SUNDAY
FEBRUARY 9, 1862
THE DAILY PICAYUNE (LA)

Late and Interesting
from the South Atlantic Coast.

The Charleston Courier, of the 4th, says:

A portion of a whaling bark or brig, including the name :New England,” was driven in against one of the Atlantic wharves (South) on Saturday evening. It is no doubt from one of the submarine investments lately made off our harbor for the benefit of all Northern owners of old and useless hulls. Within the last few days a large quantity of wrecked material, consisting of blocks, spars, &c., have been picked up in and near this harbor. These articles have undoubtedly come from the Lincoln stone fleet sunk near this port, and which the winds and waves have been gradually breaking up. Many of the smaller specimens are being distributed over the city, and will in time be among the curiosities of the Lincoln war, and others that are more valuable are being sold by the wreckers.

A dispatch received here a few days ago spoke of heavy firing on the Carolina side of the Savannah river. The Charleston Mercury, of the 4th, thus explains this report:

The firing which seems to have created such a sensation in Savannah was from the enemy’s guns. A little before eleven o’clock, the Yankees—i.e., sailors, for it is thought that no soldiers were aboard—approached Red Bluff in two steamers and two gunboats, and began their old amusement of shelling the neighborhood. Their firing was exceedingly severe, and was maintained, almost without intermission, from eleven o’clock A.M., until one o’clock P.M. The enemy succeeded in burning all the houses within their reach, but we are gratified to say that nobody was hurt. Our troops had all left Red Bluff some days ago. Many of the shells and round shot of the gunboats were picked up at a distance of fully three miles from the muzzles which had sent them forth.

We learn further that the marine obstructions near Red Bluff have been removed by the enemy, and that their sailors are now engaged in taking soundings of the neighboring channels. It is almost needless to say that our boys keep a bight lookout.

The Augusta Constitutionalist, of the 6th, says:

We learn that Fort Jackson and other defensible points have engaged the earnest attention of our officers, and have been so strengthened as to give every reasonable assurance of the safety of Savannah. Every inch, by land and water, at every available point where a blow may be struck, or a gun fired against the enemy, will be disputed. One thing the enemy will certainly find out. It is that whenever they make an attack, our friends are prepared to receive them.

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Home Made Salt.—We have received a specimen of the salt manufactured by Mr. John M. Avery, at his “Island Salt Works,” in St. Mary parish. It is of the purest, whitest and finest we have ever seen. This enterprise of Mr. Avery is a most important one, as, indeed, is every enterprise the effect of which is to supply us with any of those articles of necessity, for which we have hitherto been dependent upon the North, but which we must now make for ourselves.

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Reënlisting.—The Eutaw (Ala.) Observer has information from Pensacola that all the Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina twelve months regiments will reenlist, almost to a man, for the war, and that no one but the sick think of coming home until our independence is won.

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Good News.—Johnson’s minstrels and burlesque opera troupe are coming. They will be welcome; for we can laugh, though we are blockaded.

THE LATEST FROM NORFOLK.
The Attack on Roanoke Island.

Norfolk, Feb. 8.—A messenger from Roanoke Island has arrived. He reports a heavy cannonade there yesterday, at 10 o’clock, which waged until night. Our batteries returned the fire gallantly, setting one steamer on fire. Some houses on the island were also fired. The attempt to land, under the cover of the guns, had not succeeded when the courier left. It was supposed the fight would be renewed this morning. No killed are reported.

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FROM NORFOLK
Further From Roanoke Island.

Norfolk, Feb. 8.—The engagement at Roanoke Island commenced on Friday, in the forenoon, and continued until the courier left, at two o’clock the same afternoon. The enemy had then ceased firing.

The most energetic portion of the attack was an attempt of the Federals to land, which failed.

Two or three of their steamers were much damaged. Our batteries were uninjured, and coolly conducted, resulting in great precision of fire. Some of the private residences on the Island were injured.

Gen. Wise being at Nag’s Head, sick in bed, his physicians could with difficulty control him during the engagement and fight.

Heavy firing southward was heard at Norfolk up to one o’clock to-day, and it is presumed to be cannonading at Roanoke.

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LATER FROM MEMPHIS
The Federals on Tennessee River.

Memphis, Feb. 8.—Dispatches to the Superintendent of the Charleston Railroad, received here, say that three Federal gunboats reached Florence to-day, at 2 o’clock, in hot pursuit of five Confederate steamers going up Tennessee river. The river being high it was impossible for our boats to pass the bridge, and they were burned.

The telegraph line was cut at Florence just after the operator had left with the instruments.

It was reported at Tuscumbia that a body of infantry was coming from the river, two miles distant, to burn the trestle work, this side of there, on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.

