SUNDAY
JUNE 7, 1863
THE DAILY PICAYUNE (LA)

How people Live in New York City.–The annual sanitary reports of the New York police furnish many odd revelations of the condition in which the population of that great city manage to get along. The Philadelphia North American has the following analysis of these reports:

The total number of tenement houses in the city is given at 12,347, with a population of 401,376 six persons—being an average of rather more than thirty-two to a house. Of these people 22,095 live in cellars. Of the tenement houses, 3,801, inhabited by 125,380 persons, are deficient of means of escape in time of fire, and 4,221 houses, containing 148,168 persons, are badly ventilated. The following extract further illustrates the subject:

“While the report denounces the rapacious spirit of landlords and of tenement houses, and calls for a law prohibiting the packing of human beings as is done now, it also affirms that the tenants themselves are responsible for many of the discomforts under which they labor, the plainest principles of hygiene being continually violated with apparent indifference as to any evil results. A general improvement, however, is noted in the condition of the tenement houses. Twenty-two were reported filthy during the last year, which were immediately cleaned upon receipt of notice.”

The population included in these dreadful places is nearly half of the aggregate population of New York city, and in the above figures are included only the houses which came under the supervision of the police distinctively as tenement houses, for the lowest classes of the people. Nothing could more forcibly illustrate the poverty of the great mass of the population of the city than these statistics. They do not include any but those whose poverty is a terrible burden since no one would live in such places except from sheer necessity. Of the many thousands who live in boarding houses, but little elevated above actual want, there is no record. It is only by the light of these figures that we are enabled to understand the gaunt necessity which compels the eager cupidity and unnatural greed and avidity of the New York population in everything that relates to business or money.

•••••

Reporting Under Difficulties.–A letter from Chicago, referring to the ecclesiastical trial of the Rev. Mr. Hager, charged with conduct unbecoming a clergyman, and of which he has been honorably acquitted, says:

One circumstance connected with the case is rather funny. The Bishop attempted to make the trial a secret tribunal, and put every one within the pale on his honor not to reveal the proceedings. But pretty full reports appeared in the daily papers. Here was a mystery. The Bishop endeavored in vain to find the “leak.” After the trial is over the reports explain. The sittings were in an upper room of a public building. The first floor was occupied by a hose company. By inserting a hose into the chimney they got a tolerably good hearing of what transpired above through a stove-pipe hole in the room where the court was sitting, and the public had the benefit of it.

Terrible Drought in Australia.–Accounts from Sydney, Australia, represent that a fearful drought has prevailed in Australia. In some localities there had been no rain for fourteen months, and the cattle had died by thousands. One farmer lost five thousand to six thousand sheep and lambs; another, fifteen thousand, and all who owned stock of any kind suffered in like manner. No one in the country remembers such a season before. Wool could not be brought into Sydney, as all the teams died on the road for want of pasturage and water. In some parts of the country nothing is met for miles but the bodies and bleached bones of sheep and bullocks.

•••••

How Gen. Grant Started in his Present Campaign.–The Chicago Tribune learns from a gentleman who participated in the recent campaign of Gen. Grant, up to the time the enemy crossed the Big Black in the retreat towards Vicksburg, that in starting on the movement, the General disencumbered himself of everything, setting an example to his officers and men. He took neither a horse nor a servant, overcoat nor a blanket, nor tent, nor camp chest, not even a clean shirt. His only baggage consisted of a tooth-brush. He shared all the hardships of the private soldier, sleeping in the front and in the open air, and eating hard tack and salt pork. He wore no sword, had on a low crowned citizen’s hat, and the only thing about him to mark him as a military man was his two stars on his undress military coat. On the battlefield he was omnipresent, riding everywhere, generally alone, into the very thickest of the fight, inspiring the troops by his impetuous coolness and bravery.

•••••

New Style of Freight.–The Rochester Express relates that a few days since a steamer which touched at Kingston, [Canada], took on board a large box marked thus:

For the American Glass Co., Pearl Street, New York.
(Glass, this side up, handle with care)

Great care was exercised in handling the box, which was gently deposited in the hold. When the boat arrived at Sackett’s Harbor, N. Y., one of the hands pulled at a wisp of hay protruding from a knot hole in the aforesaid package, when, to his amazement, the side of the box flew off, and out rolled two soldiers (!) who quickly gathered themselves up and bolted for the shore, and the last that was seen of them they were making tracks up town. From a collar found in the box it appeared that they were deserters from the Royal Artillery at Kingston.

