SUNDAY
SEPTEMBER 21, 1862
THE CHATTANOOGA DAILY REBEL (TN)

Effects of the War in Europe--
Great Suffering
for Want of Cotton.

The latest advices from Europe show that the suffering and destitution among the manufacturing classes of England, growing out of the effects of the war in America, are daily increasing. The London Times has sent a special correspondent into the affected districts to collect statistics and to ascertain the truth in regard to the suffering and privation there consequent upon the loss of the cotton supply, who, in his first report writes:

In Preston alone there are twenty-three thousand persons receiving parochial and charitable relief. The population is only 83,000, so that more than one-fourth are steeped in the lips of misery. In addition to the 23,000, there are thousands endeavoring to subsists on half-wages or less than one-half. Half-time does not imply half pay, for the use of Surat² cotton renders it impossible for the hands to earn their customary wages. The amount lost to the operative by the failure of employment is calculated at £13,000 a week. The slight compensation to the suffering amounts to little more than £1000 a week, so that, in point of fact, £1 is made to the duty of £12. In one court, says the reporter, I found a poor woman with three children, whose husband had three days parish work and an extra relief [of] 3 shillings, in all 6 shillings a week for to live.

“All their furniture was gone but a table and two chairs, and all five slept in one bed, which was placed in a dark hole with not a ray of light finding its way into it—such as we should think hardly too good to store coals in.  All their clothes had been pawned, and most bitterly of all did the poor woman lament a good black suit of her husband, which was “on” for 10 shillings, and which they could never hope to redeem. Another family of six people, in the same court, had to live on 3 shillings a week, that is, 1 shilling 2 pence per week, or 2¾ pence a day for each. In another house, he says, I saw a sight which will be before my eyes for many a day to come. It was a little low stone-floored room, its only furniture a table, a stool and a bed. On the bed was a stretched object, I could not tell whether it was a man or a woman, worn to the bone—a very skeleton, in fact, her body covered with putrid sores, with not a rag on her—literally naked but for the coarse sheet which was spread over her. The bed on which she lay was a rough brown sacking stuffed with a handful of straw. She had been there I don’t know how long; her husband had lain there before her and died on the same bed.

“She was the mother of two girls, factory operators, who earned, or were relieved, with a few shillings—I forget how many, for I was too much chocked at what I saw to listen to figures. ‘Even among a somewhat better class,’ he continues, ‘the suffering is hardly less extreme, and sad were the tales to which I had to listen of the gradual descent from comfort to utter destitution. In one little house, huddled all together, was a family of eleven, all of which had been twenty-eight weeks out of work, and for fifteen of these they had existed on something less than one shilling per head.’

“The Relief Committee had just raised their pittance to 16 shillings for the eleven. Before the bad times the family earnings had been about £3 15 shillings, and they had had to part with nearly all their furniture. A man, his wife, three daughters and two sons had only one bed among them, and only a dirty blanket and a dirty quilt, one to be under and the other over them. Of course the children slept on the bare boards. The reporter illustrates the condition of a rather superior class as follows:

“But perhaps the strongest illustrations of the distress actually chargeable on the present crisis are the cases of respectable men who have hitherto kept themselves in comfort and endeavored to provide for old age and infirmity. There was no difficulty in finding plenty of these. At one house I visited a young couple, not long married, who between them earned £2 a week. They had both been out of work for some time, and when their savings were exhausted they had at last applied to the parish. Their present income was exactly 5 shillings six pence a week, out of which their rent was 2 shillings seven pence, leaving them 3 shillings a week for subsistence. Another young couple had 2 shillings a week from the Relief Committee but, living with their parents, they had no rent to pay. In the next house there were four grown up people living, whose united incomes amounted to 9 shillings, out of which they had to pay 2 shillings rent.

“Little further on I came to  an overseer with a family of five children. His salary had been 39 shillings a week, and though he had been out of work more than a twelvemonth, he had managed to struggle on until about a fortnight ago, when, all his resources being exhausted, he had been compelled to apply for relief, and was now receiving, from one source or another, about 9 shillings a week. An old woman and two daughters, both of them over twenty-one years of age—one employed half-time, the other receiving relief—had among them 4 shillings to 6 shillings a week.

A highly respectable reed-book maker—whose wife cried bitterly as she told me her story—is earning, with the aid of one of her boys, 7 shillings a week, which has to keep four of them, by dredging stones from the bed of the river. They had pawned all their clothes and much of their furniture before applying to the Relief Committee.

“The average amount derived from charity, the parish and half-time, when distributed amongst all the claimants, amounts to only 1 shilling 6 pence a head per week. Many, of course, are living for less. The 1 shilling 6 pence is not given in money, the relief committee distributing their bounty in bread, soup and coffee.

“The English press see no prospect of alleviation of this distress by a supply of cotton, and think that the distress must grow more pinching as the winter approaches. Assuming that the American crop be not released, and allowing for the supplies from every other quarter, competent authorities, says the London News, estimate that during the next six months there will be only sufficient cotton to admit of the operatives having two days work a week.”