Two gunboats remained at Eastport, eight miles from Iuka.

It is reported that troops are moving on Iuka, to burn the bridge over Bear Creek. Troops have been sent up from here to intercept their movements.

Much excitement prevails here, military enthusiasm running high.

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Not the Sumter.—The Montreal Advertiser has the following statement:

The Confederate privateer, or rather public armed ship, which has been playing the mischief with American ships off Cadiz, is not the Sumter, which is yet on her old beat, but one of the new vessels for which the Nashville took officers to Europe. Her name and that of her consorts will be known soon enough. In the meantime, there will be weeping and wailing among the underwriters of Federal war risks.

MONDAY
FEBRUARY 10, 1862
THE BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER

For the Cumberland River.

Cairo, Feb. 5.—Gen. Grant and staff left this port on Sunday evening for Smithland. About fifteen thousand troops left also at the same time and on yesterday morning. Nearly ten thousand had previously been sent thither. These, with the forces at Paducah, will make upward of 30,000 men. A large body of cavalry and many artillery companies are included. The destination is evidently up the Cumberland river, and as no more than four baggage-wagons attend each regiment, quarters must be looked for in some town. Nashville is on this river, and at the present stage of water our largest boats can easily reach that city. I should have added that the transports were accompanied by six or eight gunboats.

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The Capture of Fort Henry.

At the time of the attack, the rebel infantry were at their camp, eating dinner. They abandoned everything, leaving thousands of shot-guns and all, their camp equipage and clothing. In pursuing the enemy, Major McCullough of Col. Dickey’s cavalry captured six guns, and Col. John A. Logan captured 8 guns and 33 prisoners.

Despatches received at Washington from General Halleck state that after the reduction of Fort Henry our forces immediately proceeded up the river in the direction of the railroad bridge, 16 miles distant, and on the way reduced the batteries of the enemy on the other bank of the river. No doubt is entertained that our troops soon thereafter took possession of the bridge over the Tennessee river.

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The Rebels Becoming Desperate.
(From the Richmond Examiner, Feb. 4)

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

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

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

The Merrimack.—The rebels appear to have failed in their labors upon the Merrimack from a cause which we suggested as likely to defeat their plans some months ago. The ship was built with a model adapted to a certain weight and draft. They have hung around her probably eight hundred tons or more of iron plates, and with nearly the same weight on board have expected that she would perform as satisfactorily as ever. No wonder that the Norfolk Day Book says that “the calculation made in regard to displacement was erroneous. An error was discovered, amounting to more than 200 tons, when the ship was floated—which causes the present detention.” They might have expected that her “great draught of water would prevent her active operations,” once her draught, “originally twenty-four feet, has been considerably increased.”

The rebels have probably learned now, what the English and French admiralties have learned, that iron-plating old vessels is not so simple a matter as it might seem.

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Ruled Envelopes.—The following dispatch was furnished to the Sunday papers:

Baltimore, Feb. 8.—The report that Government has decided to discontinue the issue of ruled stamped envelopes has produced a good deal of dissatisfaction, especially among the soldiers, with whom they are regarded as the cheapest and most convenient form of postage stamps. It is said that remonstrance against this step are circulating among some of the encampments.

We are very much inclined to the belief that in relation to the whole subject of the ruled envelopes, there is a “cat under the meal.” They have been systematically pulled from the beginning, with an earnestness that does not belong to any department of Government, and the above dispatch smacks of the contractor’s hand.

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Impatience at the South for Action.—The rebels are now leaving their “On to Richmond” cry, in good earnest. The general demand among them is for a desperate effort to retrieve their fortunes. Thus the New Orleans Delta, referring to the “disaster” at Mill Spring, Kentucky, says:

“The Confederacy cannot afford to rest long under defeat. From the Potomac to the Mississippi every par of its line of defence is equally vital. It must recover as fast as it loses ground, or the line will be broken, and the whole system of Southern defence thrown into confusion. The other day it might have seemed immaterial whether we met the enemy half way or patiently awaited the developments of his ‘forward movement.’ The other day it might have been optionary in the Confederates to bring on or decline a battle. Now we must recover lost ground, though it be at the hazard of a hundred battles and loss of thousands slain.”

The Richmond Examiner also gives the same desperate advice to take any risk for the chance of turning the tide. It says:

“Better to fight even at the risk of losing battles, then remain inactive to fill up inglorious graves. Better that government and people should be roused to duty by defeat, than that the army should go to sleep, the government doze, and the people grow drowsy, in the very jaws of destruction.”

TUESDAY
FEBRUARY 11, 1862
THE HARTFORD DAILY COURANT (CT)

Senator Dixon.