•••••

No Paper Money in California.–A San Francisco correspondent has the following bit of good news for believers in “hard money:”

There is no paper money in California. The constitution of the State prohibits “banking” and the creation of paper to circulate as money. No bank notes have ever been current in this State or on this coast, nor are bank notes used upon any part of the coast between Acapulco and Sitka; and we are so far from the countries in which paper money is current, that no attempt is made to introduce it here. In our banks there are great piles of double eagles, but no bank notes are visible. Wherever you go or whatever you buy, you see only gold and silver; people do not think of paper.

MONDAY
JUNE 8, 1863
THE MACON DAILY TELEGRAPH (GA)

LATEST FROM VICKSBURG.
Their Loss in all the Assaults 40,000.
THE MEN REFUSE TO RENEW THE ATTACK.
Our Loss Less Than One Thousand.

We have seen Wm. James R. Saunders, of Selma, Ala., who left Vicksburg day before yesterday at 11 a.m. He had been inside the Yankee lines ever since Grant invested the place, and was allowed to leave by Gen. Grant in order to bring away Mrs. Hundley, wife of Col. D. R. Hundley, of the 31st Alabama, who was wounded and taken prisoner at Port Gibson.

He reports that in the big fight on Friday of week before last, the Yankees confess that they lost twenty thousand men.¹

On Tuesday of the same week we sank two of the enemy’s gunboats, which shell the town every day, having set fire to some houses, and already killed a few women and children. Thirty-one of Vaughn’s East Tennesseans, having deserted and taken the oath, state that so far our losses in the city amount to only a thousand. Mr. Saunders reports that the Yankee loss is from fifty to four hundred every day, our sharpshooters killing them off whenever they show themselves near their guns, which they are obliged to handle at night. One of our sharpshooters has already immortalized himself in the Yankee Army. He tells them he is a one-eyed man, and as he shoots a Belgian rifle, whenever the peculiar whistle of that weapon is heard, the Yankees call out, “Look out boys, there is Old One Eye!”

They say he can kill at one thousand yards, and never misses. One day two Yankee captains were looking from behind a cotton bale, and Old One Eye killed them both at one shot. Mr. Saunders saw one other captain with an amputated leg, which he owed to the same unknown man. Col. Hundley knows the man, and says his name is Elliott, and that he belongs to the 30th Alabama. He is known in Alabama as the best marksman in the State.

Gen. Grant speaks very disparagingly of Johnston, and says he will whip him certainly if he comes to attack him where he is. He has received heavy reinforcements since the fall of Snyder’s Bluff.

The two gunboats sunk were the Natchez and the Nightingale. Grant says he will starve Vicksburg out in ten days, but this is known to be an idle boast.

Mr. Saunders states that the stench of the dead Yankees offended citizens six miles from the battle field. Gen. Pemberton sent a flag of truce to Grant and demanded that he remove his wounded and bury his dead, which demand was complied with.

The Federals when they approached Vicksburg were perfectly sanguine of an immediate capture of our stronghold, and invited the ladies into Vicksburg to see their sweethearts, as the rebels were all to be sent North. Gen. Grant demanded a surrender of the city, and gave Pemberton three days to consider the proposition. The rebel General replied that he didn’t want three minutes to consider the question, but invited Grant to open upon him as soon as he pleased.

After the terrible slaughter on Friday, General Grant issued an order for new ladders to be made and the assault to be renewed on Saturday at two o’clock, but the men refused to be led again to the “slaughter pen.” The 20th Ohio sent up a petition to Gen. McClernand, and positively refused to participate again in the murderous work.->

Mr. Saunders heard frequent conversations between the Federals, and Colonel Womack, chief of Grant’s staff, expressed the opinion that Vicksburg could not be taken in six months, if ever. They imagine, now, that our force in Vicksburg is from 75,000 to 100,000 men.

The entire Federal loss around the entrenchments at Vicksburg is estimated at from 35,000 to 40,000.² Gen. Grant sent in to Pemberton to know why he fired railroad spikes and poisoned balls at them? The only answer that Gen. Pemberton made to this question was that the whole story was a lie. The Federals are seizing upon all sorts of pretexts to account for their tremendous losses.

•••••

ENGLISH IRONCLADS ORDERED TO AMERICAN WATERS.

The Feeling in Regard to the War.
(London Correspondence of the New York Herald.)

