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

February 12.—General Price, C. S. A., retreated from Springfield, Mo., towards Ozark and Wilson Creek, leaving a large amount of military stores and equipments, which were captured by General Curtis.

—An expedition under command of Colonel Reggin, returned to Fort Henry, Tenn., to-day, from up the Tennessee River, having captured seventy-five thousand dollars’ worth of contraband goods at Paris, Tenn. They also found the tents and camp equipage of the troops that left Fort Henry.—Chicago Journal.

—The rebel Congress passed and Jeff. Davis approved an act authorizing the construction of the railway between Danville, Va., and Greensboro, N. C, on the ground of its being a military necessity.—Richmond Examiner, February 13.

—The city of Edenton, at the west end of Albemarle Sound, N. C, was taken possession of this morning by an expedition under command of Lieutenant A. Maury, U.S.N. A portion of a rebel flying artillery regiment, situated in the town, fled on the approach of the National vessels, as did also many of the inhabitants. Eight rebel cannon and one schooner were destroyed, and two schooners captured.—(Doc. 40.)

February 11.—The Nashville American, of this day, has the following: From the beginning of this war to the present time, the constant cry of the people of the South has been, God and the British are on our side. That cry has seemed to satisfy too many of these whose lives and all have been at stake, that we would triumph without proper energy of our own. The first news that is looked for in the morning paper is the “Latest Foreign Intelligence.” We are like the “unprofitable servant” to whom was given the one talent. Instead of putting it to use, we have digged in the earth and hid that which was given to us. Still we put our trust in God and the British. The disaster at Fishing Creek, and the equally fatal result at Fort Henry, may begin to open our eyes to the fact that God and the British will not help us until we learn to help ourselves. These defeats may also teach us that which every great general found out before he fought many battles, that individual bravery is valueless against organized drill and discipline. It behooves the people of Tennessee, at least to awake to the impending danger. The twelve months system of volunteering will not save us. The hordes of Lincoln have volunteered for the war to subjugate. Will we not enlist for the same length of time to defend ourselves and our homes?

—Dr. Luther V. Belt,, Medical Director to Gen. Hooker’s division, in the National Army, died a camp, near Budd’s Ferry, Md., this evening.

Dr. Bell was a distinguished physician, a native of New-Hampshire, and enjoyed a prominent European as well as national reputation. His family connections, as well as himself, filled many of the most honorable and important positions in the records of his native State. Subsequently he removed to Massachusetts, and took charge of the McLean Asylum for the Insane, at Somerville, in which position he won the attention and applause of eminent European physicians, as well as these of his more immediate surroundings. For several years he was also President of the Massachusetts Medical Society. He had always taken a lively interest in politics, and held many important offices, among which may be mentioned that of the Governor’s Council. He was also several times made a candidate for Congress, and the Gubernatorial chair of Massachusetts.

Immediately following the attack on Fort Sumter, he offered himself to the Governor of Massachusetts as surgeon in any of the regiments which might require his service. His offer was eagerly accepted, and he was appointed Surgeon to the Eleventh Massachusetts volunteers, and with them departed for the seat of war. He was present at the battle of Bull Run, and distinguished himself by his unremitting attentions to the wounded, both friends and foes, and among the last he lingered devotedly among the suffering soldiers on the field, upon the retreat of the forces on Washington. Soon after he was appointed by President Lincoln a Brigade-Surgeon, under General Hooker.

When Gen. Hooker was appointed Major-General of a division, Dr. Bell was promoted to his staff, and since acted as Medical Director.

He was amiable and courteous, and was greatly beloved by all with whom he came in contact, and by none more so than the officers and soldiers of the Eleventh Massachusetts volunteers, who experienced the pleasures and benefits of his generous liberality and eminent medical skill.— N. Y. Times, February 23.

—This afternoon, the Sawyer gun, at Newport News, Va., burst while being fired. Privates Josiah Jones, of Company C, and James Shepard, of Company B, of the Twenty-ninth Massachusetts regiment, were instantly killed, and W. W. Bowman, of Company I, same regiment, was seriously injured. Jones belonged in Greenpoint, Long Island, and Shepard in Lowell, Mass. Four or five other persons, who were in the vicinity, were also injured, but none of them seriously.

