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SUNDAY
MAY 11, 1862
THE DAILY TRUE DELTA (LA) |
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CAN
IT BE EXCLUDED?
By
proclamation, Gen. Butler has undertaken “to allay the hopes of the
bad and the fears of the good and timid” in regard to health
regulations, having “established, since the capture of the forts, at
the Quarantine Grounds,” the strictest health regulations. Believing
that an error is none the less mischievous, whether originating in
military or civil minds, we cannot allow this proclamation to pass
without entering our protest against the impression or hallucination it
is intended to produce, although doubtless unintentional upon the part
of Gen. Butler. Quarantine against fever is a recent thing here. It was
established partly to allay clamor and satisfy ignorance, and partly,
perhaps mainly, as a part of the domestic machinery wherewith, with
railroad velocity, every political faction of late years, here and in
other States, were hurrying to plunder the people for its own and its
emissaries’ advantage. Its establishment was advocated by physicians
who had all their life time opposed the absurd theory the moment it
entered their heads that a snug sinecure might reward their endeavors;
but except as an active branch of a most rascally political
organization, we believe no human being ever accused it or claimed for
it a higher or more useful importance. Whether, therefore, it be
perpetuated, or swept away like any other superfluous and senseless
invention, so far as yellow fever or its generation here is concerned,
nobody will take the least interest in inquiring; inasmuch as not a
single medical authority in this place, not a physician of note, will be
found attaching the smallest preservative importance to quarantine,
whether laxly or rigidly enforced. For years in succession the yellow
plague has decimated the inhabitants of this place who were
unacclimated; again for years we have been entirely free from the
visitation; but whence it comes, whither it goes, or how it is produced,
none can say. Is it miasmatic, is it a poisonous condition of the
atmosphere, is it the result of extreme heat which produces this
terrible malady, who can say, what human skill can satisfactorily
demonstrate? As to the “bad,” referred to by Gen. Butler, they have
always been here. At no time within the many years we have lived here,
have we failed to hear persons thus described praying for the fever to
kill off some competition of some kind or other; but our observation
satisfies us that the prayers and supplications of such people, if their
efficacy is to be weighed, scarcely deserves the notice he bestows upon
them. We are persuaded, however, that a dependence upon quarantine for
the exclusion of yellow fever from this place is a dangerous delusion,
and if encouraged may be the means of doing immense injury to the health
of this place. Yellow fever is an intertropical scourge, the cause and
the nature of which have puzzled and perplexed the ablest medical
theorists, and no doubt will continue to do so. Here, as we have said,
the ablest and most experienced members of the medical faculty ridicule
the contagiousness and communicability of the fearful malady, and know
and accept the futility of all attempts to exclude the yellow destroyer,
consequently their efforts have been constantly directed to practical
curative processes to mitigate the destructive nature of the scourge,
rather than to useless discussions or acrimonious controversies as to
its origin. |
It
is possible that the medical staff of Gen. Butler are equally capable as
our own experienced and talented faculty in treating this disease, if it
should be the will of God to add its visitation to our other previous
afflictions. Be this as it may, our main object now is to invite Gen.
Butler’s attention to obvious producing causes of deadly maladies,
which it is in his power to prevent and remove, and which if not
prevented and removed will generate fevers as deadly and more dangerous
than the yellow. We know very little of military affairs, and we pretend
to none of that knowledge as to the disposition of troops in a city like
this, which military authorities may deem essential to their safety in a
hostile community. We do know, however, that the congregation of large
numbers in such places as
the unfinished Custom-house building, where everything required for the
preservation of health, air, light and water, is wanting, must produce
the deadly typhus or some other murderous plague. If any human being
doubts the correctness of this opinion, he can easily satisfy himself of
its soundness by walking down Chartres street to the intersection at
Custom-house street, where the stench from the gutters is so
insupportable that the occupants of the contiguous dwellings can
scarcely endure it. To guard the river, ever so vigilantly to exclude
the visitations of the saffron-visaged plague of the tropics,
is, therefore, harmlessly useless; but to allow diseases of no less
malignity than yellow fever, to be generated in the very quarters of the
troops, is to our mind a most extraordinary if not unpardonable neglect.