After the mails had all left, I telegraphed you as follows, to Queenstown, to put on board the Cunard steamer at that port:

I have positive reliable information that the entire naval steam reserve of three hundred vessels is ordered ready for sea immediately, in view of the critical position of American affairs.

That they are ordered to be prepared and in readiness at an hour’s notice, I have the very best assurance. Of course, not a word of this is in the newspapers or even talked of.

The “war fever” blazes intensely; but it has declined some since the news of the defeat of the ironclads at Charleston. If the rebels can thrash you and get their independence, and thereby destroy the Union, the purpose of the British will be answered. There is but one thermometer to John Bull’s desire to go to war with Jonathan. His wrath is just exactly in proportion to the successes of the U. S. Government and the discomfiture of the rebels. Smash his dear friends, the rebels, and his anger knows no bounds; get well beaten yourselves, and Mr. Bull is as smiling as a summer morning. So you know perfectly well how to please him, and it is your own fault if you do not keep him in good humor.

The first idea of the Englishman as to a war with America is this: He says to himself, we shall break the blockade of all your Southern ports, blockade all the Northern ones, give the rebels any amount of supplies, and capture a number of your war and mercantile ships, and perhaps sack one or two of your cities. Then he flatters himself you would be so badly chawed up that he could dictate a peace, making one of the conditions that the Confederacy should have their independence, covering the thirteen nice little States that they claim, including, of course, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Louisiana and Texas. Perhaps he would modestly stipulate that Maine should come to Mr. Bull as compensation for having goaded him into a war.

TUESDAY
JUNE 9, 1863
THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN (MA)

The Military Situation.

The situation of affairs in the various military departments continues to be full of interest. Everything thus far seems on the whole to be going well, but at the same time the issue of pending events cannot be awaited without anxiety. Vicksburg holds out longer than was expected, but all our reports thus far are favorable to final success. The rebels have not made that effort to raise the siege which was anticipated, and their golden opportunity for an attack on Gen. Grant’s rear is passed. They have doubtless been mustering their forces, but for once we have been in a situation to receive reinforcements as fast as the enemy, and, what is more, a disposition has been shown to use our facilities. The St. Louis papers make frequent mention of steamers departing with troops for below, and we have now the gratifying assurance that Gen. Burnside’s ninth army corps has been sent to Vicksburg, so that Gen. Grant must be abundantly prepared, as far as numbers are concerned, to meet any attack. The assaults on the enemy’s works have been discontinued and regular siege approaches commenced, and if the reports of the lack of ammunition and supplies by the garrison are correct, a capitulation must be effected. As far as we can judge now, and unless some new development of rebel plans and strength is made, the fall of Vicksburg is sure and only a question of time.

At Port Hudson, which now divides the interest felt in the western department with Vicksburg, the result is not quite so clear, but we hope for the best. We put little faith in the rebel report that Kirby Smith has crossed the Mississippi with his command to reinforce the rebels. He has not been heard of in that section, and the rebels have now no steamers on the river to effect such a crossing as they mention. But aside from this the situation is full of danger. Gen. Banks was right in saying he had not time to take the place in any other way than by assault. From the number of troops that are known to be with him in the attack, he must have left New Orleans and the other conquered portions of Louisiana with very slight garrisons and exposed to capture by very small bodies of the enemy. He cannot leave them thus exposed long without the risk of losing what he has already acquired, and if he is to take the place at all it must be by a quick movement. And besides there is danger that Johnston, despairing of a sufficient force to successfully attack Grant, might march quickly to Port Hudson and defeat the smaller army of Gen. Banks, who is entirely cut off from reinforcements beyond a certain limit. This then is the point fullest of danger, and from which we are most anxious to hear.

It is impossible to form any clear notion yet of what is going on in Virginia. The late reconnoissance across the Rappahannock has shown that the rebel army is not much if any decreased in numbers, only changed in position; and the report of a northern invasion is again circulated. It is certain Gen. Hooker is preparing very extensively for either offensive or defensive movements. He has been largely reinforced from the peninsula, and our forces there are drawing back and contracting their lines near Norfolk and Fortress Monroe. He has also been reinforced from other points, and has now a very large army in good fighting condition. One side or the other must soon take the initiative and resolve the doubts now hanging over the situation. The season is advancing, and the hot weather coming on, and the next month seems likely to witness a great struggle both in Virginia and at the West, and also, as far as we can judge, great Union victories, for even if Gen. Banks fails in his attack on port Hudson, that place cannot stand long after the reduction of Vicksburg. One and the best and surest signs of federal success is the great concentration of troops recently, and the abandonment of the old plan of scattering our armies all over the country. For once we appear likely to meet the enemy with superior or at least equal force, and if we are not victorious, we ought to be. Still, we have been disappointed so many times it will not do to predict great things now. We can only hope for victory, and at the same time be prepared for defeat.