—A flag of truce was sent from Fortress Monroe to Craney Island, Va., early this morning, to inform General Huger that the prisoners of war from Fort Warren, had arrived. The bark was accordingly towed up opposite Sewell’s Point, by the steamer Rancocas, and the tug Adriatic; and at about one o’clock, the rebel steamer West Point came out from Norfolk, and the prisoners were transferred. They numbered four captains, three first lieutenants, six second lieutenants, two third lieutenants, and three hundred and eighty four others, rank and file, and colored servants. They were taken at Hatteras and Santa Rosa, and were the last of the prisoners of war at Fort Warren, except Commodore Barron.

—The Richmond Examiner, of this date, publishes an elaborate communication, the object of which is to show that the proper national emblem for the South, would be a “single star.” The editor, however, disapproves the idea, as not original, and suggests that a more appropriate symbol is the “horse.”—(Doc. 34.)

February 10.—The expedition which had been sent up the Tennessee River, after the capture of Fort Henry, returned to the railroad crossing, twenty-five miles above the fort.

The expedition, embracing the gunboats Conestoga, Taylor and Lexington, under Lieutenant Phelps, left Fort Henry on the sixth inst., and on the same day it destroyed a quantity of camp equipage, which had been abandoned by the rebels.

On the following day, (the seventh,) several rebel transport steamers were pursued, and two of them, laden with military stores, were abandoned and burned by their crews.

On the same night, at Cerro Gordo, Tenn., the steamboat Eastport, in process of alteration into an iron-plated gunboat, and large quantities of timber and lumber, were seized, and the Taylor was left behind to protect them, until the return of the expedition.

On the morning of the eighth, at Chickasaw, Miss., two other steamboats — the Sallie Wood and Muscle—were seized; and on the same day, at Florence, Ala., three other steamboats were burned, and great quantities of supplies for the rebel army were taken and destroyed.

The expedition proceeded no farther up the river; but a deputation of citizens waited on Lieutenant Phelps and requested him to respect their persons and the property of the citizens, and the railroad bridge, which connects Florence with the railroad on the south bank of the river, all of which was complied with.

Returning to Cerro Gordo, the prize steamboats Eastport, Sallie Wood and Muscle, were laden with upward of a quarter of a million of feet of valuable lumber and ship-timber, which, with all the iron, machinery, spikes, plating, nails, etc., belonging to the rebel gunboats, was carried down to the Union lines.

A rebel encampment at Savannah, Tenn., was also broken up, and considerable quantities of arms, clothing, shoes, provisions, etc., were secured or destroyed.

The expedition met with the most gratifying proofs of loyalty everywhere on the Tennessee River; twenty-five Tennesseans were enlisted at Cerro Gordo, by Lieutenant Gwin of the Taylor, and the most perfect success crowned the arduous labors of the party.—(Doc. 32.)

—Ethan A. Hitchcock was confirmed as Major General of Volunteers in the Army of the United States.

— General Hunter proclaimed martial law throughout the State of Kansas, and declared the crime of jayhawking should be put down with a strong hand and summary process.

—Commander Rowan, with fourteen vessels, left Roanoke Island yesterday afternoon, and at six minutes past nine, this morning, when off Cobb’s Point, N. C, he attacked the rebels’ squadron, which had fled from Roanoke, under Commander Lynch, and two batteries, mounting five guns. Within twenty minutes a schooner belonging to the enemy, struck her colors, and was burned by her crew; and immediately afterward, the crews of the Powhatan, Fanny, Sea Bird and Forrest, ran them ashore and set fire to them, while these of the Raleigh and Beaufort ran their vessels into the Canal and escaped; the Ellis was captured, and brought away by the Union forces.

The battery on Cobb’s Point was also abandoned by the enemy, and occupied by acting Master’s Mate Raymond during the morning; and before ten o’clock Elizabeth City also surrendered. —(Doc. 33.)

February 9.—Secretary Stanton ordered the arrest and incarceration in Fort McHenry of one Doctor Ives, a correspondent of the New-York Herald, on the charge of being a spy, and for violating the rules and regulations of the War Department. According to the order of Secretary Stanton, Ives introduced himself into the chambers of the Department, when private consultations were being held, and demanded news for publication.