The Northern troops now doing duty in this city seem to us very unfitted
to endure this climate; this, however, it may be an impertinence to
utter, but, we believe, an acquiescent opinion in regard to the sanitary
suggestions we throw out will be entertained at headquarters. If yellow
fever should unhappily come upon us, complicated with typhus, God knows
who among us shall survive the visitation, and for that reason, as well
as others wholly unconnected with the national troubles, we had hoped
Gen. Butler would have allowed families, willingly, permission to seek
in the interior suitable places for estivation.
Commending these few remarks to the attention of the commanding general
and his medical staff, we shall add the hope that all our readers will
do all in their power by cleanliness and attention to their dwellings,
sinks and sewers, to secure us this summer from destruction and from
deadly pestilence.
-----
Many
public men consider themselves the pillars of the State, who are more
properly the caterpillars of the State, reaching their high position
only by crawling. |
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MONDAY
MAY 12, 1862
LOWELL
DAILY CITIZEN & NEWS (MA) |
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The
news which reaches us this morning is unparalleled in importance by
anything which ahs transpired during the war. The surrender of Norfolk
and the great naval stations in its neighborhood, the destruction of the
Merrimac and Yorktown, the capture of the Jamestown,
and the death-dealing blow struck at the rebel fleet on the Mississippi,
and come together, and it is difficult to see how more effective blows
could have befallen the rebel cause. We have, it would seem, only to
wait a little longer to witness the utter rout of the rebels from their
capital—and then comes the end.
-----
Great
and Glorious News!
CAPTURE OF NORFOLK!
SURRENDER
OF THE CITY & NAVY YARD
WITHOUT A STRUGGLE
THE MERRIMACK BLOWN UP!
OUR FORCES
PUSHING ON TO RICHMOND!
Washington,
May 11.—The following was received at the war department this
morning:
Fortress
Monroe, May 10, 12 o’clock, midnight. Norfolk is ours, and also
Portsmouth and the Navy Yard.
General
Wool having completed the landing of his forces at Willoughby Point
about nine o’clock this morning, commenced his march on Norfolk with
five thousand men. Secretary Chase accompanied the General.
About
five miles from the landing place a rebel battery was found on the
opposite side of the bridge over Tanner’s Creek; and after firing a
few discharges upon two companies of infantry that were in the advance,
the rebels burned the bridge. This compelled our forces to march around
five miles further.
At
five o’clock in the afternoon our forces were within a short distance
of Norfolk, and were met by a delegation of citizens.
The
city was formally surrendered.
Our
troops were marched in, and now have possession. Gen. Viele is in
command as military governor.
The
city and navy-yard were not burned. The fires which had been seen for
some hours proved to be the woods on fire.
Gen.
Wool, with Secretary Chase, returned about 11 o’clock to-night.
Gen.
Huger withdrew his forces without a battle.
The
Merrimac is still off Sewall’s point.
Commander
Rodger’s expedition was heard from this afternoon ascending the James
river.
The
iron-clad steamer Galena had sunk the rebel steamer Yorktown
and captured the Jamestown.
Reports
from Gen. McClellan are favorable.
[signed]
Edwin M. Stanton,
Secretary of War.
A
dispatch from Fortress Monroe to the assistant secretary of war says the
Merrimac was blown up by the rebels at two minutes before 5
o’clock, yesterday morning. She was set on fire two hours before the
explosion, which is described as a grand sight. The Monitor and
the other gunboats then proceeded up to Norfolk.
The
reception of the news at Washington caused great rejoicing.