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Further from the
Seat of War in Maryland.

Gordonsville, Va., Sept. 19.—At Harper’s Ferry we paroled eleven thousand and ninety privates, four hundred and twenty-five officers, took two thousand Negroes, fifteen thousand stand of small arms and forty-six pieces of cannon.

Col. Waler’s battery alone took five hundred horses.

Our loss is three killed and forty wounded. The enemy’s dead were [already] buried and [so] we could not tell how many were killed in the fight.

At Sharpsburg, Maryland, we took three thousand prisoners. General Sam Garland and Col. Strange were killed. D. H. Hill was roughly handled but managed to hold the enemy in check.

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The Scene Shifting.—The New York Herald and Philadelphia Inquirer publish very elaborate maps, headed “Seat of War in Maryland and Pennsylvania.” Oh, what a change from three months since, where those identical sheets were filled with the same kind of maps, headed the “Seat of War in Virginia.” How the scene has shifted. It will not be long, we hope, before the Herald will have to publish diagrams of the “Seat of War in New York and Massachusetts.”

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The following is one of the emancipation passes issued by Gen. Curtis to a colored family who had been persecuted by the rebels and forced to do service in the rebel cause:

Headquarters, Army of the S. W.
Helena, Ark., July 16, 1862.

Special Order No. 22.—Young Rice, and family, colored persons, formerly slaves, having by direction of their owners been engaged in the rebel service, are hereby confiscated as being contraband of war; and not being needed in the public service, are permitted to pass the pickets of this command, northward, and are forever emancipated from a master who permitted them to assist in an attempt to break up the government and laws of our country.

By command of Major-General Curtis.
J.C. Bundy, Lieut. and A.D.C.

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Accidental Shooting.—We regret to learn that James Haymans, private in Company H, 17th Georgia Regiment, came to his death yesterday by the accidental discharge of a musket in the hands of one of his comrades, who, it appears, took up a musket and snapped it at him,¹ not knowing it was loaded, when the contents passed through his body, causing death in a few moments. This is another warning to those who would carelessly handle fire-arms.—Savannah News.

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Evacuation of Memphis.—It is reported that Memphis is about to be evacuated by the Yankees. We should not be surprised to hear this rumor confirmed.

MONDAY
SEPTEMBER 22, 1862
THE MANUFACTURERS AND FARMERS JOURNAL (RI)

The Retreat of the Rebels.

It is with mingled feelings of joy and regret that the news of the retreat of the rebels into Virginia is received. It certainly is with a sense of triumphant pride that we see them driven, after successive disasters, from the State of Maryland, which they had hoped to win to the confederacy. So far are they from invading Pennsylvania and dictating terms to us in Independence Square, Philadelphia, that, beaten in three battles in four days, they are glad to make good their escape with their shattered army, and get over the Potomac as best they can. They have utterly failed to accomplish what we suppose to have been their object in invading Maryland. Their choicest army, under their ablest generals, is fairly and handsomely whipped.

But it has been the hope and the expectation of the people that the rebel army would be routed or captured, in some way broken up. There will be a feeling of disappointment if it gets away without being fearfully damaged or disorganized. It may be that we have expected more than it was possible for McClellan’s army to accomplish. His dispatch announcing the safety of Maryland and Pennsylvania seems to indicate that he had been solicitous lest his army could not at last hold out against the rebel force. But if the rebel army, after having taken nearly 12,000 of our men prisoners at Harper’s Ferry, escaped without being cut to pieces, can we claim that the balance of the substantial advantages of the last week’s work s on our side?

But we trust that either while crossing or afterwards, Lee’s force may be broken up. It is impossible that Sigel or Heintzelman may be able to strike them on their flank during their retreat, while McClellan hangs upon their rear and harasses and cuts them up? Will not a force be sent out from Washington to Manassas Gap or Gordonsville?

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Naval Items.

The California Iron-Clad.—Mr. Ericsson has given the name of Comanche to the immense iron-clad vessel now building in Jersey City, and intended to be the pioneer of a fleet for the protection of our Pacific coast. She is building in the same yard as the Weehawken, only the latter being on the stocks nearest the water, must be launched first. The peculiar mode of building a mailed man-of-war, which, when finished in every way, can be taken apart piece-meal and transported like a portable mess chest, is very interesting.

The United States Navy.—We give below a list of the vessels comprising the United States navy which were built or building on the first day of September:

In the list of the Tribune, from which the above is condensed, the number of guns on some of the new vessels is not given. Adding the number usually carried by vessels of the same class, about 80, to the above list, and we have 2988, nearly 3000, guns, now or soon to be afloat on all classes of vessels in the United States Navy.