—The Seventy-sixth regiment of Ohio Volunteers, under command of Colonel C. R. Woods, passed through Columbus on their way to Kentucky.—Cincinnati Gazette, February 11.

—The efficiency of United States mortar-boats was fully tested to-day by Captain Constable, U. S. N., in the Mississippi River, just below Cairo, Ill., and near Fort Holt, on the Kentucky shore. The experiments showed that thirteen inch shells, filled with sand, could be thrown a distance of three and a half miles— the time of flight being thirty-one seconds, and the recoil of the gun-carriage about two feet. Filled with powder, the shells could be thrown much further.— (Doc. 31.)

—Brigadier-general Charles P. Stone was arrested in Washington this morning, at two o’clock, by a posse of the Provost Marshal’s force, and sent to Fort Lafayette, New-York harbor. The charges against General Stone are: First, for misbehavior at the battle of Ball’s Bluff; second, for holding correspondence with the enemy before and since the battle of Ball’s Bluff, and receiving visits from rebel officers in his camp; third, for treacherously suffering the enemy to build a fort or strong work, since the battle of Ball’s Bluff, under his guns, without molestation; fourth, for a treacherous design to expose his force to capture and destruction by the enemy, under pretence of orders for a movement from the commanding general, which had not been given.

February 8.—A skirmish occurred on Linn Creek, Logan County, Va., to-day. Captain Smith, of the Fifth Virginia regiment, with twenty-one men, surprised a squad of Jenkins’s cavalry— thirty-two in number — killing eight, wounding seven, and taking the remainder prisoners, with thirty-two horses. The loss on the Union side was one killed and one wounded. Among the rebels killed was Stevens, one of the party who murdered three of Piatt’s Zouaves in such a shocking manner.—Louisville Journal, Feb. 15.

—Roanoke Island, N. C, with all its defences, was captured to-day by the combined military and naval forces of the United States, under General Burnside and Commodore Goldsborough.

The expedition entered Roanoke Inlet yesterday morning; and, soon afterwards, it entered Croatan Sound, on the western front of Roanoke Island. The enemy’s gunboats occupied a position close in-shore under the guns of two heavy works, named respectively Forts Bartow and Blanchard; and at eleven o’clock the fire was opened between them and the flag-ship of the Union squadron, (the Southfield,) and as the opposing forces more nearly approached each other, the fire became more rapid.

The enemy having obstructed the channel of Croatan Sound by an ingenious arrangement of piles extending nearly from the main-land to the island, the enemy’s gunboats, soon afterwards, fell back with the evident intent to draw the Union squadron into confusion within range of the guns of Fort Blanchard. In this, however, the enemy was not successful, and the guns of the squadron were turned on the fort with marked effect, setting fire to the barracks, etc., which burned with great fury during the remainder of the day.

During the afternoon, the transports having come up, preparations were made to debark the troops; and at half-past three o’clock, covered by the gunboats, the Fifty-first New-York, the Twenty-first and Twenty-fifth Massachusetts, the Tenth Connecticut, Fourth and Fifth Rhode Island, and Fifty-first Pennsylvania regiments, and Companies E and K of the Ninth New-Jersey were landed at Ashly’s Harbor, about two miles below Fort Bartow, and waded through mud knee-deep to Colonel Ashly’s house, and bivouacked. The landing was guarded by one third of the disposable force of the enemy, under Colonel Jordan of North-Carolina, but the fire of the covering gunboats drove it from its position without resistance.

During the afternoon the enemy’s gunboats renewed the action with the Union squadron, and a brisk engagement ensued, terminating, for the day, with the loss of the Curlew, the enemy’s largest steamer, and of the Forrest, one of his propellers, which was disabled.

At about six o’clock, after having thrown about fifteen hundred missiles of various kinds into the enemy’s squadron and battery, the fire ceased for the day, both parties preparing for a renewal of the action.

This morning, at about nine o’clock, the action between the Union gunboats and Fort Blanchard was renewed; but, after continuing about fifteen minutes, it ceased—other elements, meanwhile, having taken part in the struggle.

