

—The Twenty-sixth New-Jersey regiment, one thousand strong, left Newark, N. J., to-day, en route for the seat of war.—The Twenty-third regiment New-Jersey volunteers, Col. Cox, one thousand strong, fully equipped, left Camp Cadwalader this morning, in steamers, for Washington.

—In the rebel House of Representatives majority and minority reports were submitted by the Committee on Foreign Affairs, to whom had been referred certain resolutions relating to the policy of the war, and which recommended to Jeff Davis the issuing of a proclamation offering the free navigation of the Mississippi River and its tributaries, and the opening of the market of the South to the inhabitants of the North-Western States, upon certain terms and conditions.—An unsuccessful attempt to capture the steamer Forest Queen was made at Ashport, Tenn., by a band of rebel guerrillas under Capt Faulkner.— Louisville Journal, September 30.

David Bell Birney (May 29, 1825 – October 18, 1864) was a businessman, lawyer, and a Union General in the American Civil War. Birney entered the Union army just after Fort Sumter as lieutenant colonel of the 23rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment, a unit he raised largely at his own expense. Just prior to the war he had been studying military texts in preparation for such a role. (Wikipedia)

September 25.—The One Hundred and Sixty-ninth regiment of New-York volunteers, commanded by Col. Clarence Buel, left Camp Corcoran, at Troy, for the seat of war.— The One Hundred and Fifty-seventh regiment New-York State volunteers,. Col. Philip P. Brown, left Hamilton for Washington City.—The Convention of loyal Governors, at Altoona, Pa., adjourned to meet again in Washington, D. C.

—Sabine Pass, Texas, was this day attacked and captured by the United States steamer Kensington, under the command of Acting Master Crocker, assisted by the mortar-boat Henry Janes, and blockading schooner Rachel Seaman. —See Supplement.

—Judge T. W. Thomas, in the Superior Court, Elbert County, Georgia, in the case of James M. Lovinggood, decided that the rebel conscript act was unconstitutional, and that, therefore, the plaintiff was entitled to his liberty.

September 24.—President Lincoln issued a proclamation ordering that during the existing insurrection all persons discouraging enlistments, resisting militia drafts, or guilty of any disloyal practice affording aid and comfort to the rebels, should be subject to martial law and liable to trial and punishment by court-martial or military commission; also suspending the writ of habeas corpus with reference to all persons arrested, who were then, or during the rebellion should be, imprisoned in any camp, arsenal, military prison, or other place of confinement by any military authority, or by the sentence of any court or military commission.—(Doc. 211.)

—Governor Curtin, of Pennsylvania, issued a proclamation dismissing the militia troops that were called into service for the purpose of resisting the invasion of the State by the rebel army under General Lee.

—At Carlisle, Pa., the office of the American Volunteer was destroyed by a party of citizens and the “Anderson Troop,” on account of an editorial reflecting severely upon President Lincoln and his Administration.

—The Convention of the Governors of the loyal States, was held at Altoona, Pa., in accordance with a request of the Governors of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Western Virginia. An address to the President of the United States was adopted, pledging their cordial support of the Government in the prosecution of the war for the restoration of the Union. The members of the Convention also recommended that a reserve army of one hundred thousand men for one year’s service should be called forth. They also indorsed the emancipation proclamation, and paid a full tribute to the valor of the army in the field.

—General Beauregard assumed command of the department of South-Carolina and Georgia.

—The rebel Senate passed a bill furnishing the Confederacy with a seal, or coat of arms. “In the foreground a confederate soldier, in the position of charge bayonet; in the middle distance, a woman with a child in front of a church, both with hands uplifted in the attitude of prayer; for a background a homestead on the plain with mountains in the distance, beneath the meridian sun; the whole surrounded by a wreath composed of the stalks of the sugar-cane, the rice, the cotton, and the tobacco-plants, the margin inscribed with the words, ‘Seal of the Confederate States of America,’ above, and ‘Our Homes and Constitution’ beneath.”—Richmond Whig, September 25.

—General Butler issued an order from his headquarters at New-Orleans, directing all persons, male or female, within his department, of the age of eighteen years and upwards, who had ever been citizens of the United States, and had not renewed their allegiance to the United States, or who held or pretended any allegiance or sympathy with the rebel States, to report themselves, on or before the first October next, to the nearest provost-marshal, with a descriptive list of all their property, real, personal, and mixed, made out and signed by themselves, with as much particularity as for taxation.—General Orders No. 76.

September 23.—Three hundred Sioux Indians, under Little Crow, attacked Colonel Sibley’s command near Yellow Medicine, Minn. The battle lasted two hours, resulting in the repulse of the Indians with the loss of thirty killed and a large number wounded. Four whites were killed and from thirty to forty wounded.—(Doc. 209.)