A proposition to reduce the pay of all persons in the military and civil service of the United States, except warrant officers and sailors in the navy, and non-commissioned officers and privates in the army, ten per cent., being under discussion in the Senate, the Senator from Connecticut favored the plan in the following speech:

"Mr. President, I agree with very much of what has been just said by the Senator from Massachusetts; in fact, in some respects I should go further than even he does; but I think he is mistaken in one point.  I think what he says of the credit of the Government--if he intends it precisely as he says it--is not exactly just were true.  It is my judgment to-day, that if a popular loan of $100,000,000 were offered to the people of the United States in small sums, it would be taken up instantly by the great mass of the people.  I believe if a patriotic appeal could be made to the people of the United States upon the subject of the credit of their Government, if they could at the same time understand that their armies are about to march to victory, they themselves would defend and support it.  But perhaps there is not time for a proceeding of that sort.

"I am very glad, for one, that this subject of finance is beginning to attract the attention of the Senate.  We have been talking during the session of many other matters of undoubtedly great importance; but here is one which is the most important question that can be presented to the consideration of the Senate and of the country.  I rejoiced, therefore, to hear what was said by the Senator from Ohio; and I concur entirely with him.  I am for going deep into this matter of reducing salaries.  I think that the first point at which we should strike is our own compensation; and I regret that the Senator has been satisfied with proposing to reduce the compensation of civil officers nearly ten per cent., so far as he includes members of Congress.  In my opinion, the reduction ought to be greater--ten per cent. is a trifling reduction for us to make, in a time like this, in our own salaries

"When the compensation of members of Congress was increased from an average of about one thousand five hundred dollars a year to $3000 a year, it was thought by the people of this country at that time, although the Treasury was redundant and overflowing, that the increase was too great.  If that was the general opinion; but it was acquiesced in.  Now, sir, at a time like the present, no one would propose such an increase.  If our compensation stood where it did before, and increase of fifty per cent. would be considered entirely too great.  It is my opinion that at least twenty five per cent. ought now to be deducted from the compensation of members of Congress during the war; and I should be glad to vote for adoption of that amount.  If the compensation were reduced to its former position, eight dollars per day, I believe that the public interest would not be injured, and that the public themselves would be better satisfied.  We probably should not sit so long.  We probably should spend our time better than we do now.  I do not say that every day taken up in debate here is not wisely and properly used, except what little time I myself occupy.  That, I think, is worse than thrown away. ["Oh, no."] Salaries ought to be reduced; and first our own ought to be reduced more than any others.  The public ought to be satisfied that we are willing to make sacrifices.  A good deal is said about sacrifices.  I tell you, sir, we have not begun as yet to perceive what sacrifices are to be made in this war.  I may say for myself that (although I claim no foresight, I have less than he who has the least in this body) I have seen for a year past that this country was called upon to make immense sacrifices.  The people are to give up their luxuries; I fear they are to give up many of the necessaries of life.  I do not know but that some of us would say, as a philosopher once did, that he was willing to give up the necessaries of life, but could not spare the luxuries. [Laughter.]

"If sacrifices of us to be made; if the people are to find the necessaries of life cut down by the distress in which the country is placed, where should it began, where should it be most felt?  Should it not commence with the Legislature?  Should not those who have the control feel most and suffer most?  It seems to mean that the people will never be satisfied unless they can see that those who control and originate the legislation at least suffer as much and sacrifice as much as they are called upon to do.

"I am not, in the least degree, discouraged in regard to the financial condition of the country; and here I think that the Senator from Ohio, and the Senator from Massachusetts, and one or two other Senators, are, if I may venture to say so of them, in error.  They have presented the dark picture of the condition of the country.  True, sir, it has a dark side; but the resources of the country are ample.  Suppose our expenses are now $500,000,000 a year in time of war.  What are the expenses of England now in time of peace?  The amount raised in England by taxes, in time of peace, is £50,000,000 ($250,000,000) per annum on an average, varying but little year to year.  Suppose we raise that some by taxation, $250,000,000; it would pay the interest on our debt, and would pay so much of our annual expenses as would show that whatever that we incurred would be nearly temporary.  We ought to devise some scheme of taxation by which at least $150,000,000 can be raised.  If England, richer and having greater resources than we, can raise, in ordinary times, $250,000,000, can we not, at this time, raise $150,000,000 by taxation?  Then where shall the tax fall?  Of course, there will be great differences on this subject as to the objects of taxation; but at this time I do not intend to ask a attention of the Senate on that question.  I believe there is a great variety of excise duties that might be imposed.  Domestic manufacturers of every species might be taxed.  A certain species of articles, the use of which ought to be discouraged, such as spiritous liquors and articles of that character; they might be taxed to a very large extent, with great advantage to the public, and the result would be to raise a large sum of money.

