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SUNDAY
JULY 28, 1861
THE DAILY TRUE DELTA |
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THE GREAT BATTLE AT MANASSAS
ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS
Richmond papers of the 23d and 24th, but
this morning's mail, furnish some additional particulars of the great
battle at Stone Bridge on Sunday last. It will require some days to
learn all the particulars of that great trial of strength between the
north and south. Below we give all of interest in the papers before us:
We are enabled to state on the best
authority, that the loss in killed, on our side, does not exceed five
hundred--probably not much over four hundred.
It is currently reported and even vouched
for by some of the passengers, that Gen. Scott was near the scene of
action in his carriage, when the retreat of his army took place. Scott
left the vehicle and escaped in one direction while the carriage drove
off in another. Our men, of course, pursued the carriage and captured
it, and in it found the sword and epaulettes of the old general. A
letter from Manassas tells the same story.1
A large number of muskets and other relics
of the battle were brought down last evening. Not the least interesting
among these were daguerreotype likenesses of females, found in the
pockets or haversacks of those who expected to whip the "rebels."
A doubtful rumor was in circulation that
John Cochrane and Lovejoy, members of Congress, who came to see the
fight, were taken prisoners.
The "contraband" articles captured
included fine brandies and wines, with which the federals probably
intended a jollification after their victory.
The enemy's lowest estimate of his loss is
four to five thousand.
THE EXTERMINATION OF SLAVERY
The New York World (black
republican) under the heading, "An alternative the south must shun," has
the following significant paragraph. Let Kentucky readers ponder it
well:
Anti-slavery discussions in this war
Congress is out of place, for the war claims the support of all true
men, whatever their opinions of slavery. But the northern senators who
participated in Thursday's debate did well in not shrinking from
the explicit avowal that, while they regarded the war as waged solely
for the supremacy of the constitution, yet, if it should come at last to
be a question whether the government or slavery should perish, the
latter must take the death. The south cannot too clearly understand
that. The preservation of the unity of this republic is a foregone
conclusion with the northern people--the one fixed, supreme
determination, against which nothing will be suffered to weigh for an
instant.
FOREIGN RECOGNITION
Memphis Avalanche, 25th--We have
positive assurance of the intention of both England and France to
recognize the independence of the Confederate States at an early day.
Their sympathies and good wishes are evidently with us. They know the
south to be their best customer--able to furnish them with products of
indispensable importance, and ready to take in exchange their
manufactures. They know, too, that ours is a liberal and enlightened
government, inclined to free trade, to the most liberal and unrestricted
commercial intercourse, and which repudiates the narrow and illiberal
policy that dictated the passage of the Morrill tariff bill, designed to
enrich and pamper a manufacturing aristocracy, at the expense of the
consumer. They also perceive the justice of our cause, and the atrocity
of the war waged against us by the Lincoln government. The success of
our arms will afford them only additional reason, for which they have
been waiting, to justify the full and formal recognition of our
nationality. |
BROUGHT HOME
The body of Sergeant J. D. Reynolds--one
of our New Orleans martyrs in the cause of liberty--was this morning
received at the Jackson railroad depot by a guard of honor, composed of
the members of the Washington Artillery now in this city. It was
conveyed to the arsenal of the artillery, on Girod street, where it will
remain in state till its removal on Sunday evening for burial. Thousands
will join in the sad procession and cast sprig of myrtle on his
tomb.
RESIGNED HER FREEDOM
Amelia Stone, a free negress aged 24
years, born at Seneca, N.Y., has instituted suit in the Sixth district
court, through her counsel, Col. Lemley, for the change of her status
from a free woman to a slave. She selected Recorder Adams as her master
When asked her reasons for the change, she stated that she would rather
remain here a slave than be obliged to go back and live in freedom among
the abolitionists of the north.
MANUFACTURE OF SMALL ARMS IN GEORGIA
Augusta Constitutionalist--We have
been informed that arrangements are being made to commence the
manufacture of small arms in Athens, Georgia. This is commendable and
should be imitated elsewhere. The machine shops of Augusta might engage
in the work with profit.
Muskets and rifles are more needed than
any other species of arms at present, and we have no doubt that the
demand would equal the supply that could be furnished here. We hope that
the subject will meet with the attention which it deserves, and that our
machinists and gunsmiths will follow the example of those of Athens.
LONGEVITY
Norfolk Herald--Rebecca Wishart,
(colored,) the family servant of the late Dr. William B. Selden, of this
city, died Thursday at the advanced age of one hundred and ten years.
She leaves three great-great-grandchildren.
TRAGEDY IN ILLINOIS
At McLeansboro, on the 13th inst., in a
fight about politics, Pickney Davis was killed by Leith Craig, who, in
turn, together with two sons, and two others, were all desperately
wounded.