From
the special dispatch to the New York Times we gather some
particulars of the progress of the expedition against Norfolk. Active
preparations were going forward on Friday evening, when a dozen steam
transports were busy landing troops opposite the Rip Raps, including
infantry, cavalry and artillery, President Lincoln superintending the
expedition. Meanwhile the works at the Rip Raps poured shot and shell
into Sewall’s point. At 2 o’clock the president went ashore at the
point chosen for landing, a mile below the Rip Raps, and, examining the
ground, returned to the point, cheered by the troops. The troops left
during the night, and at daylight could be seen from the wharf landing
at Willoughby’s Point, within eight miles of Norfolk. The first
regiment landed was the 20th New York, known as Max Weber’s regiment,
which pushed on immediately under command of Gen. Weber, and were at 8
a.m. picketed within five miles of Norfolk.
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The
1st Delaware regiment, Col. Andrews, was pushed forward at 9 o’clock,
accompanied by Gens. Mansfield and Viele, and staff. They were soon
followed by the 16th Massachusetts, Col. Wyman. The balance of the
expedition consists of the 10th New York, Col. Bendix; the 48th
Pennsylvania, Col. Bailey; the 99th New York Coast Guards; Maj.
Dodge’s battalion of Mounted Rifles, and Capt. Follett’s, Co. D, 4th
Regular Artillery. Gen. Wool and staff remained to superintend the
landing of the balance of the force, all of whom were landed off before
noon.
The
President with Secretary Stanton accompanied General Wool to the wharf,
and then took a tug and proceeded to the Minnesota, where the
President was received with a national salute.
Our
troops landed during the night upon the spot selected by the President,
who was among the first to step ashore. The rebels fled as our troops
advanced.
The
Merrimac remained stationary all day off Craney Island.
-----
“On
to Richmond!”—The latest reports from General McClellan’s army
is from New Kent Court House, twenty-seven miles from Richmond, on
Saturday afternoon at three o’clock. The pursuit of the retreating
rebels, up to that time, had been every way successful. The indications
all along the route are that the people are seized with a panic. The
dispatch of Saturday says:
The
force under General Stoneman consisted of the 2d Rhode Island and 9th
Pennsylvania regiments of infantry, Captain Robinson’s battery of
light artillery, and the 6th cavalry under Major Williams.
The
rear guard of the enemy, which remained here last night, and which our
men had to drive before them, was General Longstreet’s division,
consisting of ten regiments of infantry, two batteries and a regiment of
cavalry (the 1st Virginia).
Our
advance was this morning strengthened, upon ascertaining the force of
the enemy, by the 8th Illinois cavalry and two regiments of
the 1s New Jersey brigade.
The
enemy on leaving here this forenoon fired two buildings containing
commissary and quartermaster’s stores.
The
engagement yesterday between our advance and the enemy’s rear at
Slater’s Mills, three miles from here, resulted in fourteen of the
enemy’s cavalry being killed and several taken prisoners. They secured
their wounded.
The
inhabitants have in nearly every instance left, but from the best
information that has been obtained, the enemy will make a stand at
Bottom Bridge, fifteen miles from Richmond, at the headwaters of the
Chickahominy river.
-----
Arizona.
The bill to organize that part of New Mexico known under the name of
Arizona has been passed by the house of representatives, with a
provision, in the words of the ordinance of 1787, prohibiting slavery
and involuntary servitude. This action of the house has doubtless been
hastened by the attempts made by the legislative assembly of New Mexico
to re-establish slavery there without authority, and after it had been
swept away by New Mexico herself, before the federal authority was
extended over the territory. What the action of the senate may be is yet
to be seen. The territory in question is said to have a white population
of some ten thousand.
-----
The
funeral of Henry D. Thoreau, which took place in Concord on Friday, was
attended by a large company of citizens of that and neighboring towns,
and the services are described as unusually impressive. Selections of
Scripture were read, and a brief ode, prepared for the occasion by W. E.
Channing, was sung, when Mr. Emerson read an address, marked, says the Transcript,
by all his felicity of conception and diction—an exquisite
appreciation of the salient and subtle traits of his friend’s genius.
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TUESDAY
MAY 13, 1862
THE
NORWICH MORNING BULLETIN (CT) |
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Naval
Engagement on the Mississippi
Cairo,
May 11.—The desperation of the rebel cause on the Mississippi
culminated yesterday in an attack on the flotilla.