The approach to the enemy’s works was through a swampy wood, with dense undergrowth, rendering it almost impenetrable. Immediately in front of the first of the series of defences, a distance of three hundred yards, the trees had been felled, in order that no obstruction should prevent a proper use of the guns; and it was also defended with a ditch eight feet wide and three feet deep. It was flanked by the same impenetrable swamps which skirted the approach to it; and a heavy force of skirmishers on the left furnished an ample support.

Against this and the other defences of the island, at about half-past seven this morning, the troops were moved in three separate columns of attack. The centre, composed of a marine battery of six twelve-pounders, the Twenty-third, Twenty-fifth, and Twenty-seventh Massachusetts, and the Tenth Connecticut regiment, commanded by General Porter, moved up the narrow road, during which it encountered strong bodies of light troops, until it came in front of the enemy’s work, when its skirmishers were called in, and preparations were made for an assault.

The marine battery opened its fire on the enemy’s works, and continued it with great spirit until its ammunition had been expended, and the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts, supported by the Tenth Connecticut, suffered very severely from the enemy’s fire.

In the mean time, the left flanking column, composed of the Twenty-first Massachusetts, the Fifty-first New-York, the Ninth New-Jersey, and the Fifty-first Pennsylvania regiments, commanded by General Reno; and the right flanking column, composed of the Fourth and Fifth Rhode-Island, and the Ninth New-York regiments hastened through the dense woods and swamps toward either flank of the enemy’s position, without attracting his attention.

A desperate attempt soon afterwards was made to turn the right flank of the central column of attack; and a very spirited encounter between parties from the Twenty-third and Twenty-seventh Massachusetts regiments and the Second Battalion of the Wise Legion, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Frank Anderson, resulted in the utter repulse of the latter with heavy loss, including Captain Robert Coles, killed, and Capt. O. Jennings Wise, mortally wounded.

During this engagement the two flanking columns approached the works. That on the right (General Parke’s) passed the right of the central column, when the Ninth New-Yorkers (Hawkins’ Zouaves) were ordered to charge. Major Kimball headed the storming party, and with the peculiar cheer of the regiment, the men dashed forward.

Almost at the same moment, General Reno, commanding the left column of attack, ordered the Fifty-first New-Yorkers (Shepard Rifles) and the Twenty-first Massachusetts to charge the enemy on his right flank; and, almost at the same moment, the two storming parties appeared on the opposite flanks of the enemy’s position.

Without waiting for any nearer approach of the assailants, the enemy beat a precipitate retreat, casting off their knapsacks, haversacks, coats, etc., to facilitate their flight.

The Fifty-first New-Yorkers were the first to enter the works, when they planted the stars and stripes, and the Twenty-first Massachusetts and the Hawkins’ Zouaves immediately afterwards dashed through the ditch into the captured redoubt.

The three regiments which had taken the battery, immediately pushed forward in pursuit of the fugitives, and captured several prisoners— some of them, already in boats, pushing off from the shore in their flight from the island.

The Twenty-first Massachusetts regiment diverged from the line of the enemy’s retreat to attack an encampment of North-Carolinians, which was to the northward of the captured battery, when, after a slight resistance, the enemy surrendered unconditionally to General Reno.

A few minutes afterwards, the entire island, with all its defences, garrisons, etc., together with Fort Forrest, on the main, was surrendered to General Foster, and hostilities ceased.

About three thousand prisoners, six batteries or forts, mounting forty guns, upwards of three thousand stand of small arms, and immense quantities of military stores, were taken by the Union forces, with the loss of about thirty-five killed and two hundred wounded, among the former Colonel Russell of the Tenth Connecticut, and Lieutenant-Colonel de Monteil of the Zouaves. —(Doc. 30.)

February 7. — General Lander’s forces occupied Romney, Va., without a fight. The rebels retreated toward Winchester.—Cincinnati Gazette, February 8.

—At four o’clock this morning eleven companies of the Cameron Dragoons, Colonel Friedman, started from their camp near Washington, D. C, in the direction of Germantown, about a mile and a half from Fairfax Court-House, Va. It was the intention to make a thorough examination of the enemy’s picket lines outside the division boundaries. Owing to the early hour of starting, and secrecy and silence of the advance, they surprised a rebel picket detachment at a house near Germantown. Surrounding the house they took twelve prisoners, a capture effected, however, not without some show of resistance on the part of the enemy. Over a dozen shots were fired from the house at the Nationals. Captain Wilson was hit by one shot in the right ear, the ball passing through and making an ugly but not dangerous wound in the back of the neck. Sergeant Crumley was shot in the right leg, causing a painful but not serious flesh-wound. These were the only shots of the enemy that took effect.