"If this were done, if the people could see the intention of taxing all interests equally, if they could see that the duty of their representatives, on this subject, was to be performed, they would meet their own duty cheerfully.  They want, at the same time, to see that we are willing to make proper sacrifices on our part, and I trust that we show that we're willing to make them.  For myself, I shall vote for this clause of the bill most cheerfully, and I would vote for it more gladly and more cheerfully, if, instead of ten per cent., the reduction were at least twenty-five per cent. so far as our own compensation is concerned."

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Atwater’s Adjustable Armor is for sale hereabouts, by Wm. H. Richardson. It is light, readily adjusted, cheap, and what is better than all, serviceable. A trial of it was made at the camp of the 12th Regiment, the other day. A ball sent from an Enfield rifle against it was flattened, and the plate battered, but not pierced. The result was highly satisfactory, and met the approval of the staff and line officers. Several orders were taken at once from among those who witnessed the trial. Those who have friends in the army could render them no greater service than to send them one of these, as it is invaluable as a life preserver. Call at 363 Main street.

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An Ordinance regulating Hacks and Public Carriages was passed by the Council Board last evening. It provides for licensing the drivers in much the same manner as the previous ordinance. The price for transportation of passengers is fixed at 25 cents each, for any distance less than a mile, and for each additional mile or less, 10 cents. The children under 7 years, accompanied by the parents or guardian, to be carried free; children from 7 to 14, half-price; every trunk, more than two for each person, 10 cents; per hour, $1. The ordinance also provides that a card, with the number of the hack, the name of the owner, and the prices for transportation, be placed in some conspicuous place.

WEDNESDAY
FEBRUARY 12, 1862
THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN (MA)

A PROMISCUOUS RAMPAGE.

We are exhorted by an earnest patriot to rebuke the government for its slow movements and for its failure to come up to the demands of the crisis and conduct the war on thorough principals.  That sort of free "pitching in" is such very easy writing that we cannot refuse so small a favor, and we therefore proceed, to the extent of several paragraphs, after the most approved metropolitan models.  If the reader shall detect some slight incoherency and inconsistency, we must attribute it to the peculiar style, which is "nothing less critical."  Here goes:

"This war is conducted wrong end foremost, bottom end up, and inside out; in fact in every which way but the right one.  The grand plan of the campaign, so much talked of, is a grand absurdity.  It is preposterous to think of surrounding the enemy on so extensive a line and fighting him at so many points at once.  There should be no line at all.  The common sense method would have been, it soon as we had collected ten thousand volunteers at any point, and had found guns or horse pistols for them, to launch at the enemy, with orders to go straight ahead like a rocket, and not stop till they had cut a bee line through Secessia and come out on the other side.  The idea of loading our advancing armies with heavy guns and baggage is preposterous.  No artillery should be taken larger than two stout Vermonters could lug. Lane of Kansas is the only man that understands war.  If he had been commander-in-chief something would have been done.  We should have seen our armies driving through the South in all directions, compelling the enemy not only to feed them but to supply them with powder and ball.  If five or six armies had run against something and got used up in this process, what matter, so long as we have plenty of men, and if the process were kept up long enough the South must eventually be cut into fiddle strings.  But there really has been no plans at all; everything has been at loose ends.  The president abdicated his post of commander-in-chief on the 5th of March, and has exclusively devoted himself to editing a new edition of "Joe Miller." Since Secretary Stanton came in he has taken up the office of commander-in-chief, which he found lying around loose and getting tried on, and this accounts for the forward movement and Kentucky and Tennessee, which Gen. McClellan opposed, although he now makes a feint of congratulating Gen. Grant and Com. Foote, as if he had had anything to do with the war any way, beyond looking after his Potomac division and keeping it in a quiescent state. Gen. McClellan's policy has been to do nothing which was calculated to damage the enemy, and nearly all the regular and volunteer army officers agree with him.  In fact nothing will be done till the whole crowd is superceded and shut up in Fort Lafayette, and all the volunteers who sympathize with them or uphold the policy of the administration are dismissed and drummed out of the ranks to the tune of the Rogue's March.  Then let Lane be made generalissimo and Phelps concentrate the remaining skeletons of the army in one invincible phalanx, read his Ship Island manifesto to them, and drive into the heart of the enemy's country, and something will turn up immediately.