-----
The Lynchburg Virginian of the 23d
contains the annexed paragraphs:
The enemy tried the same ruse on Monday
that they practiced after the first Battle of Bull's Run. They sent in a
flag of truce, asking permission to bury their dead, which President
Davis refused, saying that he would attend to that business, and inter
their dead more decently than themselves would do it. Davis was right,
for if the enemy had not, as before, employed the time in making
entrenchments, they would have lied about the number of their killed. As
it is, the world will have a much better chance of learning the truth.
It is said that the celebrated Tiger
Rifles of New Orleans, were pitted against Ellsworth's Zouaves, and
being surrounded were cut to pieces, only about six or eight having
escaped alive. The poor creatures performed prodigies of valor, and no
doubt each one slew his man.
We are informed that a large number of New
York politicians, the most pestilent brood of devils above ground, were
taken prisoners by our gallant troops on Sunday. As those are the
fellows who have brought on this war, and not the poor wretches who have
been deluded to offer their bodies as a sacrifice to the demon of black
republicanism--we would suggest that the fellows be driven through the
streets of Richmond hand-cuffed, with their heads shaved, and their ears
cropped. No punishment is too ignoble to be visited upon them, for they
have ever been a curse to the country. |
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MONDAY
JULY 29, 1861
THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN |
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REPORT OF A WOMAN FROM MANASSAS
CONDITION OF FEDERAL PRISONERS
Mrs. Hinsdale, whose husband is a member
of the 2d Michigan regiment, which is now on the Virginia side of the
Potomac, has returned to Alexandria from Manassas Junction. Mrs.
Hinsdale was at Centreville during
the engagement on the 21st, and waited there for the return of soldiers,
looking for her husband, but failed to see him. She supposed him to be a
prisoner at Manassas. The enemy captured her and conveyed her thither..
They employed her as a hospital nurse. On Thursday she procured a pass
from Beauregard and his consent to leave. She walked to Alexandria,
where she arrived Saturday morning. Her husband she discovered was not a
prisoner, but safe in camp, with his regiment.
Mrs. Hinsdale reports that in the hospital
at Manassas there are a large number of our wounded troops. The enemy
say they have as prisoners over 1000 of our men. She brings verbal
messages from several of them to their friends, and says the wounded are
well cared for. The offer of liberty has been offered to all, provided
they will take an oath not again to bear arms against the confederates.
A captain of a Maine company and several privates accepted the
condition, but others refused.
Among the federal prisoners in the
hospital are Henry L. Perrin and Lieut. Underhill of New York, employed
as hospital stewards; E. F. Taylor of N.J., surgeon quarter master; C.
J. Murphy, Dr. Swift, John Bagley, and Mr. Viedanburgh of the New York
14th. The last named is a hospital steward. There are also in the
hospital Surgeon Bruxton of the 5th Maine, and a surgeon of the 38th New
York and 1st Minnesota regiments, and of the 3d regiment of federal
infantry. All the foregoing were taken prisoners at our hospital. They
are confined in a barn. D. C. Sprague of New Haven, and Mr. Wiggins of
Brooklyn, who was also wounded, are also prisoners.
Mrs. Hinsdale says the confederates buried
their dead as fast as they could be recovered, and they report of these
only 50, but their wounded exceeds 1500. She saw many of our dead
unburied as she passed over the battle ground, and distinguished some of
them by their uniforms.
She says that the force of the enemy at
Manassas is very large and that the officers are very busy drilling
their troops, and Beauregard is constantly on the move, going from one
part of the camp to the other, arranging, as they said, some great
movement.
She reports that a large force of the
enemy is at Fairfax, with heavy guns.
JEFF DAVIS CROWS LOUDLY
By the cars Tuesday night, president Davis
returned from the battle field to Richmond. In response to calls from an
immense crowd who had come together to greet him, he alluded to the
grand absorbing topic of the day. "The enemy," he said, "with taxes they
had been imposing on us for twenty years, had fitted out an army on a
magnificent scale. They had come over to Virginia with plenty of arms
and ammunition, and with ambulances fitted up in such a style of luxury
as if they thought they were still taxing the South. They had 5 or 600
army wagons with them, and provisions of every kind in abundance. In the
whole campaign they had over 50,000 men. Their finest parks of heavy and
light artillery now are ours. They left everything behind them which
they could throw away. The train has brought in 100 prisoners and there
are 1200 more coming, including 65 officers. The probability is that the
enemy lost 10,000 men. Our casualties will not exceed 1200."
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REBEL ATTACK AT FORTRESS MONROE
The rebel cavalry charged on our pickets
near Fortress Monroe, last Friday. We killed one man and wounded others.
An attack is expected nightly on Newport News. The enemy are now in
force at Yorktown.
During the last few hours, the rebels
extended their pickets a mile and a half nearer to Hampton.
Col. Max Weber fully expected to be
attacked Friday night, the rebels being then some distance this side of
Newmarket bridge, with a strong force of infantry and cavalry.
An order arrived from Washington, Thursday
night, for four regiments to be transferred to Washington; and
accordingly Col. Baker's, Col. Duryea's, and the 3d and 4th New York
sailed as soon as possible. They will forma brigade under command
of Col. Baker. Several "contrabands," disguised in uniforms, probably
left with the California regiments. Owing to this movement, the
contemplated advance on Fox Hill ahs been abandoned. The place of the
departed troops will be filled by a large number of recruits.