While this firing was going on, a large company of mounted pickets, some of whom had escaped from the house, fled to a thicket near by and opened fire upon the National troops. Major Curry, placing his revolver at the head of one of the captured prisoners, called out to the men in the thicket if they fired another shot he would blow out the brains of every prisoner taken. This bold threat stopped the firing, and caused the rebels to plunge spurs into their horses and beat a rapid retreat across an open field.

Subsequently, upon looking into the vacant wood, the body of a dead rebel was found, which, in their retreating haste, they had left. One of the prisoners gave the name of the deceased as William Birbanks, and his residence as Barnwell Court House, N. C. He says that the deceased was a lawyer, and belonged to one of the wealthiest and most influential families in that place. This was the only rebel killed, so far as known. From traces of blood it was evident that several had been severely wounded. Besides the twelve prisoners, eight horses were taken.

The National cavalry proceeded to convey their prisoners and booty to the division headquarters. On the return the companies got separated. One squadron, under command of Captain O’Farrell, elated by their recent splendid performance, determined to make a dash towards Fairfax Courthouse on their own account. They had not advanced far before they had the satisfaction of taking four prisoners, one wagon and four horses. The men surrendered without opposition.—N. Y. Herald, February 8.

—A sword voted to Colonel Dixon H. Miles by the Legislature of the State of Maryland, was presented to him in the Hall of the House of Delegates, at Annapolis, in the presence of the members of both Houses and the Judges of the Court of Appeal. Speeches appropriate to the occasion were made by Governor Bradford and by Col. Miles.— Baltimore American, February 8.

—Harper’s Ferry, Va., was again the scene of stirring events resulting in the greater portion of it being reduced to ashes. A rebel flag of truce having approached the river, a boat was sent over to them, which was fired upon and one of the boatmen killed. Colonel Geary immediately ordered the shelling of the houses in which the rebel riflemen were concealed, including the Wager Hotel, all of which were subsequently burned. Another rebel flag afterwards approached the river, but Colonel Geary warned them off, refusing to receive it—(Doc. 29.)

—A resolution in favor of confiscating, liberating, and also arming the slaves of rebels, if it should become a military necessity, passed the State Senate of Maine to-day by a vote of twenty-four against four.

—The Lower House of Kansas, by a vote of sixty to seven, passed a resolution requesting President Lincoln to appoint General Lane a Major-General, and give him command of the Southern expedition.

February 6.—Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River, was taken by the squadron of gunboats, commanded by Flag-Officer A. H. Foote.

In consequence of the efforts of the enemy to reenforce the garrison, information of which had been received by General Grant, that officer determined, last night, to attack the fort to-day, although his troops had not then come up, and he issued orders accordingly.

The First division, under General McClernand, was ordered to move at eleven o’clock this morning, and occupy the roads leading to Dover and Donelson, for the purpose of cutting off the retreat of the garrison, as well as to prevent the enemy from throwing reinforcements into the fort. The First and Second brigades of the Second division were ordered to take and occupy the high grounds on the west bank of the river, which commanded the works. The Third brigade of the Second division was ordered to advance up the eastern bank of the river, as rapidly as possible, and to hold itself in readiness to act as circumstances might require, either in assaulting the works or in supporting the First division.

In the mean time, the gunboats were prepared for action, and at half-past twelve o’clock this morning, Flag-Officer Foote opened a fire on the enemy’s works, at seventeen hundred yards distance, from the iron-clad gunboats Cincinnati, (flag-ship,) Commander Stembel; Essex, Commander Porter; Carondelet, Commander Walke; and St. Louis, Lieut. Commanding Paulding. The old gunboats Conestoga, Lieut. Commanding Phelps; Tyler, Lieut. Commanding Gwin; and Lexington, Lieut. Commanding Shirk, forming a second division, also accompanied the assailing squadron, taking position astern and in-shore of it The First division, composed of the iron-clad gunboats, approached the fort in a parallel line, the Second division following at a short distance, and, as they slowly steamed up the river, the fire on both sides was warmly and skilfully conducted.