"The late in victories in Kentucky and Tennessee are specious and unsatisfactory.  They look well to superficial people, and the enemy is considerably alarmed by them, but both are mistaken.  In fact victories are not to be desired till the government has some more comprehensive policy than the naked putting down of the rebellion.  As long as the "chair of slavery" stands in the capital, ready to be re-occupied, victory and peace are not to be desired, and every fresh triumph of our misguided soldiers should be received with a growl of distrust.  Secretary Stanton went into the war department with some just notions as to how the war should be conducted, but the possession of power always makes men conservative, and he already shows signs of yielding to the exigencies of the case, and has in fact become so hunkerish as to refuse to the newspaper men the free run of his department and the liberty to publish all the plans and movement of the campaign as soon as they are projected.  It is to be feared that even Mr. Stanton is falling into the gross delusion that this war is to be conducted on military principals and with any certain unity of plan, when every ardent patriot, whose brain is in his spleen, knows that we have changed all that, and the only sensible way to fight this rebellion is to give every man who asks a brigadiership carte blanche to raise an army and fight the enemy wherever and whenever and however he chooses.

"But the great[est] delusion of all is that the Union is to be restored.  The president is the most melancholy victim of this absurd notion.  If he reads no paper that the Louisville Journal, and thinks Kentucky is the whole Union.  And more monstrous than all, he indulges a sort of sympathy and tenderness toward the slaveholding Unionists of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and elsewhere, who are being robbed, outlawed and murdered by their own kinsmen and neighbors for their loyal adherence to the Union, and thinks to protect them and make them the nucleus of a revived loyal party which will ultimately get the ascendancy in every southern state, and make the Union again a reality.  Instead of this, every man with have an idea in his head sees clearly that the government should incontinently kick the border states out of the Union, and make it manifest that there is to be no restoration till the entire South is subjugated, the slaves all made free, and territorial governments established over the conquered province.  The man who desires anything short of this is a traitor at heart, and indeed any man who gives his sympathy and support to the present administration demonstrates that he loves slavery better than the Union, and had rather see the Union perish then to see slavery suffer.  Thus it is that our armies are now no better than an expensive police for the protection of slavery, and no true man can see anything to choose between the government at Washington and that at Richmond.

"There are several other strong points that might be made in a miscellaneous rampage of this sort, but this should be enough for one day to satisfy those of our friends who want the government to be "in earnest," but are sure that it isn't, while the people are paying two millions a day for a magnificent delusion and fraud, and are too stupid to see it, or to go on the high rampage, as they would if they knew what was what."

THURSDAY
FEBRUARY 13, 1862
THE NEW HAMPSHIRE SENTINEL

GOOD NEWS FROM THE BURNSIDE EXPEDITION.
ROANOKE ISLAND TAKEN!

Intelligence via Fortress Monroe is to the effect that Gen. Burnside effected a landing on Roanoke Island on Sunday afternoon, and that after nearly three days hard fighting the island was captured, with a large number of rebel prisoners. Two of the rebel gunboats were captured, and the rest sunk or scattered. The people of Norfolk and Portsmouth were panic stricken. Gov. Wise was said to be in command of the rebel forces. A letter received in New York from Fortress Monroe, states that on Monday noon Commander Lynch got his rebel flotilla under weigh, and came down Currituck Sound to assist Wise on the island.

The Federal gunboats, at 5 o’clock in the afternoon of the 8th, had sunk three of the rebel gunboats and captured two, one of which had a commodore’s pennant, and dispersed the rest in every direction. The firing ceased at dark, but recommenced with vigor in the morning, until 8 o’clock, when it is supposed the rebels surrendered.

A fireman on board the Seldon said the Federals had landed large numbers f troops, and our old flag could be seen at Elizabeth city flying over the batteries.

It was rumored at Norfolk on the morning of the 9th that three regiments had been recently sent to Roanoke Island, and as there was no chance of escape, they are all probably captured.

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Negroes Pressed into the Rebel Service.—A letter from Mumfordville, Ky., in the Cincinnati Times, makes the following interesting statement:

“Ten contrabands, all males, arrived here last night (Jan. 15) from Bowling Green. They have been several days in making their escape, and composed the part of a large party, all of which left at the same time. They made their way to our pickets, last evening, and after undergoing examination at the outposts, were brought to headquarters. I had a conversation with one of them, an intelligent young mulatto. He says that for two or three weeks the rebels have been seizing on all the colored people they can find, and that a great number are now at Bowling Green. They take whole families, without respect to age or sex. The women are put into hospitals as nurses and washerwomen. The stouter children are put to work in various ways, the best men taken as soldiers and the rest employed as servants and laborers. Nearly all of these slaves have been taken forcibly from their masters. Numbers of them have been run South and sold for the benefit of the southern confederacy. He says there are fully a thousand at Bowling Green, awaiting an opportunity to escape, some to our lines, and others to their masters. On their way here, this party were frequently aided by Union men, some of whom had been robbed of their slaves. They all represent the distress and desolation at Bowling Green, and throughout the surrounding country as frightful. Having impressed nearly all the Negroes into the service, the rebels have now commenced on the white people.  It was a condition of Kentucky’s admission into the southern confederacy that she furnish 25,000 troops. The provisional state government has called for that number, and getting no volunteers, has resorted to impressments. Citizens are seized in their houses, on the roads, or wherever found, and carried at the point of the bayonet to Bowling Green, where they are enlisted in the service of the confederate government.”