The Harvest in England—Breadstuffs Must be Imported.—The harvest reports from all parts of England have been received, and the news is not regarded with cheerfulness by the journals. The London News, in one of its “Trade and Finance” articles, says:

“The wheat crop in England generally is below an average; that most of the other crops are relatively better than wheat, but that the deficiency in the latter will not be thereby compensated, and that, consequently, we shall have to import more than the usual quantity of foreign grain between the present date and next harvest.

“Those persons who have already formed an opinion that the harvest is a short one, express gloomy anticipations respecting the course of affairs during the coming winter, more especially  having regard to the condition of the manufacturing population and the dearth of cotton. Upon this latter point, as before stated, we fear that the worst forebodings now entertained will be realized, for the raw material of the greatest of our manufactures is absolutely not to be had at any price. The prospect is constantly becoming darker.”

France must also import largely, her harvests fallen below the average.

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A Rebel General on Guerrillas.—It is a matter of notoriety that our generals have refused to consider “bushwhackers” as regular soldiers, and have threatened them with condign punishment in case they fall into our hands. It is also well known that the rebel authorities have declared that this view of our commanders was not according to the rules of war, and that they should retaliate for the execution of any of their guerrillas.

But all at once one of their generals has obtained a new light on the subject. It appears that since the rebel army has entered Kentucky, some of the citizens of that State have undertaken to defend their homes by guerrilla attacks on the rebels. One would suppose, after all we have heard from the rebel leaders on the propriety and lawfulness of that kind of warfare, that they would not have the assurance to object to it when it is carried on against them. It is therefore not without surprise that the following proclamation will be read:

Headquarters, Confederate Forces,
Army of East Tennessee,
August 20, 1862.

To the Citizens of Knox county and the adjacent counties in Kentucky:

Finding that you have been deceived by the misrepresentations of our enemies, and have been induced by them, not only to leave your homes, but also to resort to the cowardly practice of bushwhacking, I now promise you that if you return to your homes and lead orderly lives, you will not be disturbed, but will be protected in your rights.

If, on the contrary, you persist upon firing upon my soldiers from the woods, you will be hung when you are caught, and your houses and property will be destroyed.

E. Kirby Smith, Major General.

His language is almost precisely that which Gen. Halleck used in some of his proclamations against the rebel guerrillas. The course that he proposes to take is exactly the course which the rebels have so condemned when it was adopted by us.

TUESDAY
SEPTEMBER 23, 1862
PORTLAND DAILY ADVERTISER (ME)

By the President of the
United States of America:

A PROCLAMATION³

Washington, Sept. 22.--I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States, and each of the States, and the people thereof, in which States that relation is, or may be, suspended or disturbed.

That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or rejection of all slave States, so called, the people whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United States and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within their respective limits; and that the effort to colonize persons of African descent, with their consent, upon this continent, or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the Governments existing there, will be continued.

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 designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

That the executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States, and part of States, if any, in which the people thereof respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof shall, on that day be, in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States, by members chosen thereto, at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States.

That attention is hereby called to an Act of Congress entitled "An Act to make an additional Article of War" approved March 13, 1862, and which act is in the words and figure following:

Be it enacted &c., That hereafter the following shall be promulgated as an additional article of war for the government of the army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as such:

Article 1. All officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor, who may have escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer who shall be found guilty by a court martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from the service.

Sec.2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its passage.

Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled "An Act to suppress Insurrection, to punish Treason and Rebellion, to seize and confiscate property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved July 17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures following:

Sec.9. And be it further enacted, That all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the government of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army; and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them and coming under the control of the government of the United States; and all slaves of such persons found on (or) being within any place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude and not again held as slaves.

Sec.10. And be it further enacted, That no slave escaping into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other State, shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some offence against the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United States in the present rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person engaged in the military or naval service of the United States shall, under any pretence whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of any person to the service or labor of any other person, or surrender up any such person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service."

And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the military and naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and enforce, within their respective spheres of service, the act, and sections above recited.

And the executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the United States who shall have remained loyal thereto throughout the rebellion, shall (upon the restoration of the constitutional relation between the United States, and their respective States, and people, if that relation shall have been suspended or disturbed) be compensated for all losses by acts of the United States, including the loss of slaves.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord, one thousand, eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty seventh.

Abraham Lincoln
By the President;

William H. Seward, Secretary of State

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The Battle of Antietam.
A Great Victory.