The Suicidal Mania.

From the exchanges of a single mail, a few days since, we clipped the record of no less than thirty suicides, all of which occurred within the space of forty-eight hours. Of the thirty, eight were females. Fourteen were believed to have been caused from disappointment in love, six from seduction, four from a monomania in religion, two—both lads of twelve years—from cruel treatment of parents, one from jealousy, and the remaining three from misanthropy, sickness or sorrow. How sad a commentary upon American life and its attributes this picture presents, we leave those who have the welfare of their species at heart to conjecture. But it behooves every thinking man to carefully weigh the combination of causes whereby so many mortals are hurried to self-destruction.

We fear it is getting to be a characteristic of our social organization, induced either through labor-wasted nerves, or the drowning of imaginary sorrow in fruitless dissipation, or an inevitable drifting toward misanthropy, either to indulge in a hopeless retrospection of what might have gladdened life, or a dismal review of opportunities lost and years sacrificed at the shrine of some foolish passion. As individuals, we are sadly given to these gloomy retrospections. The worry and over-work of the mechanic, the bustling activity of the merchant, the perplexing brainwork of the professional, only cover a crowd of lurking memories that sadden and torture the intervals of repose. As a people, we let very little sunshine into our lives. Our peculiar organic temperaments absorb too much of the dismal and too little of the bright and joyous. We are prone to magnify emotions that require but little determination to overcome permanently. Suicide and insanity seldom occur among the Germans, although they are essentially a dreamy, metaphysical and thoughtful people. They devote half their lives to amusement and pastime; when labor is ended, they invariably seek recreation and relaxation.

When that mind dawns upon the age, that shall teach us not to fritter away our lives in ephemeral pleasure and wasteful idleness—and we heed the lesson—then will these suicidal tendencies be absorbed by better and nobler desires. We cannot afford to sacrifice a promising future for mere personal gratification. Activity, energy, industry and perseverance are the necessary combatants to most of the elements of monomania. The cultivation of them brings us into sympathy with the world and the objects of civilization. We are all dying for the want of clear sky and warm sunshine. Our lives grow darker and sadder every year, only because we will not see the flowers that lie smiling at our feet; only because we will not listen to the sweet bells of hope tinkling in our hearts the glad music of heaven, and the grand diapason of the eternal spheres. Those who are drifting into misanthropy must check the tendency so inevitably hurrying them on. Their selfish cravings must be overcome with the determination to live broader, nobler lives, and participate in the grand religion of humanity.

WEDNESDAY
JUNE 10, 1863
THE BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER

From the Rappahannock.

The New York Times’s correspondence, dated Headquarters Army of the Potomac, Monday, June 8, 1863, 6 p.m., says:

“The situation here remains unchanged. The position taken by Howe’s Division on the south bank of the Rappahannock on Friday evening is still peacefully held. The only hostile manifestation firing the past twenty-four hours has been an occasional shell from one four-and-a-half-inch Rodman, stationed on the hills on their side. Our skirmishers hold the line of Deep Run and the Bowling Green road, while the enemy are in plain sight, one-fourth of a mile further on. No large bodies of their troops are in sight. About one mile directly in front of our positions, and on the crest of the hill is a battery in sight, but this is all we can see. There is abundant evidence, however, that the enemy is closely watching our movements, evidently hoping we may continue our advance, and meet him on his chosen ground. I can say that depends altogether on circumstances. Our troops lay on their arms in the open plain, covered by several batteries of those fierce brass Napoleons. They are in excellent spirits, and enjoy this episode far better than the dull and tedious life of camp. A large detail of men is today engaged in destroying the enemy’s rifle-pits on the bank of the river near where we crossed. The ditches are being filled up and the banks levelled off, thus restoring the ground to its former level surface, and depriving the enemy of the immediate use of this defence, and facilitating the passage of our troops over the ground.

“I can safely say, in order to relieve excited minds, that no general engagement is yet imminent. There are indications, though not very numerous, that ere the week is over there may be noteworthy news, though from what quarter and in what shape, no one seems to know. General Hooker can do one thing well evidently—he can keep his own counsel.”