Mr. Edwards on Swindling.—“Perley,” in a recent letter from Washington to the Boston Journal, thus speaks of our representative in Congress:

“While the sutlers are receiving their Congressional death blow, Mr. Edwards of New Hampshire, is battling that equally iniquitous class of licensed swindlers, the Indian traders who now sell on credit to the Indians, and have a claim on their annuities. Mr. Edwards proposes also to prohibit, under heavy penalties, the sale of liquor to the Indians, a measure which—as he justly remarked in debate—commends itself to the approbation of every one who desires to save as long as possible the fading remnant of the original possessors of the country, and save them from the vices to which they are subjected by the unholy ministrations of its present possessors.”

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A Sad Accident.—A serious accident happened on Saturday last to Algernon Hill, a son of Mr. Joseph Hill of this village, a boy about sixteen years of age. Mr. Hill is sexton of the Baptist church. Immediately behind the church is Mr. Geo. O. Leonard’s gun-shop, and it ahs been customary for years for persons to practice at a target set up against the back of the meeting house. Late on Saturday young ill entered the basement of the church by a rear door for the purpose of getting shavings to kindle the fire, and just as he emerged with them in his arms, he passed before the target and received a ball from the rifle of Mr. Leonard, who was so engaged in “sighting: that he did not notice the sudden appearance of the boy. The ball passed through both legs, just above the knee, fracturing the bone in the first. Medical assistance was immediately called, and although the boy ahs been considered at times in a dangerous condition, we learn that it is now thought he will recover. It is a very painful affair to all concerned.—Republican.

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The price of pork in Montreal is lower than it has been for eighteen years, a grievous fact for Canadian farmers, arising from the war between the North and South, which shuts western produce out of the slave states, and deluges Canada and Europe with it.

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There are many anomalies in these revolutionary times. Horace Greeley contributes weekly articles to the New York Independent, upon public affairs, the scope and tone of which are in marked and pleasant contrast to the leaders of the Tribune, and Rev. Henry Ward Beecher is delivering a lecture on “Past Perils and Future Policy,” in which he argues for a conservative was policy, and protests against any infraction of the Constitution, even for the sake of hastening the destruction of slavery a full century. “He would rather it would linger in existence a hundred years, than that the Constitution—the organic law of our federated nationality, guaranteeing the sovereignty of states over their own municipal concerns—should receive the smallest measure of wrong, or be weakened in the slightest degree. He dwells upon the impracticability of all schemes for general emancipation, and upon their inexpediency as well. He looks for no immediate riddance of the great evil. It should receive its death-blow, and must expire slowly, as God ordered the matter.”—Springfield Republican.

FRIDAY
FEBRUARY 14, 1862
THE BARRE GAZETTE (MA)

Outrage at Harper’s Ferry.

Sandy Hook, Feb. 8.—About 7 o’clock yesterday morning a flag of truce was displayed in a landing arch in the railroad wall just above the recent Harper’s Ferry bridge, where an angular flight of steps led from the town side of the stone embankment under the railroad track to the river. The flag was waved by a Negro, and a call was made for a boat to come over. There was only one person in sight and he the Negro. A boat with the ferryman and a loyal Virginian named George Rohr, whose property had been destroyed because of his Union sentiments, went over. As the boat neared the arch, Rohr remarked to the ferryman that the man with the flag of truce was not a Negro, but a white man painted. Nevertheless, it was decided to land and see what he wanted. The boat was pushed stern foremost into the arch, Rohr being seated in the stern. By the dim light it was discovered that the stairway was thronged with men, and before the boat could be started forward a man, pronounced by Rohr to be Capt. Baylor, fired a musket, the ball taking effect in Rohr’s right thigh, passing through the leg and coming out just above the knee. The wounded man, finding he was entrapped, fired his musket into the recess, when a second ball struck him in the shoulder, and passing downward came out below the right breast, killing him.