—This being the last day for taking the oath of allegiance, at New-Orleans, La., in accordance with the order of Gen. Butler, the City Hall and Custom House in that city were besieged by thousands, desirous of availing themselves of the privilege.—The schooner Nellie was captured by the United States steamer Alabama.

—This morning the town of Sutton, Va., was attacked by a body of about one hundred rebel cavalry, but were repulsed by the Union force guarding the post, under Major Withers, Tenth Virginia, and driven nine miles, when, the rebels being reenforced, the Unionists retired, but being in their turn pursued, and being greatly outnumbered, they abandoned their position and fell back to Bulltown.— Wheeling Intelligencer.

—Colonel Switzer, Sixty-second Pennsylvania, in command of his own regiment, with a section of the First New-York artillery, and Griffin’s brigade, crossed the Potomac from Maryland into Virginia at Reynolds’s Ford, below Shepherdstown, Va., and captured over four hundred rifles, mostly marked “London, 1862,” and a twelve-pounder rifled brass cannon of English manufacture. The capture was accomplished without firing a shot; the rebel pickets falling back as the Union men advanced.

—The One Hundred and Forty-ninth (Fourth Onondaga) regiment, nine hundred strong, commanded by Col. Henry A. Barnum, left Syracuse for Washington at nine o’clock this morning. They went by way of Geneva, Elmira and Harrisburgh through Baltimore. Col. Barnum was not able to go with the regiment further than Elmira, not having fully recovered from his wound received on the Virginia Peninsula.

—Major-General Wright, in a special order issued at Cincinnati, Ohio, declared that the daily prohibition of business after four P.M. was rescinded. On every Saturday, after two P.M., business of every kind was to be suspended until five P.M., during which interval all able-bodied men in Cincinnati, Covington, and Newport were to meet for drill. Passes to citizens, except to enter the military lines, and passes issued under the orders regarding the drafting of the enrolled militia, were dispensed with. In dispensing with the daily drills and suspension of business, the General Commanding had in view the relief, as far as was practicable, of the people from burdens to which they had not been accustomed, but would impress upon the minds of all the fact that danger had not passed away; that the present military organization must be rigidly adhered to and carefully preserved. He thanked the citizens for the general alacrity with which they sprung to arms and entered upon the labor for the common defence, and the patience with which they had borne the various restrictions imposed upon them.

—Governor Curtin, of Pennsylvania, issued an order returning thanks to the people of that State for the manner in which they responded to his call for fifty thousand volunteers to resist invasion.—The National War Committee of the city of New-York held a special meeting, at which the sub-committee submitted an addendum to their report of the fifth instant, having relation to their conference with the Governors of the New-England States, concerning the adoption of measures to hasten forward troops to the seat of war.

—Yesterday the steamer Eugene, plying between Cairo and Memphis on the Mississippi River, carrying the United States mail and a large number of passengers and troops, was attacked at Randolph, Tenn., by a band of rebel guerrillas, but she got off. This, on the arrival of the boat at Memphis, being reported to General Sherman, commanding the Union forces there, he despatched, in the steamers Ohio Belle, and Eugene, a force of troops who to-day burned the town.—Cincinnati Commercial.

—The day on which the draft was to take place in Pennsylvania was postponed to the sixteenth October.

—The steamer Emma was boarded at Foster’s Landing, on the Ohio River, by a party of rebel guerrillas, who, after plundering her of all they wanted, allowed her to proceed.

September 22.—James F. Robinson, Governor of Kentucky, in view of the near approach of the rebel army under Gen. E. Kirby Smith, for the purpose of attacking Louisville, issued a proclamation calling upon the people of that city to rally for the defence of their homes, and attach themselves with such arms as they had, to the military forces under General Nelson.

—A skirmish took place near Sturgeon, Mo., between a Union force under the command of Major Hunt, and a band of guerrillas under Capt Cunningham, in which the latter were completely routed.—The Tenth regiment of New-Hampshire volunteers, under the command of Col. Michael T. Donahue, left Camp Pillsbury, near Manchester, for the seat of war.

—A fight took place at Ashby’s Gap, Va., between a reconnoitring force of Union troops under the command of Col. R. B. Price, Second Pennsylvania cavalry, and a rebel force under Lieut.-Col. Green, resulting in the defeat of the latter with considerable loss. Among the prisoners taken were Col. Green and two of his lieutenants.

—President Lincoln this day issued a proclamation declaring that hereafter as heretofore, the war would be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the Union; and “that on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or any designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever, free.” Secretary Seward addressed a circular to all the diplomatic and consular agents of the United States, on the same subject—(Doc. 125.)

September 21.—Munfordsville, Ky., was to-day occupied by a force of Union troops under Col. Edward McCook. They drove out a large force of rebel cavalry, without any Union loss. The rebels lost a colonel and a lieutenant-colonel.