•••••

A good deal has been made at different times as to the importance of directing our operations against the enemy’s armies rather than his positions. Especially has this difference been dwelt upon in comments upon the various movements against Richmond, which it seems to be taken for granted were merely movements for the barren seizure of an unimportant town, and entirely distinct from any attempt to crush the enemy’s armies as embodying the military power of the rebellion. These criticisms, we are free to say,  have generally seemed to us to be misplaced. As regards Richmond, for instance, the importance which the enemy as well as the government attached to the position of that city is such, that there has never been a time when it could have been taken without first destroying for all effective purposes the army of the rebellion. In the peninsular campaign, indeed, it is well known that the cooperation which General McDowell’s corps was to have given->

was expected to result in the capture of a large part of the rebel army and the disorganization and virtual destruction of the whole. And in general we have seen few proofs that our generals have neglected the importance of shattering the military forces of the rebels and given undue weight to the possession of well-known positions.

A very notable case, however, of the refusal of two of our generals to be misled in that direction has just occurred. We refer to the rejection by Generals Grant and Banks retrospectively to offers from Vicksburg and Port Hudson for the surrender of those places, if the garrisons might be allowed to march out with their arms, free from detention. Either of those generals might have made a tolerably specious defence of his conduct, had he accepted the offer addressed to him. He could have urged that the occupation of the post attacked by him would probably insure the opening of the Mississippi river, that the establishment of our communications by that route and the complete severance of the enemy’s territory would be a great step towards final success cheaply secured, and that in the loss of places of such note and interest, the enemy would lose far more than he would gain by preserving his troops, with the necessity of seeking and fortifying new positions in the presence of our army. The country would have been disappointed at the enemy’s escape, but it would have been cheered by the thought that the terrors of these redoubtable strongholds no longer existed.

It is clear enough, however, that both Grant and Banks judged well, in refusing to be diverted from their purpose of destroying or capturing the armies before them. If they succeed, they will have destroyed the enemy’s power in the whole valley of the Mississippi, and will probably have put it out of the question for him again to make head against us there. The struggle in the Southwest is now brought down to a contest for the mastery on those two fields, and our generals have wisely refused to be content with less than a complete victory, or to adjourn the contest to some other field. Indeed, had either accepted the offer which was made to him, and been misled by the éclat of occupying a celebrated position, disaster would very possibly have been the result. The enemy in that quarter is now divided, by good fortune, into three bodies, neither of which is strong, and is thus likely to be destroyed in detail. But were either Grant or Banks to lose his hold upon his antagonist, we should probably see two of the enemy’s detachments united, and perhaps compelling the abandonment of [the] siege which threatens the third. In short, the enemy’s offers have simply been invitations to suffer him to concentrate by sacrificing one of his favorite positions. He has done that too often already, and we rejoice therefore that our generals refused to permit a repetition of the manœuvres in this case.

THURSDAY
JUNE 11, 1863
THE PITTSFIELD SUN (MA)

War Items.

The news from Vicksburg to Wednesday last is of great importance. A rebel dispatch bearer was recently captured on his way from Gen. Pemberton to Gen. Johnston. Pemberton’s dispatch stated that his forage was all gone, that his men were on quarter rations, that his ammunition was nearly exhausted, and that he could only hold out ten days longer. The next day after receiving this valuable intelligence, Gen. Grant ordered all our siege guns to be opened on the city, and in the course of an hour 3600 shells were thrown into it.

Our latest information from Port Hudson is to the 29th ult. At that date Gen. Banks had completely invested the place, and our gunboats were bombarding the fortifications from the river, while the troops at the same time were using their artillery from the land side. The rebel reports concerning affairs at Port Hudson, contained in dispatches from Jackson, Miss., on the 4th inst., say that the rebel Gen. Kirby Smith crossed the river to Port Hudson on Sunday, the 31st.  It was stated also that the gunboats had made a furious assault, sinking one steamer and drowning seven hundred men. Serious doubts are cast upon the truth of this story.

The state of affairs on the Rappahannock was the subject of rumor on Saturday. The prevailing report was that the enemy had evacuated Fredericksburg, and that our troops had taken possession of it. This news was brought by some passengers from Aquia Creek, but more reliable news received in Washington shows that there is no truth in the rumors. General Longstreet still holds possession of Fredericksburg, and maintains a strong front on the upper fords of the river. A large portion of his force, however, is thought to have gone in the direction of Gordonsville. A considerable body of the rebels, principally cavalry, was at Culpepper Court House. The Second Division of our Sixth Army Corps crossed the river at Deep Run on a pontoon on Friday, and had some skirmishing with the rebel sharpshooters from the rifle pits, which were finally taken with about forty prisoners.