Some men, instead of rejoicing over the battle of Antietam, regard it as no victory at all, because the Union army did not capture, horse and foot, an army larger than itself. But reverse the case: McClellan, instead of driving the enemy out of Maryland, is himself driven; Lee and Jackson have taken possession of the Relay House—are marching on Baltimore, Philadelphia or Washington. What would these men of the jaundice complexion say then? Would they care to invest in the stocks? But we will not contemplate such a disastrous situation, for which Lee and Jackson would, we venture to say, gladly exchange the present situation without a moment’s chaffering. Wouldn’t they? Out of  “Maryland, My Maryland,” across the Potomac, seventy-five miles above Washington, into the Shenandoah valley, through which lies the road to Richmond, two hundred miles distant, the rebels have been driven by the skill of McClellan, by the intrepid leading of his Generals, and by the valor and endurance of the Union soldiers. Two hundred miles from Richmond. No railroad in the Shenandoah valley. No supplies in the Shenandoah valley. A Union army of three hundred thousand men, gallantly led and enthusiastic in spirit, within striking distance and ready to strike. Such is the situation of the rebel army to-day. Can it make a stand and maintain itself near the Potomac, two hundred miles away. Can it retreat to Richmond in any safety, pressed as it will be upon all sides?

We believe the rebel army can do neither of these things. We believe it will be speedily annihilated. We look to see Richmond occupied by Gen. McClellan in less than thirty days. And this will all come of the great victory of Antietam—great in its immediate fruits, but vastly greater in the fruits which are to come.

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Pen and Scissors.

It is estimated that the army of the United States consumes daily more than six hundred tons of provisions.

Attorney General Bates has, in reply to certain queries put to him by the Secretary of the Interior, concerning pension matters, decided that it is his opinion that the mother of a deceased soldier is entitled to a pension, whether she is married or be a widow, provided she was dependent on him in whole or in part.

Stonewall Jackson will have to divide his soubriquet with the doughty Michiganders, who performed such gallant service in the late battles in Maryland. A tough regiment, whose military life was only two weeks old, fought like veterans upon the field, and, getting out of ammunition, coolly marched to the army wagon, replenished their cartridge boxes, and, returning to the strife, charged over a stone wall upon Drayton’s South Carolina brigade, which they about annihilated. The 17th Michigan is the “Stonewall” Regiment, and the South Carolinians will long remember with grief these “raw recruits from country towns.”

A correspondent of the New York Commercial suggests that after this war is over it might be advisable to send a few men to Nassau, and shovel that little island nuisance into the sea.⁴

The New York Evening Post says “the old parties of the nation are dead;” that the Republican party as an organization has expired; all the objects for which it was formed, and which were expressed in the creed at Chicago, having been substantially accomplished. “The slavery question,” says the Post, “is now a military question,” and it urges that the war should be so conducted as to secure the extinction of slavery at all hazards. The Post is exceedingly hostile to the administration.

When the rebel army came North, they came jubilantly singing, “Maryland, My Maryland,” but after a short interview with Gen. McClellan, they changed the tune to “O, Carry Me Back to Old Virginy!”

WEDNESDAY
SEPTEMBER 24, 1862
NEW HAMPSHIRE PATRIOT & STATE GAZETTE

The Indian War.—From the following dispatch, dated Milwaukee, Sept. 19th, it appears that the Indian War in Minnesota is ended—at least until new frauds upon them provoke them to renewed outrages:

The St. Paul Pioneer and Democrat of the 15th inst. contains a letter from Little Crow, Chief of the Sioux, to Col. Sibley, in which he says he wants to know in what way he can make peace with his people. He also says that the white persons in his possession are as well treated as his own people.

Letters from the Sioux Chiefs Wabashana and Taspi are of a friendly character, and denounce Little Crow as the cause of all the difficulties. It is evident that the Sioux are much divided and are quarrelling among themselves.

Col. Sibley requests Little Crow to give up his prisoners, and tells Wabashana and Taspi that he will meet them and their friends in open day, and adds: “I am powerful enough to crush all who attempt to oppose my march, and to punish those who have washed their hands in innocent blood.”

The Pioneer of the 17th inst. says that the Chippewa embassy have returned, and that they successfully settled all questions of dispute, and left the Indians in a more cordial and friendly state of mind than has existed in many years. Nearly all the Chiefs were present and signed a treaty of perpetual friendship at Crow Wing on the 15th inst., whereupon the whole band prepared to leave for homes all satisfied. Hole-in-the-day promises to disperse his men.

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Alleged Conspiracy.—The five Republican Governors of New England recently met in private and “confidential” consultation at Providence, where they were joined by a portion of the New York self-constituted “War Committee.” At this meeting it is understood the project of raising an independent army of 50,000 men, to be placed under Fremont’s command, was adopted, and the Committee immediately broached the subject to the Secretary of War, and got very essentially “snubbed” in return. It is understood that arrangements were made to increase this independent army to the number of 200,000. Anotehr sign not to be overlooked, is the forthcoming meeting of the Governors of all the free States at Washington, to “advise with the President.” In connection with these and other evidence of plottings and schemings, the following letter from Washington, dated the 16th, is of interest just now:

“Most astounding disclosures have been made here to day, by letters and verbal communications from prominent politicians, showing that a vast conspiracy has been set on foot by the radicals or Fremont faction to depose the present administration, and place Fremont at the head of a provisional government; in other words, to make him military dictator. One of these letters asserts that one feature of this conspiracy is the proposed meeting of Governors of the Northern States to request President Lincoln to resign, to enable them to carry out their scheme.”