Early
Saturday morning eight of their gun-boats came round the point above the
fort and advanced toward the fleet. The Cincinnati, which was
stationed at the point while the rebels came up on Friday, did not
attack them until the fleet had passed above her. As soon as she was
seen a simultaneous attack from the whole of their gunboats was made
upon her, but little effect, as the guns were poorly aimed. The Cincinnati
in the meantime hauled into the stream, where an iron ram, supposed to
be the Mallory, advanced in the face of the continued broadsides
from the former, until within forty yards, and being a faster sailer,
succeeded in moving between the Cincinnati and their right hand,
when men appeared upon her decks, preparing to board with grapnels
thrown out, which was frustrated by throwing hot water from the steam
batteries of the Cincinnati.
In
the meantime the rest of our gunboats had arrived on the scene of action
and engaged the rebel fleet. The Mallory, undaunted by her
failure, crowded on a full head of steam and came towards the Cincinnati,
evidently intending to run her down. Capt. Stemble, in command of the
latter, waited until the rebel monster was within twenty yards, when he
sent a broadside into her from his Parrott guns, which did fearful
execution. The two boats were so close together by this time that it was
impossible for the gunners of the Cincinnati to swab out the
guns, and it was only by bringing the steam batteries to bear upon her
that the Mallory was compelled to haul off. Capt. Stemble shot
her pilot with his revolved, and was himself wounded by a pistol shot
fired by the pilot’s mate of the Mallory.
While
the engagement between the Mallory and Cincinnati was in
progress, our shots exploded the boiler of one of the rebel gunboats and
set fire to another, burning her to the water’s edge. The air was very
heavy, and under cover of the dense smoke which hung over the river the
rebel fleet retired, but were pursued until they gained shelter under
the guns of Fort Wright.
None
of our boats were injured except the Cincinnati, and the damage
to her is so slight that she can be repaired in twenty-four hours. Four
men were wounded in her, including the master’s mate; no other
casualties are mentioned. When the smoke cleared away, a broadside from
the flagship Benton was sent after the Mallory, and,
shortly after, she was seen to careen and went down with all hands.
-----
The
March Towards Richmond.
New
Kent C. H., Sunday, May 11.—A company of the Sixth cavalry pushed
on last night to White House, five miles from here, on the Pamunkey
river, better known as the Curtis estate, owned by a son of Gen. Robert
E. Lee. The company secured 7000 bushels of wheat and 4000 of corn.
The
rebels had burnt the railroad bridge and town, and torn up the road for
some distance towards Richmond. The
distance from White House to Richmond by railroad is twenty-three miles.
|
The
gunboats arrived here this morning and are now on their way to White
House. The rebels had blockaded the river two miles below here, but they
were blown up without much trouble.
The
rear guard of the enemy is at Trimmel’s Depot, five miles from White
House. A contraband who left Richmond on Friday reports the city full of
sick soldiers, and that citizens are flocking in from the surrounding
country.
-----
Foreign
Intervention.
The
Etna brings the important announcement that the question of
intervention for the purpose of putting a stop to the war in this
country has been seriously discussed by England and France, and that the
news of the recent Union successes has determined the French government
to postpone any action for the present. In what shape the intervention
was to be made is not so clear, but it seems that a recognition of the
rebel confederacy was one of the alternatives. We have no doubt, and
never had, that, so far as any liking for the United States is
concerned, the English and French governments would take such a step
whenever a plausible pretext should be united to their own views of self
interest in the matter. But, without any such pretext, there does not
appear any immediate danger of interference.
Our
great safeguards against foreign complications, at this time, are energy
and success, and we have been found lacking in neither of these
requisites for the past two months. Every steamer that has left these
shores for Europe has gone freighted with the news of a fresh Union
victory. And if the news of Federal triumphs which had reached Europe on
the first of May was sufficient to cause a suspension of action, what
will be the effect when the reports from Fort Pulaski, New Orleans, Fort
Macon, Yorktown, Williamsburg, West Point and Norfolk shall have been
received?