La Mountain made a balloon ascension on
Thursday evening, at Hampton, but on account of the high wind, he could
not attain a great elevation.
HAMPTON ABANDONED BY FEDERAL TROOPS
It becoming apparent that the rebels
meditated an attack on Hampton, Gen. Butler determined to abandon the
town in case of a formidable advance, and at 7 o'clock Friday evening,
the order was given for families and goods to be removed within an hour.
Orders were also issued to burn the town rather than have it fall into
the hands of the enemy. The general well understands that the possession
of Hampton by the rebels will be of no particular importance. A stampede
of the colored population took place all Friday night, and on Saturday
the road was lined with fugitives going to the fortress, and army wagons
and carts, bringing in goods from Hampton. Nearly 1000 "contrabands"
must have come in during 24 hours. For the present, those not employed
will be quartered in and around the seminary buildings, lately the
headquarters of Col. Duryea.
About 9, Friday night, the naval brigade
and Massachusetts companies came in and encamped near the fortress. Max
Weber's regiment came in Saturday morning and will occupy Camp Hamilton.
An alarm occurred Saturday morning, and
several buildings in Hampton were fired by our troops. The rebels will
doubtless occupy the place Sunday, unless it be burned.
A flag of truce came in from the rebels,
Saturday, professing a wish to exchange Shurtleff and Capt. Jenkins.
LATER NEWS FROM CALIFORNIA
The pony express has arrived at Fort
Kearney, with San Francisco dates to the 17th.
The Pacific telegraph is now extended 50
miles eastward from Carson valley station, and news is telegraphed to
California from the terminus, which is called Sand Spring station. The
company is confident that they will have the line completed to Salt Lake
at the time specified, Dec. 1st. The distance from Carson valley to Salt
Lake is 536 miles.
The first daily overland mail westward
passed Sand Spring station on the evening of the 15th, and would arrive
at an Francisco on the 18th. On the route between Carson valley and Salt
Lake there are 22 mail stations established for changing horses, &c. The
route is a rough one, and the company intend to have stations every 12
miles for the first few months, and next spring hotels will be erected
at convenient points. The overland journey will then be agreeable, even
for private conveyances. |
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TUESDAY
JULY 30, 1861
THE HARTFORD DAILY COURANT |
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Occasionally we meet a man who says in
conversation, "It's no use trying to avoid the issue; we must make this
a war of emancipation, and so shorten it!" Now, to say nothing of
the folly of expecting that a mere proclamation of emancipation,
unaccompanied by an army to give it weight, would ever penetrate to the
inland plantations of the South, or have any more effect than a dozen
similar proclamations, which may, for aught we know, have already been
made by the man in the Moon, let us look at the effect it would have in
Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland and Delaware. Its effect may be inferred
from the following editorial which we clip from the Louisville
Democrat, which is struggling to keep Kentucky out of the abyss of
Secession:
"The Secessionists are very certain that
this is a war on slavery. They wish it was so; or at least that
they could persuade every one South it were so. The President
says it is not; his Generals in their proclamations say not; and nobody
North says it is, except a few who have been disunionists up to this
time, and who are at heart disunionist now. This disunion faction North
are very desirous to shape this war against slavery. When they find it
can't done they will be against the war. They pray daily that Kentucky
may be plunged into the revolution. She is one of the slave States, and
is in the way of a war on the institution of slavery. Let all the
slaveholders be rebels, and the coast will be more clear for a general
crusade upon the institution.
This faction and the Secessionists play
into each others' hands. Each furnishes ammunition to the other, with
which to assail conservative men at home. It is obvious now, however,
that whenever the Administration avows that its purpose is to war on
slavery, it will neither be able to raise men or money. It would learn
promptly from its Generals and its troops that they bargained to save
the Government and its Constitution, not to destroy it. The President
has been careful from first to last to avoid anything that would be
construed into such a purpose. The suggestion is contrary to all his
declarations and all his acts. Still the Secessionists are so anxious to
believe that it is a war on slavery, that they will believe it anyhow.
The Abolitionists say it is a war on slavery, and the Secessionists
believe every word they say. They have great faith in the Abolitionists.
-----
The New Orleans Sunday Delta of the
14th inst. advises planters to pick their cotton and store it unseeded
in pens, well covered, and abide events. If the Northern army approach,
the planters are told to commit the cotton to the flames. This applies
to the present crop. In relation to future crops, they are to prepare to
reduce the product of cotton to a very low figure, and devote their
labor and land to other productions which will be needed for consumption
during the war, and to act on the presumption that the contest is to be
a protracted one. |
REGENERATION OF THE ARMY
The entrance of Gen. McClellan on duty has
inspired the troops with renewed enthusiasm. He has thoroughly examined
the entrenchments, instituted discipline among the soldiers, made
regimental officers understand that they can no longer be lounging about
their camps, revised and restricted the much-abused passport system, and
his vigorous measures are beginning everywhere to be felt.