—The United States ram Queen of the West, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Lippincott, accompanied by two transports laden with troops, while reconnoitring on the Mississippi River, in the vicinity of Bolivar, Miss., were attacked by a party of rebel guerrillas, who opened fire upon them with grape, canister, and musketry. The Queen of the West returned the fire, which was kept up for half an hour, the rebels pursuing the boats for two miles. Three men were killed and one man wounded on the ram and transports in this affair.

—Cassville, Mo., occupied by about one hundred rebel troops, was this day attacked by a detachment of the First Arkansas cavalry, under the command of Captain Gilstray, and captured, completely routing the rebel force, killing and wounding a number, and taking nineteen prisoners. They also captured a number of horses and fire-arms.

—The officers of the United States Sanitary Commission received at New-York a telegraphic despatch from San Francisco, California, announcing that the citizens of that city had contributed one hundred thousand dollars for the relief of sick and wounded soldiers and seamen of the National army and navy.

—The Union force at Shepherdsville, Ky., under Colonel Granger, commanding the post, were attacked by a body of rebel cavalry; but, after a short skirmish, the rebels were repulsed, with a loss of five killed and twenty-eight taken prisoners.

September 20. — Commander George Henry Preble, senior officer in command of the blockading squadron off Mobile, having permitted the steamer Oreto to run the blockade, was this day dismissed the naval service of the United States. — The correspondence between General Butler and General Phelps relative to the contraband negro question in Louisiana, was this day made public by General Phelps.

—Yesterday a skirmish occurred near Owensboro, Ky., between a force of Union troops under the command of Colonel Netter, and a large body of rebel guerrillas. At the first fire Colonel Netter was killed, when the Nationals retired, permitting the rebels to ride through and through the town. To-day the guerrillas were attacked near the town by about four hundred and fifty of the Spencer (Ind.) home guards, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Wood, First Indiana cavalry, and routed with great loss. The home guard had two men killed and eighteen wounded.

—A fight took place near Shirley’s Ford, Spring River, Mo., between the Third Indiana regiment, Colonel Ritchie, and a force of about six hundred rebels, among whom were some eighty or ninety Cherokee Indians, resulting in a rout of the latter with a loss of sixty or seventy killed and wounded.—St. Joseph’s Journal.

—Last night a rebel force consisting of Stuart’s cavalry and the Hampton Legion, with one regiment of infantry and seventeen pieces of artillery, crossed the Potomac at Williamsport, Maryland, and occupied that town; but, to-day, ascertaining that a strong Union force under General Couch was approaching, they drew in their pickets and safely recrossed into Virginia. The rebel troops committed no improprieties while they occupied the town, beyond forcing the citizens to open their stores and sell their goods for confederate money.

—A fight took place at Blackford’s Ford between a body of Union troops under the command of General Sykes, and a numerically much superior force of rebels, resulting in the retreat of the Unionists, who retired in good order across the Potomac.—(Doc. 210.)

—The United States ram Queen of the West, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Lippincott, with two transports laden with troops, while on a reconnoitring expedition on the Mississippi River, were fired into at Prentiss, Miss., by a band of rebel guerrillas, killing two and wounding eight. Lieutenant-Colonel Lippincott, with one hundred men of the Thirty-third Illinois infantry, immediately landed and burned the town.

September 19.—General McClellan, from his headquarters near Antietam, Md., sent the following despatches to the War Department at Washington:

8.30 A.m.—But little occurred yesterday except skirmishing. Last night the enemy abandoned his position, leaving his dead and wounded on the field. We are again in pursuit I do not know whether he is falling back to an interior position or crossing the river. We may safely claim a victory.

10.30 A.m.—General Pleasanton is driving the enemy across the river. Our victory is complete. The enemy is driven back into Virginia. Maryland and Virginia are now safe.

—In the rebel House of Representatives in session at Richmond, Va., Mr. Foote offered the following resolution:

Resolved, by the Congress of the confederate States of America, That the signal success with which Divine Providence has so continuously blessed our arms for several months past, would fully justify the confederate Government in despatching a commissioner or commissioners to the Government at Washington City, empowered to propose the terms of a just and honorable peace. —Richmond, Examiner, September 20.

—General Halleck issued the following circular from his headquarters at Washington:

“Major-General Foster, commanding the Department of North-Carolina, has called attention to an article in the New-York Evening Post of September 4, in which is published the numbers and positions of his troops. He remarks that the New-York papers always reach the enemy in a few days after publication, and that such information from our friends is more injurious than that gained by the rebel spies. The newspaper press is earnestly requested to make no publication in regard to the numbers and movements of our troops.

“No information could be more desirable to the enemy than this. Such publications have done immense injury to our cause.”

—The funeral exercises over the remains of Major-General Reno took place to day in Trinity Church, Boston, Mass. Bishop Eastman officiated. Governor Andrew and other State officials were present

—The battle of Iuka, Mississippi, was fought this day by the National forces under General Rosecrans and the rebels under the command of General Price.—(Doc. 126.)