-----
The
Hero of the Varuna.
Among
the heroes of the splendid naval success on the Lower Mississippi, none
displayed more gallant conduct than Capt. Charles S. Boggs, of the
gunboat Varuna. He is a native of New Jersey, and a nephew of the
brave Capt. Lawrence of the Chesapeake, whose dying words
“Don’t give up the ship,” are as familiar as household words. It
is stated that last summer Capt. Boggs applied to the President for a
command, and, on being asked what he wanted to do, replied that he
desired to bombard Charleston and sow it with salt. His appearance and
bearing pleased Mr. Lincoln, and he was told to select any vessel to
which a commander had not been already appointed. He chose the Varuna.
His brilliant action in that vessel has justified the foresight that
assigned him to the command. The achievement of the Varuna, which
sank six out of the eleven rebel steamers—two of them being
ironclad—is almost without parallel. Her triumph in death is described
in living words her hero commander, when he writes: “My last gun
was fired as the decks went under water!”
“We
were taken off by boats from the squadron, which had now come up; the
crews cheering as the Varuna went down with her flag flying,
victorious in defeat, and covered with glory!” |
|
WEDNESDAY
MAY 14,
1862
NEW
HAMPSHIRE PATRIOT & STATE GAZETTE
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|
Pennsylvania
Exempted.—Pennsylvania’s products were left entirely untaxed by
the Committee of which Mr. Stevens was chairman. Yet a tax of fifty
cents a ton on pig iron, produced in that State, would yield a revenue
of $250,000, and twenty-five cents a ton on anthracite coal, with half a
cent on bituminous, would yield $3,000,000 more.
It
was part of the agreement, by which Pennsylvania’s vote was secured
for Lincoln, that the State should have protection, and Congress is
carrying out the bargain. So in the debate on the tax on liquors, Mr.
Blair claimed a reduction for lager beer, because it had done more to
elect Mr. Lincoln than any other liquor.—Albany Argus.
-----
The
Nashville Again.—It is not strange that the friends of the
rebels in Europe insist that our blockade is inefficient, when the
steamer Nashville finds it so easy to run in and out of blockaded
ports. It was known that she was off the coast watching an opportunity
to slip in, with a large cargo of arms and munitions; yet no precaution
seems to have been taken to prevent it, and accordingly we hear that she
arrived at Wilmington, April 26, with 18,000 stand of arms and 100 tons
of powder. It is stated that in running in she got aground on the bar
and remained so two days, during which time a portion of her cargo was
taken out by other boats. Where, during all this time and while all this
was going on, were our vigilant and efficient blockaders?
-----
A
Courageous Lady Commissioned as a Major.—The Peoria Transcript
says Gov. Yates has paid a rather unusual but well merited compliment to
Mrs. Reynolds, wife of Lieut. Reynolds, of Co. A, 17th Illinois, and a
resident of that city. Mrs. Reynolds has accompanied her husband through
the greater part of the campaign through which the 17th has passed,
sharing with him the dangers and privations of a soldier’s life. She
was present at the battle of Pittsburg Landing, and like a ministering
angel attended to the wants of as many of the wounded and dying soldiers
as she could, thus winning the gratitude and esteem of the brave fellows
by whom she was surrounded. Gov. Yates, hearing of her heroic and
praiseworthy conduct, presented her with a commission as Major in the
army, the document conferring the well-merited honor being made out with
all due formality, and having attached the great seal of the State.
Probably no lady in Am Erica will ever again have such a distinguished
military honor conferred upon her. Mrs. Reynolds is now in Peoria, and
leaves to join her regiment in a day or two.
-----
That’s
So.—Gen. Richardson of Illinois said in the House, on Friday, that
“if the riot act were read dispersing Congress, the army would get
along much better.” This is undoubtedly true, and we wish it could be
done. It will come to something worse, we fear. The patience of the
people and the army will become exhausted, and a Cromwell may be
applauded in dispersing the Congressional rabble at the point of the
bayonet.