-----
There is great excitement at St. Louis
among the German population in regard to the inhuman outrage recently
committed upon one of their number in the northerly part of the state,
and in regard to which the telegraph has already advised us. Lieutenant
Jaeger, of the Federal Cavalry troops, was wounded in an engagement,
when Col. Ben Sharp, for the purpose of making the wounded man
comfortable, started with him in a buggy to a farm house. A skulking
band of rebels met them, fired and mortally wounded Col. Sharp, whose
horse ran, throwing both men out upon the roadside. Here they were
overtaken by the mounted band of incarnate fiends. Unmindful of the
cries for mercy on the part of Sharp, who, mortally wounded from the
balls fired into him by the blood-thirsty band, and now cut and bruised
from his fall from the buggy, begged and besought them to let him pass
in peace the little remaining span of his existence, they deliberately
hung them both to the nearest tree! It is also stated
that, with the vindictiveness of savages and the ferocity of brutes,
their bloody hands did not stop here, but that, cutting down the bodies
they were cut and mangled, and subjected to the most revolting usage.
Jaeger was one of the wealthiest and most respected citizens of St.
Louis. The German are so exasperated at the outrage that it is feared
they will retaliate.
-----
A Western military man, who was on the
field and near where the charge of the Southern cavalry which decided
the battle was made, expresses the opinion that to the inefficiency of
the Commanding General's staff, more than to any other thing, was the
disgraceful rout owing. Through this inefficiency many of Gen.
McDowell's orders never reached the officers to whom they were
addressed. In the armies of all other countries, it is understood that
no one but an officer of complete military education, and of enlarged
military experience, can aspire to a place on a General's staff. We have
acted on a quite different principle in our army. But doubtless
the experience we have recently gained, at so dear a price, will not be
thrown away. The same writer says"
"The panic was commenced in a light
battery commanded by a fat Lieutenant. He was proceeding under orders to
flank one of the enemy's batteries, when a detachment of their cavalry
made a dash at them. Instead of unlimbering and essaying to receive the
charge with grape or canister, he turned and instantly fled, leaving two
of his pieces on the field." |
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WEDNESDAY
JULY 31, 1861
THE HARTFORD DAILY COURANT |
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DEFENSE OF SECRETARY WELLES
Commodore Paulding addresses a note to the
New York Times, expressing regret at the denunciation of
the Secretary of the Navy. He says that
"It is unfair and unjust, and evidently
caused by interested parties who had in view their disappointments in
the sale of worthless ships, or in overreaching the integrity of our
honest chief of the Navy Department. When Mr. Welles came into office,
less than four months ago, there were few ships and no men, and the
stampede of the Southern officers and clerks sadly crippled the Navy
Department. Since then seven thousand seamen have been sent upon the
blockade of the rebellious ports, and our ships recalled from abroad. A
part of the system of villainy practiced by the conspirators holding the
reins of the Government was to keep our ships away from home, and our
rendezvous2 closed. The Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Toucey,
was appealed to in vain, and as a consequence, all our available force
was abroad.
"The Editor of the Times knows that
a Navy cannot be created in a day, nor can it be created at all without
ships and men. In the absence of our men-of-war we had to obtain and arm
such ships as we could bet by charter or purchase, and from the
beginning of our troubles nothing ahs been left undone to secure the
best interests of the Government, our mechanics at our Navy-yards often
working night and day. The Secretary of the Navy, I know, has been most
zealous to accomplish whatever could be done to provide a sufficient
naval force for our wants. These wants were very great for the blockade
of so extensive a coast as ours, and we are still going on buying and
arming all the ships that are in any manner suitable for war purposed,
and this will probably be continued until the ships under construction
are ready to take the place of the miserable shells of vessels that were
hurriedly, many of them, purchased and chartered by patriotic citizens
for the use of the Government, at an exorbitant price. It is true that
many vessels have been offered that were refused, and many men
professing to have no other than the public interest in view, were not
employed, and that men who had been employed were found to be expensive
and their services declined; but all that could be done for the good of
the country with an honest purpose I am satisfied has been done by the
Secretary of the Navy and all around him, with a zeal, decision, energy
and honesty that defies all criticism and assault from any and all
quarters."
GOING WITH A RUSH
A merchant of the town left for New York
last week, and as was his custom, left in his desk blank checks signed
for the use of those to whom he intrusted his business in his absence.