At about half-past one the Essex received a shot in her boiler, which resulted in the wounding and scalding of twenty-nine officers and men, including Commander Porter; when she necessarily dropped astern, out of the line, and took no further part in the action.

The firing continued with unabated rapidity and effect, as the three forward vessels approached the works, until a quarter before two o’clock, when the enemy ceased his fire, lowered his colors, and surrendered to the naval officers, to which arm of the service alone — the land forces not having participated in the action — the honor belonged.

The works were very finely situated; and twenty pieces of artillery, mostly of heavy calibre, were mounted for their defence. These, together with barracks and tents capable of accommodating fifteen thousand men, a hospital-ship, containing sixty invalids; General Tilghman and some sixty or seventy men, and quantities of stores, etc., fell into the hands of the victors. The main body of the garrison escaped before the works were occupied by the victors.

General Grant arrived at the fort within an hour after it had been surrendered, when Flag-Officer Foote gave up the fort and his prisoners, into the hands of the land forces, and, after having despatched Lieutenant Phelps, with the Conestoga, Tyler, and Lexington up the river, in pursuit of the enemy’s gunboats, the Flag-Officer, with the Cincinnati, Essex, and St. Louis, returned to Cairo.

The Cincinnati received, during the action, thirty-one shots, and lost one man killed and nine wounded; the Essex received fifteen shots, and lost one man, exclusive of these injured by the escape of steam; the St. Louis received seven shots, and the Carondelet six, neither of them sustaining any loss of men.—(Doc. 28.)

—President Lincoln approved the bill authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to strike from the pension rolls the names of all such persons as have, or may hereafter, take up arms against the Government of the United States, or who have, in any manner, encouraged the rebels or manifested a sympathy with their cause.

—In the United States House of Representatives, the Treasury Demand Note Bill, with the “legal tender” clause included, was passed by a vote of ninety-three to fifty-four, substantially in the form in which it came from the hands of the Committee. The bill provides for the issue, by the Secretary of the Treasury, of demand notes to the amount of one hundred and fifty millions of dollars, which notes are to be received as a legal tender for all purposes.

February 5.—Brigadier-General T. F. Meagher, accompanied by General Shields and a brilliant staff, formally took command of the Irish Brigade, in the army of the Potomac, amidst great enthusiasm and much rejoicing from officers and men. General Shields addressed the troops in most effective terms on the occasion, —Jesse D. Bright was this day expelled from the Senate of the United States.—(Doc. 27.)

—The British schooner Mars, laden with salt, was captured to-day off Fernandina, Fla., by the United States steamer Keystone State. Her charter party indicated her intention of running the blockade. A small sum of money was found on board, among which were bank-bills and certificates of deposit in South-Carolina and Georgia banks.—Baltimore American, February 14.

— The Fourteenth battery of Ohio artillery, under the command of Captain Burrows, consisting of one hundred and forty-five men, one hundred and twenty-three horses, six pieces of cannon, six caissons, and one forge, left Cincinnati for St. Louis on the steamer J. W. Cheesman.

—Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, received to-day the following telegram from the Governor of California:

“Sacramento, January 31. “I am instructed by a resolution of the Legislature of California to inform you that this State will assume and pay into the Treasury of the United States the direct tax of $254,538 apportioned to this State by act of Congress.

“Leland Stanford, Governor of California.” —Boston Advertiser, February 5.

—A monster meeting was held in Faneuil Hall, Boston, Mass., this evening, in behalf of Colonel Corcoran, confined at Richmond, Va. Mayor Wightman presided and made one of a number of speeches. Letters from several distinguished men were read, and strong resolutions were adopted.—N. Y. Tribune, February 6.

—The funeral of Adjutant George F. Hodges, of the Eighteenth regiment Massachusetts volunteers, who died of fever at Hall’s Hill, Va., on the thirtieth of January, took place this afternoon at Roxbury, Mass.—Boston Traveller, February 5.

—The Fourteenth regiment, Maine volunteers, under command of Colonel Wickerson, arrived at Boston, Mass., to-night from Augusta, Me., and were quartered in Faneuil Hall. They were attached to General Butler’s expedition.—N. Y. Times, February 6.

—Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, this day removed the prohibitions “subsisting under her majesty’s royal proclamations of the thirtieth day of November, and the fourth day of December, 1861, on the exportation out of the United Kingdom, or carrying coastwise, of gunpowder, saltpetre, nitrate of soda, brimstone, arms, ammunition, and military stores, (including percussion-caps and tubes,) and lead.”

February 4.—The Richmond Examiner, of this date, has the following on the situation of affairs at the South: “We have a thousand proofs that the Southern people are not sufficiently alive to the necessity of exertion in the struggle they are involved in. Our very victories have brought injury upon the cause by teaching us to despise the public adversary. The immense magnitude of his preparations for our subjugation has excited no apprehension, and had little effect in rousing us to exertion. We repose quietly in the lap of security, when every faculty of our natures should be roused to action.

“The evidences of the prevailing sentiment are manifold. They are proved by the set of men who are elected to responsible positions. Men of palliatives, expedients and partial measures, control in our public councils. Men who could not perceive the coming storm that is now upon us, and who continued to cry peace, peace, when peace had ceased to be possible, are these who receive the largest support for controlling stations. The government is almost turned over already to these passive characters, who look upon confiscation as barbarous, aggression as impolitic, and vigorous war as a policy to be avoided, because tending to incense the enemy against us.

“The men who descried the cloud of war when it was no bigger than a man’s hand, and who can now see no peace but as the result of vigorous measures, and renewed and repeated victories, are relegated to subordinate positions, and their views being a burning rebuke to the statesmen, in position, they are laboring under the weight of implied censure. To win a fight by an aggressive movement is to incur a sort of obloquy; and to lose a battle in a brave push upon the foe is to provoke a chuckle of satisfaction, and the taunt, ‘I told you so.’

“Better to fight even at the risk of losing battles, than remain inactive to fill up inglorious graves. Better that government and people should be roused to duty by defeat, than that the army should go to sleep, the government doze and the people grow drowsy, in the very jaws of destruction. To fill our public councils with men of passive measures, who would administer war on Homoeopathic principles, who would whip the enemy by cowardice and sloth, is to paralyze the government and to enervate the people. The people are alive to the demands of the crisis, but if Congress frowns upon them, they grow tame and crouching.

“In the midst of revolution, no greater calamity can befall a people, than for their affairs to pass into the control of men who could not understand it in the beginning, and are incapable of appreciating the demands of the crisis as they arise. The French, in their revolution, had an easy way of getting rid of such characters—they chopped off their heads. They felt it necessary, as all subsequent opinion has acknowledged, to push their revolution through to a climax, at any cost, and, though often with tears and sorrow, they guillotined the public men who leaned back against the harness. The revolution succeeded, and owed its success solely to their excesses. They passed to the promised land through a red sea of blood. Old institutions, abuses and enormities were swept away, with every relic of opinion that upheld them. France became a tabula rasa, upon which a new destiny was to be written.

“All Europe moved against her more formidably than the Northern hordes are beleaguering our own country; but such was the fiery earnestness of her leaders and her people, that the gathering hosts of invasion were scattered to the four winds. At last, it must be confessed, that the subjugation of a nation is not to be defeated so much by armies and guns, as by the fierce resolution of its rulers and people. An unconquerable will and fierce combative purpose, are more effective than invincible arms. Docs such a fiery purpose blaze in our government, imparting its hot flame to the hearts of our people?

“There are two things needful for the early extinction of this war. We must first banish from the country every stranger in it who cannot give a satisfactory account of his purposes and objects here. This riddance of spies is a measure of importance, but comparatively of minor importance. The next thing requisite is for the whole community to throw themselves heart and soul into the war, and practise all the self-denial that the crisis demands. Why should the country be taxed with the support of the hundreds of hack teams employed in Richmond, when, if each gentleman would consent to walk a few squares, horses enough for a dozen or two batteries, well broken and well conditioned, with a complement of teamsters, could be thus secured to the army? This is but a single instance to show what might be accomplished by a general spirit of patriotic self-denial. What a vast system of expenditure, now exhausted upon mere luxuries, might be turned to advantage in the war, if the pampered classes of society would but consent to a temporary sacrifice of useless pleasures! He who will take the pains to run through the whole catalogue of items which could thus be turned to valuable account in the war, will be astonished at the extent and value of latent resources which the country affords. The most efficient class to bring out the men and resources of the country in this war have been its women. In the great struggles of nations, like that in which we are engaged, they should have queens for their rulers; for it is woman alone who is proof against the persuasions of time-servers and the sin of backsliding. There has been but one Lot’s wife in all the tide of time.”