The late movements of the rebels on the south side of the Rappahannock induced the belief that they had retired altogether from their old lines of defence and officers and others who came to Washington confidentially announced this as a fact. The crossing of some of our troops on Friday was in the way of reconnoissance to understand the actual condition of affairs, and although on Sunday morning they had not returned, they probably did so by night. Friday evening in crossing we lost about 30 in killed and wounded and took about 50 prisoners in rifle pits on the river bank. They have been brought to Washington. Captain Cross of the regular engineers was killed. The entire loss on our side was in the engineer brigade in crossing. On Sunday skirmishers of both parties were represented to be in line of battle at some points, but there seemed to be no apprehension of a general engagement. Both armies however seemed to be wide awake.

Vicksburg advices do not contain anything especially new in regard to the progress of the siege. A general bombardment was commenced on teh3d, and was kept up with vigor, with what results is not known. A general attack was to have been made on the 4th, though whether it was to have been an assault or no is not stated. Gen. Blair had made a successful expedition northward as far as Mechanicsburg.

The Port Hudson Fight.
Conduct of the Negro Troops.

While an occasional shot was being fired, before the battle commenced in its more deadly fury, speculations were rife as to the manner in which the 2d Louisiana black troops would act during the conflict. They had been placed in the rear, with white troops leading them. Gen. Banks, however, in order to test their military capacity, ordered them to the front. The Negroes at once rushed to the assigned point, and in the midst of the battle, they proceeded to storm the rebel portion opposite to them. They rushed in a body over the parapets and siege guns, and reached the interior of the fort, despite the opposition of a large number of rebels. The presence of the black soldiers inside, not less the probability that the pass they had made into the stronghold, seemed to create a spirit of fury in the enemy. They left their guns at all points and rushed to the quarter where the Negroes had prepared to make a vigorous struggle. The whites and blacks, in a moment, had a hand to hand conflict unprecedented for its ferocity.

The Negroes in the conflict were soon disarmed, and in defending themselves they rapidly used the weapons of savage humanity. In every position in which the struggle placed them, they fought with their teeth, biting their assailants in every available part of the body, kicking and scratching them. Soon, however, they had to succumb; the bayonet, the trigger, the revolver, and the merciless hands on their throats, doing the work for them with fearful fatality.

It may be here noted, as a key perhaps to other battles, that the presence of  the black troops made the rebels in the fort almost as ferocious as the blacks. In the attack, the enemy did not content himself with wounding the Africans: of eight hundred, six hundred were at once killed; when one was wounded, the assault was repeated until he died. Finding themselves thus overpowered, about 200 of the Negro troops rushed to the siege guns, jumped headlong over the walls, and were saved.

•••••

The Canal Convention at Chicago closed its proceedings on Wednesday night. Resolutions were passed unanimously for constructing the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and one around Niagara, to open a highway from the Gulf of Mexico to the St. Lawrence.

FRIDAY
JUNE 12, 1863
THE DAILY PALLADIUM (CT)

A Change in Public Opinion.

The events of the last few weeks have wrought a wonderful change in public opinion respecting the employment of Negro soldiers. A very large class of people, who six weeks ago were bitterly opposed to our using Negroes to help put down the rebellion, are now ready to insist that the only sensible way of conducting the war is to enlist all who are ready to serve as soldiers, without regard to color. The prospect of a draft has done something to excite this sentiment. Most men who are not anxious to enter into the service are quite willing that Negroes should be accepted if they themselves may thereby escape. The heroism of the black troops on several recent occasions has swept away the prejudices of all who really desire to see the rebellion put down, and therefore welcome every new agency which seems likely to help our cause. The fact that Negroes will fight has been proved beyond question. Even their most implacable and cowardly assailants cannot impeach their courage.

But there is one other reason why public sentiment has so rapidly changed in the last month. The cavalry raids into the midst of the enemy’s country have shown that the Confederacy is stripped of its fighting white men, and that everywhere the Negroes are anxious to escape from their masters and enter our service. They are thoroughly informed as to the nature of the contest now going on.