His son, who has the fast ways of the town, appropriated four of these
checks, intending to fill them out at his leisure. Yesterday morning he
raised $200 by one of them, and was about leaving by the 10 o'clock
train for Litchfield, where a female awaited him, when officer Sanderson
took him by the collar and brought him up town, when he and "the
governor" had a settlement. The youth agreed to go to New York and
enlist in the Navy for $25. To this the father agreed, and the
individual leaves to-day for teh briny deep. |
AMONG THE REBELS
Messrs. Dougherty of the 71st N.Y. and
Allen of the 11th Mass., who escaped from Manassas while their sentinel
was asleep, were examined by the sanitary commission at Washington on
Monday. As to the condition of our wounded at the hospitals of the
enemy, they state that the report of the hospital being burned with our
wounded in it by the confederates is erroneous, and say that the
suffering are well cared for. There were 250 wounded soldiers at Studley
Church hospital. That the dead were lying unburied was true only of the
Fire Zouaves, against whom a special animosity is felt, and the Brooklyn
14th, whose uniform was mistaken for that of the Zouaves. The
confederates claim to have from 1200 to 1500 federal prisoners, 42 of
whom are officers, field, line and staff, and 12 of our medical staff.
They also claim to have taken 18 pieces of our artillery, which is
correct. The confederates say that from 1,800 to 2,000 of our men are
killed. Two regiments had been detailed to bury the dead.
They say on the other side that they have
a force of 10,000 men at Centreville, 10,000 at Fairfax, with a large
force of cavalry, one regiment at Leesburg, and one at Ball's Mill. They
talk about an advance on Washington, and say that they intend to cross
the Potomac 17 miles above the city.
Mr. Dougherty says that he saw four
cart-loads of small arms pass by his prison, that had been thrown away
by our men and picked up by the confederates. The soldiers of the enemy
were also equipping themselves largely with clothing, blankets,
knapsacks, etc., taken from our soldiers found upon the battlefield.
The confederates boasted that they had a
big trap laid for our army if it had got to the Junction. They had
80,000 men there on Sunday, and would have had 10,000 more from Richmond
but for an accident to the train by which they could not get up in
season.3 The engineer of the train was shot as a traitor,
they believing that the cars were run off purposely by him.
There is a scarcity of provisions at
Manassas, especially of flour. There was also a good deal of discontent
among the soldiers from being paid off in the fifty-cent shinplasters of
the provisional government.
REBELS IN GOVERNMENT SERVICE
The revelations which are being made
before Mr. Potter's special committee on the departments are somewhat
startling. Thus far he has evidence that secessionists still continue to
be employed in most every department under government. Some of the
secretaries have discharged clerks against whom not a suspicion of
disloyalty was ever entertained, and retained those who have openly
boasted in the public offices this week that they rejoiced at the defeat
of the federal troops in the late battle. These statistics will be
published soon. It is also in evidence before the committee that the
majority of employees in the arsenal here are secessionists.
Nine workmen were arrested on Monday at
the arsenal on a charge of being secessionists. The evidence against
them was laid before the special committee. It would be well for an
investigation to be made as to their work among bomb shells, etc.
|
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THURSDAY
AUGUST 1, 1861
THE PITTSFIELD SUN |
|
A NOVEL WAY OF SMUGGLING--
PICAYUNE SMUGGLING
Cincinnati Enquirer, July 16--The
scarcity of certain drugs in the South has exercised the inventive faculties
of certain ingenious speculators, whose patriotism, when brought into an
antagonistic position with dollars and cents, won't stand the crucible. We
heard, yesterday, of a large lot of quinine--now a scarce article in the
South--which has reached Tennessee concealed in a show wagon, the driver of
which started from some point in Indiana, crossed the river under the
character of being the avant courier of a show, and so contrived to travel
through Kentucky until he reached a congenial climate, making, it is said,
$10,000 by the trip.
It is said that needles sell in the South for
five cents each, and we learn that two or three weeks since, an individual
smuggled to Nashville in his trunk, and about his person, a sufficient
number to clear upwards of $2,000. We learn that he has since made a similar
speculation upon spool cotton, also a scarce article, and like needles very
likely to escape detection. This kind of business--small potato though it
is--is making the fortune of scores.
THE BATTLE AT MANASSAS
N. Y. Times,
Washington, July 21--To read of a
battle, with its poetry of heroism, is a very fine thing. All men applaud
the bold fellow, and all women throw laurels on the gallant soldier who is
ready to throw down his life for his country's flag. If one sees it, the
thing is far different. I was at the defeat of our forces near Centreville,
and as I witness the hot shot and terrible shell tearing through the air; as
I saw the horrible grape and shrapnel doing its too certain work all around;
as I saw my friends storming, heroically, masked batteries, which the
terrible incompetence of their leaders did not allow them to silence, owing
to insufficient reinforcements being sent in proper time; when I saw these
hereoes at $11 a month losing heads, legs and arms, in thick profusion
around me; when I witness the horrible rout bro't about by a masterly flank
movement of their picked cavalry and sharp-shooters, and when I saw our
artillery men unlimber their guns, cut loose the traces of their horses and
flee, leaving the pieces behind; when I saw, too, our boasted cavalry flying
in the same mad haste, with regiment after regiment pushing after them like
so many sheep, throwing for three miles guns, bayonets, cartridge-boxes, and
provisions of every kind away--dragoons riding over infantry in their
flight, and the ground absolutely covered for three miles with bodies, then
I realized as only those can who see it, the actual horrors of war. . . .