—The steamship Constitution, with the Bay State regiment, of Massachusetts, the Twelfth regiment Maine volunteers, and other troops, sailed from Fortress Monroe, Va., for Ship Island, in the Gulf of Mexico, this forenoon.—N. Y. Evening Post, February 5.

—At Richmond, Va., J. P. Benjamin, rebel Secretary of War, issued the following order:

Bands of speculators have combined to monopolize all the saltpetre to be found in the country, and thus force from the government exorbitant prices for an article indispensable to the national defence.

The department has hitherto paid prices equal to four times the usual peace rates in order to avoid recourse to impressment, if possible. This policy has only served to embolden the speculators to fresh exactions.

It is now ordered, that all military commanders in the Confederate States, impress all saltpetre now or hereafter to be found within their districts, except such as is in the hands of the original manufacturers, or of government agents and contractors, paying therefor forty cents per pound, and no more. The price fixed is the lightest rate at which contracts have been made, and leaves very large profits to the manufacturers.

—Henry M. Naglee was confirmed to-day as Brigadier-General of volunteers, by a unanimous vote of the United States Senate. Mr. Naglee is a native of Philadelphia, Pa., and has been for some time a resident of California. He is an experienced and capable officer, having graduated at the West-Point Military Academy. — Philadelphia Press, February 5.

—In the Virginia House of Delegates the following debate took place on the subject of enrolling free negroes for the rebel army.

The bill amending the Convention Act for the enrolment of free negroes was, on motion of Mr. Prince, taken up. Among the amendments in this bill, Mr. Prince called attention to the one allowing ten cents for each negro so enrolled to the sheriff or officer so enrolling them. He proposed to strike out this amendment, and insert in lieu of the proposed compensation that, if the said officers fail to comply with the requisition of this law, they be subjected to a penalty of not less than fifty nor more than one hundred dollars. As these officers were exempt from military duty, he said it was about as little as they could do to perform the service of enrolling the free negroes of their respective counties, as a part of their official duties. His amendment was adopted.

Mr. Rives proposed that the amendment in the hill respecting the term of the enlistment of negroes, be amended to make the term ninety days, instead of a hundred and eighty. His reason for this was the fact that the families of many of the free negroes so enlisted, having no other means of support, would—as had been the case in his own county—suffer very much from want.

Mr. Prince agreed to compromise with the gentleman on one hundred and twenty days.

Mr. Anderson, of Botetourt, hoped that the amendment would not pass. One hundred and eighty days were only six months; and if white men could be drafted for two years, he saw no reason why free negroes should be entitled to such charitable discrimination.

Mr. Rives replied, that he made the proposition from no particular friendship to free negroes; if it were in his power, he would convert them all into slaves to-morrow. But it was simply to call the attention of the House to the fact that, in his own county, many severe cases of suffering had occurred among the families of free negroes from this cause, and he thought that possibly some alleviation might be brought about by the amendment proposed.

The amendment was rejected, and the bill was then ordered to its engrossment.—Richmond Examiner.

—This afternoon a skirmish occurred near the banks of the Occoquan, on the Potomac, Va. It was reported in the morning that a body of rebels was at Pohick Church. Captain Lowing, of the Third Michigan regiment, then on picket-duty in front of General Heintzelman’s Division, took thirty-four men, under command of Lieutenant Brennan, from Company F, and forty-four under Lieutenant Bryan, from Company H, and went to meet them. Arriving at Pohick Church, no rebels were seen. The party, however, proceeded to the banks of the Occoquan, opposite the town of that name. Arriving there early in the afternoon, a few unarmed men were observed drilling. They gave the alarm, when a number of rebels came from the houses and fired on the National soldiers. A brisk skirmish took place. Four of the rebels were seen to fall, and were carried off by their comrades. No injury was sustained by the National party, except by one man, who was slightly bruised by a spent ball.—Baltimore American, February 6.