When it became known on this side that Rohr had been shot, our riflemen poured volley after volley into the landing arch, and into such places as the enemy might conceal themselves in. The battery on the Maryland Heights opened on the houses in the rear, and the pickets in Sandy Hook discovered a squadron of cavalry and footmen pushing up the Shenandoah road, in the direction of Charlestown. A squad of foot soldiers were also discovered on the Loudon side of Shenandoah, behind the abutment of the burned bridge, but beyond the range of our rifles. The buildings which had concealed the party of murderers from view, and shielded them from our riflemen, had long been the rendezvous of the enemy’s scouting parties, who were thus enabled to approach unseen and fired on our pickets. Col. Geary ordered their immediate destruction by fire, and failing to ignite them with shell, Lieut. Greenwalt, with ten men, proceeded to the other side and set fire to them, bringing back several trophies, among which was a splendid Minié musket, loaded but not capped.

The houses fired were the Wager, Galt and Railroad Hotels, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad depot, the Winchester Railroad depot, Welch’s store, the telegraph office, and the dwelling houses of Mrs. Wager, Mrs. Darin, Mrs. Ellen Chambers, George Chambers and Wm. J. Stevens, none of which were occupied. The destruction of these buildings gives our pickets and batterymen a view of the Shenandoah railroad from Charlestown, and will enable our men to protect the village in daylight from any occupancy by the enemy, as well as give them a warm reception if they should attempt to advance in force by their favorite concealed route.

The once populous town of Harper’s Ferry now contains but seven families, all good Unionists, numbering perhaps forty souls, all told. During the shelling, the people, as has long been customary, hung out white flags, and their domiciles were accordingly respected by our cannoneers.

In the afternoon none of the rebels were visible except a squad of cavalry stretched across the road at Smallwood, below Bolivar, nor were more than a dozen citizens seen. Squads of the enemy’s cavalry were occasionally seen on the road near Charlestown, but their numbers did not indicate any important movement. . . .

It was subsequently ascertained that the bearers of the flag of truce were Baylor’s men and also that it was Baylor who fired the first shot at Rohr, and that the flagman was disguised as a Negro to decoy our boat into the trap.

Some time ago Rohr was driven from Harper’s Ferry (where he owned a handsome property and was carrying on a flourishing carriage manufacturing business) on account of his fidelity to the Union. His property was destroyed and confiscated, and he, after securing the retreat of his wife to this side, devoted his whole time to the government in pointing out rebels from Union people who sought to cross into Maryland. He was highly esteemed and honored by all our officers.

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LATEST FROM FORT HENRY.

St. Louis, Feb. 11.—A telegraphic dispatch from Cairo says Commodore Foote has just received dispatches from Capt. Phelps of the gunboat Conestoga announcing the return of the gunboat expedition up the Tennessee river, after capturing a new rebel gunboat, and destroying all the other rebel boats on the river as far as Florence, Alabama.

The enemy at Fort Donelson are being rapidly reinforced, and prisoners say they are confident they can hold that position. The trees are being felled for two miles around the fort by a gang of Negroes.

Gen. Pillow is in command at Fort Donelson, with eight thousand men, embracing some of the best artillerists from Columbus. There are two small forts and three camps several hundred yards from the main fortifications, and present appearances indicate that the coming battle will be much more desperate than that at Fort Henry.

Cincinnati, Feb. 11.—A special Cairo dispatch says federal officer from Fort Donelson report that Gen. Grant has surrounded the fort with seven batteries of artillery, and that the fort will be shelled or surrendered, to-day or to-morrow.

Cairo, Ill, Feb. 11.—A detachment of cavalry 250 strong had an engagement with some rebels last Sunday, seven miles east of Fort Donelson. Five rebels were killed, 30 prisoners, and 30 horses captured. One Federal was wounded.

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Rumors.—It is said there is soon to take place a forward movement of the Army of the Potomac by the right wing, under Gens. Lander and Banks, upon Winchester and Leesburg, causing the rebels to evacuate Manassas. It is also reported that Buckner has evacuated Bowling Green, and is falling back upon Nashville. Both stories are somewhat doubtful.

SATURDAY
FEBRUARY 15, 1862
THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN (MA)

From Fortress Monroe
RELEASE OF FOUR HUNDRED REBEL PRISONERS.

A flag of truce was sent to Craney Island early Tuesday morning, to inform Gen. Huger that the prisoners of war from Fort Warren arrived in the bark Trinity, Monday night. This bark was accordingly towed up opposite Sewall’s Point by the steamer Rancocas and the tug Atlantic, and at about 1 o’clock the rebel steamer West Point came out from Norfolk and the prisoners were transferred. They numbered four captains, three first lieutenants, six second lieutenants, two third lieutenants and 384 others, rank and file and colored servants. They were taken at Hatteras and Santa Rosa, and are the last of the prisoners of war at Fort Warren, except Commodore Barron. The passage from Boston to Fortress Monroe was quite unpleasant on account of the crowded condition of the vessel. But the prisoners were all enjoying as good health as could be expected. It was generally supposed at the Fortress that the small pox was on board the vessel, but on the authority of Lieut. Buell, who came in charge from Fort Warren, the statement is positively denied. The prisoners having been transferred to the West Point, the Trinity was towed back to her anchorage in the roads.