Congress adjourned Friday until Monday
expressly to allow the members to see the show. Neither Congress nor the
Union wish to see another such sight. At the grand stampede civilians were
awfully scared, and I think several of them were taken prisoner. I witnessed
some terrific feats of running among them. Many lost their carriages, and
for aught I know are skulking about the woods now. One very fat Congressman
offered an artilleryman $20 for a horse, but after he had the horse he found
it so hard to mount that he turned pale all over. He John Galpined along4
. . . until his horse threw him, when his agony was fearful. Three of us
boosted him up, and he cut again as if the d---l was after him. That M.C.5
will never go to the wars again.
|
THE FRAUDS STILL CONTINUE
In spite of ample instructions on all sides
against frauds upon the soldiery, the system of peculation is continued. The
N. Y. Herald says:
The Twelfth Massachusetts Regiment--This
gallant regiment passed through New York, on Wednesday, on its way to
Washington. By the shocking mismanagement of some of the agents of the War
Department, Brigadier General Cummings, we understand, they were compelled
to go to the capital, as so many other regiments have done, by the way of
Harrisburgh--fifteen hours inconvenient travel out of the way, and at an
extra expense of nearly two thousand dollars, to put money into the pocket
of some Pennsylvania contractor.
This is deplorable corruption, and should be
put a stop to at once. The privates of the Massachusetts Twelfth complained
bitterly at being made the victims of the avarice of venal government
agents, and there should be no delay in changing a system against which
popular indignation is beginning to rise up sternly and in a manner which
must prevail over the individuals who are personally interested in
perpetuating so shameful a state of things.
-----
Capture of a Valuable Prize--Advices
from Key West to July 19th, announce the arrival there, in charge of a prize
crew, of the barque Pilgrim, of New York, from Bordeaux. She was
captured by the Brooklyn, while attempting to run the blockade of New
Orleans. Her cargo of brandy is stated to be worth $100,000.
-----
The Paris Moniteur states that without
doubt the photographist, St. Victor,6 has actually discovered the secret of
reproducing colors by the camera, and rendering them permanent. He has
subjected pictures taken by his new method for several hours to the direct
action of the solar rays, without producing any visible change in the tints.
Blue, which has hitherto been regarded as well nigh unattainable in the
photograph, is now copied vividly. The same is especially true of yellow and
green. The process is not disclosed.
-----
N. Clark, of Salisbury, recently found one of
his lambs dead and badly torn. He sprinkled strychnine on the body and left
it to be devoured by the murderer, and o the next day visited his bait and
found a bald-headed eagle, which measured seven feet and four inches across
its wings from tip to tip. He again visited the spot, and found a large wild
cat, and upon the third visit he found two dead crows and a skunk. On the
fourth visit he nothing but a--scent.
-----
Apropos to the disaster of Sunday, the
Albany Journal says we must have abler officers if we have to import
them. We must have more and heavier artillery, and more cavalry. We must
have less holiday display--less trotting out of regiments for the benefit of
distinguished visitors--less loose discipline--less absence of Colonels and
Captains from their posts--less wrangling among rival aspirants--less mock
court martials--and more of the earnest culture of the camp. |
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FRIDAY
AUGUST 2, 1861
THE BARRE GAZETTE |
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THE PERILS OF WAR BALLOONS
The Washington correspondent of the
Philadelphia Press says:
Wise's balloon went up this morning early,
and, when between Fort Corcoran and Ball's Cross, it was seen to
collapse suddenly and fall with great rapidity. The general impression
is that it was fired into. Your reporter was at Fort Corcoran at the
time, and witnessed the swift descent of the balloon. It was too far off
to ascertain how many were in the car, but it is feared that their
escape from a sudden and terrible death was impossible.
The balloon was up yesterday, and could be
seen from the city sailing over Virginia. It rested during the night,
and went up again this morning, and was but a short time in the air
before it collapsed, leaving only a small section of the top filled with
gas.
The danger of accident from shot will ever
operate as a serious objection to the use of balloons over the enemy's
grounds; for on going near enough to obtain a view of their works, the
balloon is within reach of three and four mile rifle cannon, which
without any trouble can be so suspended as to point upward, or in any
direction required. The rifled cannon of the Second Rhode Island throw
shot four miles, and to be of any service a balloon cannot be one half
of that distance from the spot to be examined. Even at an elevation of a
mile, no balloonist could have discovered the batteries at Bull Run; but
not discovering them, he might report that no such defences existed
there. The balloon may, however, be used with great advantage in noting
the advance of troops on the main road, and in watching the general
involvement of an army during an engagement.
MEXICO
The nature of the troubles in the United
States are now well understood by the people of Mexico, and that all the
leading minds are favorable to the national government. The Mexican
congress has exhibited this in a substantial manner by a decree granting
our government the right to march troops over Mexican territory, if
necessary, in operations in the southwest. It was passed in secret
session by an unanimous vote. A copy has been transmitted by Gov. Corwin
to the state department at Washington.