They understand that our flag is the banner of freedom, and that the deliverance from bondage, so long hoped for, must come, if at all, through the success of the Union cause. Hence the bravery of these blacks at Port Hudson and Pocotaglio. Hence the long train of six thousand sable emigrants marching into New Orleans from the plantations of the interior, the squadrons of mounted blacks following Kilpatrick in his raid through Virginia, and the thousands of men, women and children praying Grierson to take them with him to a land of freedom. With such facts as these daily coming to public notice, people are beginning to understand that the seeds of death to the Confederacy are planted in the Confederacy itself, and that the shortest road to the suppression of the rebellion is through universal emancipation. We swell our armies with Negro recruits, and at the same time we rob the confederacy of the industry on which the rebel armies live. The white labor of the North is needed here. No more men should be called into the field from those Northern states than is absolutely necessary. For the war lives upon the industry of the North, and our agriculture and manufactures must be sustained or the resources of the nation will fail. Every enlisted Negro saves a Northern white man from service and enables him to continue his labors here. Every Negro enlisted lessens the productive labor of the rebels and introduces demoralization among their slaves. Who will say then that Negroes shall not serve in our armies? Who will say that Negroes will not leave their masters? No one, surely, unless he is blind to the events daily transpiring, or devoted to the interests of those who have sought to ruin this free republic.

•••••

Col. Forney writes from Washington to the Philadelphia Press, that he has assurances from a gentleman in high position that, in a very short period, more than three hundred thousand colored men will be in arms under the old flag. A white soldier cannot be sent into the fields of the far South under a cost much less than one thousand dollars, while a black soldier, being found in the South, can be instantly and inexpensively enlisted.

General Hooker’s Army.

Washington, Thursday, June 11.

Affairs along the front of the Army of the Potomac remain as at the last advices, the enemy as well as our own troops maintaining their original line of battle below the town. Occasionally a gun is heard, and some scattering shots from skirmishers.

Intelligence from Caroline county, Va., shows that the enemy have no strong forces there. There are several picket guards at the fords and landings, and one at Bowling Green, the county seat, and one at the railroad. These comprise their entire strength.

The Neck this side of the Rappahannock is quiet. None of the enemy’s forces are known to be there. The health of our army is represented as excellent.

•••••

Pennsylvania Preparing for Defense.

Harrisburg, Pa., Thursday, June 11.

Major General Couch arrived this afternoon to consult with Governor Curtin on the best means of defending our border from anticipated invasion. They will be joined to-night by Major Generals Schenck and Brooks. The most energetic means are being devised and will be carried into effect at once. It is thought that the Governor will issue a proclamation to-morrow calling for the organization of minute men.

The War Department has created two new military districts to provide for the defense of Pennsylvania. The western district is designated the department of Monongahela, and embraces the territory west of Johnstown and Laurel ridge, Major General Brooks in command, headquarters at Pittsburgh. The eastern district embracing the balance of the State under command of Major General Couch, headquarters at Chambersburg. Each has full authority to organize an army corps consisting of infantry, cavalry and artillery. Harrisburg will be the point for troops to assemble and organize. General orders from General Couch will be issued to-morrow, calling upon the people of the State to organize immediately for the State defence. The time for action has arrived to save our State from invasion by rebel forces.

•••••

Dr. Colton has concluded to admit the boys and girls from our public schools to his laughing gas exhibition to-morrow afternoon, at five cents each. Let the little ones go and enjoy a treat. Dr. Colton will instruct as well as amuse them. His closing public entertainment last evening was altogether the best he has given, and afforded a genuine evening of laughter ad merriment to all present. The lady subjects were especially good.

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Over one hundred colored men have left Canada within the past few months to enlist in the black regiments. The most of them have old scores to settle with the rebels.

SATURDAY
JUNE 13, 1863
THE HALLOWELL GAZETTE (ME)

Cause of the Rebellion.

The Nashville, Tenn. Union, published in a slave state, thus lectures the “conservatives,” north and south, with regard to the cause of the rebellion. Facts and figures are entirely ignored by those who would make the people believe the rebellion was caused by anything short of the cursed institution of slavery. We copy from the Union as follows:

“You say, Conservative, that slavery is not the cause of the rebellion. What State originated the rebellion, cherished it for many years, when all other states shunned and denounced it, and finally fired the first gun of the war?

“South Carolina, where there are 402,406 slaves to 291,388 whites.

“And what State was next in the work of disunion?

“Mississippi, where there are 436,631 slaves to 353,091 whites.