The writer, in conclusion, says Gov. Andrew and Senator Wilson are at work, and they are probably at the foot of the movement. From other well informed sources it is learned that the 50,000 independent volunteers proposed to be raised under the New York National Union Defence Committee were intended to be a nucleus for the organization of this Fremont conspiracy. It was the purpose of those engaged in this movement to have this force organized and armed by the government, and placed under the independent command of their chosen leaders, and then to call upon all sympathizers to unite with them in arms to overthrow the present administration and establish in its stead a military dictatorship to carry out the peculiar policy they desire the government should execute.

Failing in this, it is stated that a secret organization has been inaugurated, the members of which are known by the name of the Roundheads. It is intended that this organization shall number two hundred thousand men in arms, who shall raise the standard of the conspirators and call Gen. Fremont to the command. They expect to be joined by two-thirds of the army of the Union now in the field, and that eventually one million of armed men will be gathered around their standard. This startling disclosure is vouched for by men of high repute in New York and other Northern States. It is the last card of those who have been vainly attempting to drive the president into the adoption of their own peculiar policy.

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Important if True.—The Washington correspondent of the N. Y. Times states that the French Minister has received from his Government, and communicated to Mr. Seward, a letter stating in the clearest possible manner that the opinion of the French Cabinet was that the American civil war was interminable; that every event which has happened since the beginning of the war tended to show that the North was unable to bring the South back to submission, and that, such being the case, there was but one course for Mr. Lincoln to adopt, and that was to enter into an arrangement with the Confederates. The letter further added that the foreign cabinets were tired of the representations made by Mr. Lincoln’s Administration to European interests, and they could not tolerate it much longer.

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Cheap Patriotism.—We often see it proclaimed in Republican papers that prominent politicians of their party have enlisted—that Hon. Mr. Blank has volunteered to shoulder the musket—that another one has resigned a fat office to enlist as a private, &c., &c. Whenever we see this we are sure to see it followed, in a very few days, by the announcement that this patriotic volunteer has been appointed on some General’s staff, or ahs received a high commission. For instance: it was recently announced with a grand flourish by certain Boston papers, that Mr. Train, member of Congress from the Middlesex district, had enlisted as a private, and a few days later his appointment on a General’s staff was noticed! Then we had the patriotism of a Vermont editor duly extolled for enlisting; and a few days after we were informed that he was appointed Major of the regiment. We have noticed a score of similar cases.

Now, these reported enlistments are frauds upon honest men. The object is to induce other men to follow their example in enlisting. Yet before these politicians enlist, they are assured of the high appointments which follow. This course involves a double fraud: they get credit for patriotism, without displaying it, and they deceive other men into doing what they might not otherwise do. It is like fraudulent subscription papers upon which men put down large sums as incentives to others, yet with the understanding that they are not to pay them.

Of a similar character are another class of enlistments. We have heard of prominent Republicans challenging prominent Democrats to enlist:  “I will enlist if you will;” and after the challenge has been accepted, the Republican is suddenly appointed to a desirable position.

These tricks are not uncommon; it is a cheap and fraudulent species of patriotism perfectly characteristic of a certain class of Republican politicians, who are blatant in urging others to make sacrifices which they never think of making themselves.

THURSDAY
SEPTEMBER 25, 1862
THE PITTSFIELD SUN (MA)

The Battles in Maryland.

The last has been a week of battles—of awful slaughter. The Battle of South Mountain in Maryland, and the contests which followed, have been the greatest of modern times. The rebel army, 100,000 strong, has been driven ingloriously from Maryland by the army under McClellan, leaving thousands on thousands of their slain on the battlefield.

The Confederates again gave battle on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday—the last three days near Sharpsburg, about ten miles west of Sunday’s fight, and only ten miles north of Harper’s Ferry, which important position (a second Gibraltar) they, under their brave old “Stonewall,” succeeded in capturing with many prisoners on Monday. It was retaken next day by Burnside—the rebels having gone up to the succor of their army at Sharpsburg. Here the fighting was more terrible than anything before seen in all this war, and the Union army were inspirited by their glorious success.

On Friday, Gen. McClellan sent the following to Gen. Halleck:

Headquarters Army of Potomac,
Sept. 19, 8:30 a.m.

Maj. Gen. H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief:

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. We may safely claim a victory.

Geo. B. McClellan,
Major General.

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Headquarters Army of Potomac,
Sept. 19, 10:30 a.m.

Maj. Gen. H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief:

Pleasanton is driving the enemy across the River. Our victory was complete. The enemy is driven back into Virginia—Maryland and Pennsylvania are now safe,

Geo. B. McClellan,
Major General.

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Tuesday’s Battle.

Headquarters Army of Potomac,
Sept. 16, via Frederick, 18th.