-----
Water for Horses--French horse
doctors have discovered that a horse can live longer without solid food
than without water. He can live twenty-five days without the former, and
but five without the latter, though eating solid food. A horse which had
been deprived of water for three days drank eleven gallons in three
minutes. |
SUCCESS OF THE DAILY OVERLAND MAIL
In the war excitement our people have
quite overlooked one of the most substantial triumphs of peace which ahs
marked our recent history. We refer to the entire success of the Daily
Overland Mail, which went into operation on 1st July. The first coach of
the new line, which left Placerville on the 1st of July, arrived at St.
Joseph on the 18th ult., in only seventeen days and one hour from one
terminus to the other! The schedule time during the summer season is
twenty days. The agents write that their drivers had not the slightest
difficulty in making their time; on the contrary, they came in ahead of
time without any effort to that end. Four passengers came with the first
coach, and some two hundred additional passengers from California were
already booked for the coaches to come as soon as they could be brought.
The public should not forget that the
steamers no longer carry the mail. Notwithstanding this fact has been
widely published, a large number of correspondents still accumulate
their letters and newspapers at the principal Post Offices, . . . Let it
be remembered that the California mail now leaves St. Joseph every day
in the week, and letters may be mailed on each and every day, at any
Post Office in the loyal States. Postage, ten cents, always prepaid.
CAMP MEETING AT MARTHA'S VINEYARD
We learn from A. D. Hatch, Esq., that A.
G. Pierce, Esq., agent of the New Bedford Steamboat Company, has
negotiated for a first class steamer to run during the continuance of
the Camp Meeting to be holden at Wesleyan Grove, August 19, and that she
will be placed on the route from New Bedford to Edgartown in a few days,
in place of the steamer Eagle's Wings.
-----
The following extract is from the Augusta
(Ga.) Constitutionalist:
"Did the intelligent men of the North
really expect that Southern gentlemen, who compose so large a part of
the southern armies, would be such soft-headed Hotspurs as to sink the
consciousness of the vast difference between themselves and the hireling
ragamuffins and vagrants, and escaped jailbirds, that form the staple of
the invading hosts--that they were willing to recognize these vagabonds
with knightly courtesy, and invite them to tilts and tournaments? Do
they come in the true spirit of knights errant to test their prowess
with Southern chivalry, with measured weapons, and in an open arena, man
to man, and eye to eye?
-----
"Is your father at home?" inquired a man
of the little girl who admitted him. "Is your name Bill?" she asked.
"Some people call me so," he replied. "Then he is not at home, for I
heard him tell John, if any bill came to say he was not at home." |
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SATURDAY
AUGUST 3, 1861
THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN |
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THE CHAPLAINS IN THE ARMY
America presumes to call herself, and by
courtesy is called, a Christian nation. We "don't see it" always, but
the name will serve to distinguish it from a Mohammedan nation, and
should be retained as a matter of convenience. There are, however,
certain things which should be done to make the name mean something. A
man who calls himself a gentleman, and sleeps in the gutter every night
has got to wash his hands and face in the morning, and button his coat
over his linen, or people will smile at his protestations. A woman who
pretends to be virtuous, yet receives the calls of gentlemen at
suspicious hours of the day and night, should complain at the police
office of being insulted in the street and frightened nearly to death at
least once in three months, if she would hope to preserve a spotless
reputation. So a nation which pretends to be Christian should do
something now and then, even over and above publishing its laws in the
New York Independent, to pay for a respectable name, and
justify the seizure of a very valuable adjective.
One would suppose that the least a
Christian nation could do would be to give the chaplains of its armies a
high rank and respectable pay. In an army, rank is everything. A man who
occupies the office of a colonel has the influence and respectability of
a colonel. So a captain and a major general are very far apart--quite as
far as a captain and a private. In the call for troops, made by the
president on the 4th of May, he stated that each regiment might have as
chaplain a minister of some denomination, whose rank and pay should be
that of a captain of cavalry, viz: $145.50 a month. Well, this was not
bad; though when it is considered how much a first class chaplain can do
for the moral condition of a regiment, and for the maintenance of
discipline, it is, perhaps, small pay and indifferent rank. When it is
remembered, however, that we are a "Christian nation," and that a first
class Christian minister is truly the peer of any man living, and that
the higher the rank given to such a man in the army the greater will be
his influence, it does not seem to be quite the thing to say that he
will have only the rank and social standing and significance of a
captain of cavalry who does most things "like a trooper"--swearing
included.
But the clergy of the United States were
satisfied with this, and made no complaint. The best talent of the
pulpit stood ready to respond, and did respond to the call of the
volunteers who left the several loyal states for the war. Many have left
large families behind them, and splendid salaries. One left for the
hardships of the camp, and the comparatively insignificant pay of the
chaplain's office, a salary of $5,000. After some seventy or more
of these men had accompanied their regiments to the field of operations,
an amendment was tacked on to the army bill, and passed by the Senate,
reducing their pay to that of post captains--$80 a month. This reduces
the pay to the point at which none of them can live, and degrades the
whole thing. We were exceedingly glad to notice that the chaplains in
the services joined in a remonstrance, stating that they left their
homes with a definite pledge from the president for the pay we have
already stated, and calling upon Congress to make the pledge good.