“All but four of the Slave States seceded and rebelled, Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland and Delaware. Kentucky has 919,517 whites to only 225,483 slaves; Missouri has 1,063,509 whites to only 114,931 slaves; Maryland has 515,918 whites to only 87,189 slaves; and Delaware has 90,589 whites to only 1,798 slaves. In the four loyal Slave States the disloyal portions of them are generally the slave-holding portions of them. Even when we look at counties, the slave-holding precincts are disloyal, and the non-slave-holding precincts are loyal. We could specify, if it were necessary, several remarkable instances of this, within our personal knowledge, in Southern Kentucky.

“These are the facts which it is impossible to set aside.”

In another article the Union makes the following emphatic declarations:

“It is false to assert that ever was a day when slavery was acquiesced in by the nation. The arts and intrigues of politicians within a few years past have given an extraordinary power to the slaveocracy, and it has become the master of the Government. It is plain that either Slavery or the Government must perish. They are at eternal enmity; they cannot be reconciled; it is an evil no longer to be tolerated. Convinced of this fact, the voice of an overwhelming majority of the American people unites with that of the civilized world abroad in saying: ‘Down with Slavery!’ ”

•••••

Exploits of the S. C. Colored Regiment.—The late raid of the Second Carolina, Col. Montgomery, was performed by about three hundred men of that regiment. The correspondent of the Boston Herald, at Beaufort, fully describes this inroad against the enemy’s cherished “institution.” Wherever the steamers with the colored United States troops stopped, the following described incidents are said to have occurred:

“As the steamers went up the river, the slaves on the various plantations were just going to their tasks, and the flying pickets could be seen rushing from one plantation to another, with the information about the expedition. The Negroes seemed to have no clue to it, for as soon as they saw the boats they rushed towards them in droves.

“The drivers frantically rode about with whips and revolvers, threatening and ordering, trying in vain to stop the tide. In some instances they succeeded, and went driving off whole herds of Negroes into the woods, the artillery of the boats being generally useless, since it could not be used without danger to the Negroes. Wherever drivers could be seen detached from the contrabands, shells were pitched in among them with the effect of freeing the Negroes entirely from their presence. ->

“At one plantation some drivers got sixty Negroes locked into a storehouse, around which they were keeping guard. Some shells were fired at them, frightening them off, and the whole crowd of Negroes cam shouting and capering down to the boats.

“Much secesh property was destroyed, and the expedition returned with 829 contrabands—men, women and children. The able-bodied men—about two hundred in number—will be immediately drafted into Col. Montgomery’s regiment.”

•••••

Fredericksburg.—The latest news from the army, near Fredericksburg, asserts that part of our forces are across the Rappahannock, holding the rebels at bay. The greatest cavalry fight of the war occurred near Kelley’s Ford on Tuesday. The rebel Stuart had planned a cavalry raid with his entire force. He was badly whipped and driven back six miles, with heavy loss. Both sides were repeatedly driven back in eh course of the battle, though we succeeded in driving the rebels back to a point six miles southwest of where their pickets were first encountered, where Gen. Pemberton found the enemy so heavily reinforced with infantry and artillery, as to make it prudent to return to this side of the river. Our forces returned unmolested during the afternoon. The enemy declined making any further attempts to regain their lost ground.

We lost several valuable officers. The loss of the enemy in killed, wounded and prisoners, far exceeds ours. We got two or three of their brigades under fire of our artillery with the shell of short fuses, and tore them awfully.

•••••

A Slave Empire.—The Richmond Examiner is far more frank than many a Northern man who can be found, even at this late day, striving to make others believe that slavery is not the cause of the rebellion. Read the following bold and shameless avowals of the Examiner:

“The establishment of the Confederacy is verily a distinct reaction against the whole course of the mistaken civilization of the age. For ‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,’ we have deliberately substituted ‘Slavery, Subordination and Government.’ Those social and political problems which rack and torture modern society we have undertaken to solve for ourselves, in our own way, and upon our own principles. That ‘among equals equality is right;’ among those who are naturally unequal equality is chaos; that there are slave races born to serve, master races born to govern. Such are the fundamental principles which we inherit from the ancient world, which we lifted up in the face of a perverse generation that has forgotten the wisdom of its fathers; by those principles we live and in their defense we have shown ourselves ready to die. Reverently we feel that our Confederacy is a God-sent missionary to the nations, with great truths to preach. We must speak them boldly, and who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

¹ Actual losses were502 killed, 2,550 wounded, and 147 missing on the Union side and 500 all told on the Confederate.

² Losses for the entire Vicksburg campaign were actually 10,142 on the Northern and 9,091 on the Southern side.