To the Associated Press:

During this afternoon information was received at headquarters showing that the enemy were recrossing the river and concentrating their forces on the ridge of hills outside the town of Sharpsburg, to within three miles of the main body of our army. Jackson left Harper’s Ferry this morning, his commencing to arrive during the afternoon, when it became evident that Lee was disposed to engage our forces in battle at this point.

Gen. McClellan sent for Franklin’s corps and Couch’s division, who were about seven miles distant, on the other side of Elk Ridge.

There was considerable artillery firing during the day on both sides, resulting in our having about 40 men killed and wounded. Among the seriously wounded was Major Arndt, of the 1st New York Artillery, who was struck in the side by a piece of shell.

The disposition of the troops for the impending battle was as follows: Gen. Sumner’s corps with Gen. Banks’ division, to occupy the centre. Gen. Hooker’s corps with the Pennsylvania Reserves, and Franklin’s corps on the right. Gens. Porter and Burnside on the extreme left, with the view of turning the enemy’s right flank. Gen. Pleasanton supported the centre with 2,500 cavalry and 4 battalions.

Gen. Hooker in the afternoon crossed Antietam Creek, and took a  position on the hills facing Sharpsburg, and three miles to the right of Keetsville. His troops got into action about dusk. The battle lasted two hours, during which the enemy were driven about half a mile, with considerable loss. The Pennsylvania Reserves, who were in front, suffered much.

The night was occupied in getting the troops in their respective positions, while ammunition trains and ambulances were forwarded to the different commands.

Wednesday’s Battle.

Headquarters Army of Potomac,
Sept. 17, via Frederick, 18th.

This has been an eventful day in the history of the rebellion. A battle has taken place, in which the army of the Potomac has again been victorious, and which exceeded in extent any battle heretofore fought on this continent.

At the dawn of day the battle was renewed on the centre and right by Hooker and Sumner, who, after a sharp contest of two hours, drove the enemy about one mile. The rebels rallied shortly afterwards, and with terrible loss, regained most of the ground. At this time, the fearless and indomitable Hooker received a shot in the ankle, and was carried from the field. The command of his troops now devolved upon Sumner.

Gen. Richardson, commanding a division, was severely wounded at this time. Gen. Sumner, determined to retake the lost ground, ordered the troops to advance, which they did with a will, driving the rebels before them with great slaughter. They not only retook the ground but drove them a quarter of a mile beyond.

In this action General Mansfield was shot through the lungs, and died soon after.

During this time, the troops under Burnside and Porter had not been idle. They drove the rebels from the line of Antietam Creek, on the main rod to Sharpsburg, built a bridge (the old one having been destroyed,) and occupied the opposite bank. The loss here was considerable. The troops now held both banks of the creek. To get possession of the ridge of hills on the right and left hand sides of the road, from which the Rebels were thundering away with artillery, was a task not easily accomplished.

Sykes’ brigade, with the assistance of Sumner, carried the ridge on the right hand side, after considerable trouble and loss, the Rebels running in all directions.

It is now five o’clock, and all the enemy’s positions have been carried, except the one [on] the left hand side of the road. To do this duty Burnside was assigned. The artillery opened and the infantry advanced. The point was carried at a charge, but we were forced to retire before a superior force. Knowing that if they lost this ridge a complete rout of their army would be the result, they fought with great desperation.

Darkness now overlooked the  two armies, and hostilities ceased as though by mutual consent.

The battle lasted from five o’clock in the morning till seven at night, without a moment’s separation.

The conduct of all the troops, without exception, was all that any General could wish, several regiments of new troops, who were in action for the first time, behaved admirably.

Hundreds of Marylanders were present to witness the battle, which could be seen from many of the surrounding hills. The sharp rattle of fifty thousand muskets, and the thunder of a hundred pieces of artillery is not often heard, nor the consequent excited movements of such armies.

It is impossible at this writing to form any correct idea of our loss, or that of the enemy. It is heavy on both sides. Ours will probably reach in killed and wounded ten thousand. That of the enemy will not exceed it.

The enemy’s dead, which nearly all fell into our hands, were thickly strewn over the fields, in many places lying in heaps.

Our wounded were immediately carried from the field, and the best possible attention given them.

When Gen. Hooker fell, Gen. McClellan immediately proceeded to the right, where he was enthusiastically received, and by his presence added much to our success in recovering the ground lost. He was in the centre and on the left as well, anxiously watching the progress of the battle, and giving directions as to the manner of attack. He is in his tent to-night for the first time since he left Frederick City.

We took some 1,500 prisoners during the day while the enemy obtained but few.

FRIDAY
SEPTEMBER 26, 1862
THE CALEDONIAN (VT)

From the Vermont 8th Regiment.

Algiers, La., Sept. 7, 1862.