We presume that the protest of the
chaplains will not be disregarded. Who the author of this proposed
degradation of rank, pay and influence of these worthy and most
Christian teachers is, we do not know, but we do know that there are men
in Congress who look upon them with contempt, or only as ornamental
appendages to a camp, like vivandiers and pet dogs and children. There
are others who regard them as ministers to a certain superstitious
sentiment in the army which they are willing to foster, or which they
think it necessary to humor. If chaplains are anything, and have any
business in the army, or anywhere else, they are ministers of Jesus
Christ, and teachers ordained by God himself. As such, they should be
treated by every government calling itself Christian; and they should
have rank accordingly wherever they are in the employ of the government.
The simple truth is that our governmental Christianity is a governmental
humbug. The men who fix the rank and pay of the chaplains have no more
conception of the dignity of Christianity, and the position which its
worthy teachers should occupy in a Christian nation, than horses. They
have only to degrade their rank and pay to bring into the army chaplains
who shall be after their own sort--a curse alike to the army and to
Christianity.
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FOREIGN ITEMS
It has been the barbarous practice in
Turkey to put to death all male children born to members of the imperial
family. It appears that the new sultan has saved one of his boys. It was
generally believed that if Abdul Aziz Effendi had ever had a son, the
child had paid the penalty of his birth in so exalted a station. Lately,
however, the sultan has presented to some of his ministers a fine little
boy, of four or five years of age, as his son. How the safety of this
child was assured is not known. Some say that he has been always dressed
in girl's clothes, and so brought up as a niece of Sultan Abdul Medjid;
others will have it that he was carried off to Egypt at the moment of
his birth, and that there he has been "keeping dark" during these early
years of his life. It is more probable that the humane disposition of
the late sultan was the real cause of his safety.
Muskets,, which were offered at the
standard price of 45 francs--nine dollars--when the American agents
first arrived in France and Belgium, have now augmented to 75
francs--fifteen dollars. This is partly due to the fact that Mr. Butler
King bids against the agents of the northern states, and that the agents
of those states even bid against each other. The latter think Mr. King
bids high only because he does not expect to pay, and hopes thereby to
embarrass them.
Mann and Yancey, agents of the secession
states of America to England, and who are to visit from London the other
states of Europe, give out that they will not commence the tour until
the confederate states shall have been officially recognized by England
and France. They seem to be preparing for permanent residence abroad.
A letter from Rome of June 29, says: The
pope is going fast; he is dying in sleep. The physician, Francesco Sani,
who was lately sent for, could not understand his strange malady. The
following, among other symptoms, show the utter falsity of the
assertions made by the French journals that his holiness has recovered:
a persistent state of somnolence; continual pain in the epigastric
region; a sort of paralytic trembling all over the body, but
particularly in the hands; cold shivering fits so severe that he is
obliged to be wrapped up in blankets; great depression of spirits, and
such a want of appetite that he can swallow nothing but ices.
The Cracow journals announce the death in
that city of a man named Brikowski, who won the great prize of 250,000
florins in the Austrian lottery last year. To obtain immediate
possession of his fortune, he paid a discount of 11,000 florins, but
from the moment he got it in his possession, he seems never to have
enjoyed a moment's peace, so fearful was he that some robber would strip
him of his unexpected wealth. He kept it in an iron chest, locked up in
an arched vault, and visited it morning and night, to see that all was
safe, till at last, from excitement and anxiety, he fell ill, and typhus
supervening, death soon delivered him from all his troubles.
-----
The Philadelphia mint has been coining,
lately, $400,000 a day, chiefly in double eagles. It has now in its
vaults $3,500,000 in bullion, which will be manufactured into half and
quarter eagles and dollar pieces. Very little silver or copper is being
coined. The receipts of the California mint have, for a considerable
period, been very large. For the week ending July 6 they were
$2,000,000.
MISCELLANEOUS
A new question as to the treatment of
converted polygamists is raised in the English church missionary
society. Dr. Colenso, bishop of Natal, Africa, has addressed to the
archbishop of Canterbury a very interesting letter upon the question,
"What to do with polygamy already found existing among heathen
converts?" The London papers style this "A Bishop's Defense of
Polygamy," but it is rather an argument in favor of letting heathens
keep their plurality of wives already married, rather than turn them
loose, disgraced, dishonored and homeless widows for life. He distinctly
recognizes polygamy as an unchristian institution, but thinks that God
is just as much disposed to allow it in the present instance, when it
has been committed through ignorance, as in the case of Abraham. There
is much curiosity to know how the archbishop will decide the case.
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1 This story is totally false. General
Scott was in Washington at the time.
2 Recruiting stations.
3 Meaning, "in time."
4 Assumed to be a reference to John
Galpin, a famous English cricket player.
5 M.C. : "Member of Congress"
6
Niépce de St. Victor, an early pioneer in color
photography
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