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France and England Waiting a Little Longer.

The London Times in an editorial says: “”We need not be eager to meddle with American affairs. This is a time for waiting, and we can afford to wait quite as easy as the North and South can afford looking across the Potomac at the cost of £2,000,000 a week each of them. If there does come any real cause of complaint, it will tell all the more for our present patience and forbearance.”

The Emperor Napoleon opened the French chamber on the 27th. In his speech he said: “The civil war which desolates America has greatly compromised our commercial interests. So long, however, as the rights of neutrals are respected we must confine ourselves to expressing wishes for an early termination of these dissensions.”

The London Advertiser says the emperor of France was fully determined, on the 23d of January, to announce in his speech a resolution to abolish the federal blockade, but he was deterred by Earl Russell, who deemed it politic to wait awhile.

The steamer La Plata, with Mason and Slidell on board, arrived at Southampton on the 29th. They were taken to St. Thomas by the Rinaldo, as she was unable to reach Halifax. They were received at Southampton courteously, but no demonstration was made. Both proceeded to London, where Mason remains, but Slidell forthwith left for Paris.

Some of the English papers construe the reticence of the French emperor as to American affairs as containing an implied threat, but his words bear no such construction, and in Pars they were understood to mean peace, and the bourse immediately rose. The London Times tells of great distress in the manufacturing towns of France, amounting to deep discontent and disquietude, and says that the manufacturers buoy themselves up with the belief that if the federal blockade continues beyond March the South will be recognized.

The Attack on Fort Donelson.

Commodore Foote, with the gunboats St. Louis, Louisville and Pittsburg, left Cairo for Cumberland river at 10 o’clock on Tuesday night. The Carondelet expected to join them at Paducah. In consequence of the high water and unusually rapid current in all the rivers, the fleet was not expected to reach Fort Donelson till Thursday morning, and it is presumed that an attack will not be made until there is a complete readiness on the part of both the land and naval forces. The news of the result cannot be expected under several days.

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Miscellaneous War News.

The Sawyer gun at Newport News exploded Tuesday afternoon, while being fired. Privates Josiah Jones of Company D, and James Sheppard of Company B, Twenty-ninth Massachusetts regiment, were instantly killed; and W. W. Bowman of Company I, same regiment, was injured so badly that his recovery is doubtful. Jones belonged in Greenpoint, L.I., and Sheppard in Lowell, Mass. Their bodies were sent north the same night via Baltimore. Four or five others were injured, but not seriously.

The 12th Connecticut regiment, Col. Deming, was reviewed at Hartford, Saturday afternoon, by Gov. Buckingham. The affair displayed good drill and discipline on the part of the troops.

The 7th Vermont regiment, Col. George T. Roberts, now in camp at Rutland, is to be mustered into the United States service on Wednesday.

The ladies of Brimfield have sent their third lot of clothing, &c., to the sanitary commission at Washington, as follows: 2 comfortables, 2 woolen blankets, 8 bed quilts, 55 pair knit wool socks, 20 pair knit wool mittens, 6 pillows, 4 cushions, 2 towels, 12 pin cushions, 14 flannel shirts, 1 pair flannel drawers, 1 bottle brandy, 1 bottle grape wine, 1 vest, 1 sheet.

Gen. Fremont is said to be in favor at the White House and at the war department, and it is predicted that he will soon have an important command.

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Wit and Wisdom.¹

Two tourists, an Irishman and a Scotchman, observing a pretty girl in a milliner’s shop, the one, an Irishman, proposed to go in and buy a watch-ribbon, in order to get a nearer view of her. “Hoot, mon,” says his northern friend, “nae occasion to waste silver; let us gang in and see if she can give us two sixpences for a shilling.”

Jones and Brown were talking lately of a young clergyman whose preaching they had heard that day. The sermon was like a certain man mentioned in a certain biography—“very poor and very pious.” “What do you think of him?” asked Brown. “I think,” said Jones, “he did much better two years ago.” “Why, he didn’t preach then,” said Brown. “True,” said Jones, “that is what I mean.”

A “maiden lady” whose “school-keepin’ ” and age have made a fearful havoc of her beauty, said one evening to one her little auditors, “Now, Herby, you go to bed early, and always do so, and you will be rosy-cheeked and handsome when you grow up.” The little codger looked up quizzingly into her wrinkled countenance, and said, “Well, aunty, I guess you used to sit up late a good deal when you was young, didn’t you?”

¹ Proving that bad jokes are timeless . . .