To the Editor of the Caledonian,

It has become my duty to record a wicked and disastrous attack of guerrillas upon a portion of the 8th Vermont, and I wish to make known the facts through your paper to the friends of our regiment, and especially to the relatives of the members comprising companies E, Capt. Hall, G, Capt. Craig, and K, commanded by myself. If you will examine the map of Louisiana you will find there a railway from this city to Berwick’s Bay. At Bayou des Allemande, 32 miles from this station, was a fine bridge, which had been destroyed by the rebels, and so far repaired by our regiment as to allow the passing of trains over it. In case an expedition should be sent overland into Texas, this road would e needed for transportation, and to secure ready communication with headquarters, and for several weeks companies E, G and K have been stationed at this bridge to save it from a second conflagration. At Boutte—eight miles this side of the Bayou and three from the Mississippi river—is a small settlement of rebel Union friends. It is the first wood and water station from the city, and is mostly surrounded with heavy forests, thrifty weeds and bushes, and a fine patch of corn, affording a splendid ambush for any force the enemy might wish to conceal there. Since the 1st of September the contrabands have frequently reported that a force of 700 Texans were encamped about 8 miles from Boutte, upon one of the river plantations, and we had thought that an attack upon the up train and our camp was among the possibilities. Once, perhaps twice, a force had been sent down to meet the up train and render it such protection as might be necessary, but no rebels had been seen.

On the morning of the 3d I went to this station upon the train going to Algiers, to load and send down there a large number of confiscated Negroes, cattle and mules from Gen. Taylor’s, Capt. Ranson’s (both active rebel officers) and other adjoining plantations, and to learn if possible whether this rebel force was designing our capture. I was there [a] full five hours, conversed with white men and Negroes from the river, and found that no advance had been made for three days.

The next morning, Sept. 4, I was ordered to detail 20mmen from each of the three companies 10 men from the battery and 1 gun, and proceed to Boutte to look after the safety of the coming train, to learn what I could respecting the rebels, and to gather in and send off the balance of confiscated property there. My train consisted of two platform cars forward of the engine and one open cattle car behind it. The gun and 45 men were upon the forward cars, 5 upon the tender and 10 upon the rear car. I got upon the engine that I might direct its movements, and ordered the men to load their rifles, keep a vigilant lookout, and to signal me should anything wrong or unusual appear.  As we approached the settlement and going at a very slow rate, our best vision was insufficient to detect a rebel’s foot or head, and nothing but smoke rising from the place where Indians had been the day before, and two or three horses ties at the grocery, indicated the presence of any one, till within 30 rods of the station, I discovered the wire and one pole to be cut.

 While speaking of this to the engineer, a signal gun was heard and in a moment the full volley of a company came into and about the engine and rear car, from our right and rear, and another from our right into my men upon the forward cars. Soon as possible, I ordered the men to fire, fall down and work as best they could. Finding it impossible to resist without losing every man and the train, I directed the engineer to put on steam and carry us through if possible. These two volleys had killed three or four, wounded more than half of the force, and so completely disabled the battery that when Corporal Pierce handed the cartridge, there was not a man left upon the car able to drive it home. As we passed the shed where they wood and water the train, another terrible shower of leaden hail was sent into my thinned ranks, which completely swept the cars and seemed to take every live man I had left. At the shed we were switched upon a side track, which is about 100 rods long and connects with the main track at both ends. Upon this was a passenger car with the brakes hard set, and upon it the rebels had also been careful to place road timbers, expecting that if we ventured so far, to see us either thrown from the track by these timbers, or stopped upon it by that car. But God directed otherwise. Somehow the timbers were knocked out of the way, and eh brakes were broken, so that we passed along with but little injury to cars or speed. Several of the men who had jumped or were thrown from the train ran along and got aboard of the passenger car, and one, Lewis J. Ingalls, seeing the switch so arranged that we must be thrown from the main track, leaped off and adjusted it in season to run us out of and away from the trap they had supposed we could not escape. They were close upon us, and gave their best all along that run upon that side track. Their object was to capture both trains and then surprise the camp at the Bayou. We ran about a mile and met the up train. I had the passenger car attached to it, and all started for the city. I then ascertained that I had brought from the field 12 men who were not wounded, those some of those were struck with spent balls, 27 wounded and 6 killed. Eight wounded men were recaptured Sept 5th, 3 escaped and have arrived here, and 4 were reported buried at Boutte. It was only through a wonderful succession of favorable incidents which could have been directed by no human skill, that brought some out with life and a whole body. My hat and shirt were perforated, but I have no wound or scratch to claim me an honorable mention.

This is bad enough, but is not all, and perhaps not the worst. Soon as we were out of their trap they had set about tearing up the track this side of the station, and before dusk had captured our whole force at the Bayou. Four have arrived who escaped at the time of surrender. We do not know their present destination or condition, but hope for the best and that they will be exchanged soon.

John S. Clark,
Capt. Co. K.

SATURDAY
SEPTEMBER 27, 1862
THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN (MA)

The Regeneration of the South.

In the terrible sacrifices and sufferings of the present hour we find hope and strength in the vision of a better future, the foundations of which we are now painfully laying. We have been a nation of incongruous and conflicting elements. Two opposing systems of labor, free and slave—two hostile forms of society, democratic and aristocratic—have been struggling together for the mastery. The conflict has been mainly on the field of politics hitherto; it has now been transferred to the field of deadly strife by the party of slavery and aristocracy. By this mad resort to arms the South has doomed its peculiar institution and the whole social life based upon it to utter overthrow. All men of forethought have seen this from the start, and have studied how to make the great revolution, certain to go on when once inaugurated, as little costly and destructive as possible., They have comprehended the  immense proportions of the work that Providence has laid upon the people, and have therefore not desired to anticipate events, or impatiently sought to pluck the ripe fruit in seed-time. Before it has been decided that slaves coming within the lines of our armies were free—long before Congress had passed the act of emancipation—we expressed the confident belief that the rebellion involved the certain destruction of slavery. Our faith in that consummation has never for a moment been shaken, and at this stage of the war he must be blind indeed to the course of events who doubts that slavery is to die in consequence of the rebellion, if not simultaneously with it.

This certainty opens before us a glorious national future. Imagine the torpor and blight of the slave system removed from Virginia, Kentucky, and all the border states, saying nothing of the extreme South; what vast fields for free labor, capital and enterprise will be thrown open; what new elements of activity, intelligence ad social development will stir the long stagnant depths of southern society and life. But there are great problems to be solved, calling for the wisest statesmanship, before the regeneration of the South can be fully accomplished. We find some of these suggestively presented in the essay of Mr. Derby in the Atlantic  Monthly on “The Resources of the South.”

“We need not perplex ourselves about the disorder and suffering that would follow the immediate emancipation of four millions of slaves. No word will ever be spoken with power enough to produce that result. The slaves are in the insurgent country, held for the most part by the enemies of the government. While the nation strikes down with one hand the rebel master it breaks with the other the fetters from the limbs of his slaves. And this process can only proceed as our armies recover the soil of the South from the grasp of the rebellion. A short war is now out of the question. We may defeat the great armies of the South within the next six months, but the enforcement of the confiscation and emancipation act can only be reached by sweeping through and occupying every portion of the South, section by section and state by state, and reconstructing the social system as we go. No nation ever had so stupendous an enterprise upon its hands, but it will be done, if it take half a century of war to do it.”

Mr. Derby proposes to give up to the Negroes a strip of territory one hundred miles wide along the coast, from the Dismal Swamp in Virginia to the Brazos river in Texas, covering some two hundred millions of acres, and capable of sustaining forty millions of black Americans—a black fringe for the coast. We agree with Mr. Derby in considering the emigration of the freed slaves, or any considerable portion of them, as out of the question. We think his idea of separating them from the whites and assigning them a distinct section is equally impracticable. They will remain where they are, for the most part, and we are to seek the best means of protecting them and elevating them where they are. At some time in the future they will doubtless claim and receive the full prerogatives of American citizenship, which the most ultra of their friends do not propose to bestow upon them at once. If the planters, such of tem as have not forfeited their own interest in the soil by treason, do not take kindly to the new state of things and give employment and fair wages to the freed Negroes, the government must necessarily interpose for the protection of the weaker party. But the plantations of the South, like the great landed estates of Russia, will be likely to be divided up among small proprietors, ad the freed Negroes themselves will eventually obtain an interest in the soil, as they acquire the habits of thrift ad accumulation which come from self-dependence. With this radical change in the labor system of the South will come a corresponding change in the whole structure of its society. The aristocracy of the plantation, made infamous by its defeated and punished treason, will die out and be forgotten. A new style of leaders will come up for the middle classes—the traders, mechanics and cultivated men—who will see their own advantage and the general prosperity in the success of the social revolution, and will co-operate in it, and take the direction of popular opinion and affairs. Thus are the great states of the South, so long given up to poverty and barbarism under the curse of slavery, to be morally and socially regenerated. Out of the blood and pain of this great conflict are to spring new order and harmony and peace. The grand work consummated, national unity will mean something more than a mere society of states. There will be unity of interests and ideas, unity of habits and aims, and the nation will enter upon a career of prosperity, power and glory such as could never have been possible with the loathsome weight of slavery hanging upon its neck. With trust in God, and the glorious prospect of the future beckoning us on, let us hear cheerfully the burdens now upon us, and to learn to “suffer and be strong.”

¹ Meaning the shooter places a percussion cap on the cone of the musket which, when struck by the hammer, sends an igniting spark through to the charge of black powder—and makes a distinctive snapping sound when “fired” alone.

² Surat is a city in the Indian state of Gujarat, famed for its textile industry.

³ This is the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation of September 22, 1862, not the final version.

⁴ Nassau was a major hub for blockade running ships, whose population profitted by the contraband trade.