-----
The
ice companies of New York stored about 400,000 tons the past season,
notwithstanding the difficulty in getting it on account of the great
depth of snow. Two millions of dollars are invested in the ice trade of
that city. |
Destruction
of Property.—The telegraph from Louisville reports the following:
“Two
thoroughly reliable gentlemen, (Kentuckians,) who have just arrived from
New Orleans, represent that all along the Mississippi from Memphis to
New Orleans, there is one general bonfire of property, particularly
cotton, of which 11,700 bales were burned at New Orleans.
“At
Memphis, sugar and molasses in large quantities are on the bluffs ready
to be rolled down into the river, and all the cotton is ready to be
fired on the approach of the federal fleet.
“The
people of the river towns are retreating inward, and destroying property
all along the tributaries of the Mississippi, the planters in many cases
applying the torch to their own cotton.
“The
rebel government also has boats running up the river destroying the
cotton. Among the great number of planters, only one was found who
objected to the burning of the cotton.”
Another
account states the amount of cotton burnt at New Orleans and Baton Rouge
and on ship board, at 32,000 bales.
-----
The
Pacific Railroad.—The Pacific Railroad bill passed by the U.S.
House of Representatives establishes a company to be called “The Union
Pacific Railroad Company,” with a huge body corporate composed of men
from the several States, and five commissioners to be appointed by the
Secretary of the Interior; its capital stock will consist of one hundred
thousand shares of one thousand dollars each; all the persons named in
the bill are styled a Board of Commissioners, eleven constituting a
quorum for the transaction of business; the first meeting to be held in
Chicago within three months from the passage of the bill; there are to
be a President, Secretary and Treasurer and fifteen Directors, two of
which to be selected by the President of the United States; a right of
way is to be granted to the company through the public lands; they are
also to receive every alternate section of land as a present from the
Government; and the road is to be built on the most direct, central and
practicable route.
-----
The
Southern papers speak of the surrender of New Orleans in the most dismal
strain, and demand that “the mystery of the surrender of the city
shall be explained.” The Norfolk Day Book, in an editorial,
says: “It is by far the most serious reverse of the war. It suggests
future privations to all classes of society, but most to be lamented of
all, it threatens our army supplies.”
-----
A
newspaper correspondent accompanying one of our armies, took a twenty
miles horseback ride the other day, with no other result than the
discovery that “the difference between sitting on a sofa and in the
saddle, is marked in the extreme, and painful in the same place.”
|
|
THURSDAY
MAY 15,
1862
THE
BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER (MA) |
|
Extracts
from Southern Papers.
Chicago,
May 14.—Memphis papers of the 11th are received. A dispatch from
Natchez states that the Federal fleet had returned to New Orleans.
The
Appeal commenting on the growing disposition on the part of the
citizens to refuse confederate notes, characterizes the parties as
traitors.
The
same journal says the only conditions upon which the South will accept
peace is the recognition of the independence not only of the cotton
States but of every border State whose people desire an affiance with
the Confederacy.
The
following items are taken from the Appeal:
The
Provost Marshal of Memphis has ordered the arrest of all persons
refusing to take Confederate money in payment for goods.
The
Appeal of the 11th says we have certain intelligence that
Halleck’s army has lost over 5000 by desertion, the country between
the Tennessee river and Kentucky being full of them. The whole of the
40th Ohio deserted and disbanded after the battle of the 7th. Numbers of
Kentuckians and Missourians followed their example in consequence of the
disaffection produced by the late anti-slavery movements in Congress.
A
report has been received from Little Rock, Arkansas, that Gen.
Curtis’s division of the Federal army has commenced to march upon the
capital of Arkansas, and says that gen. Steele is marching to the same
point from Pocahontas.
-----
The
Palmetto in the Shade.—A great many letter-writers from the army
agree in saying that the rebel prisoners very generally express the
strongest dislike for South Carolina. Especially is this true of the
rebels now in Virginia—if there is one thing that they hate worse than
they do a Yankee, it is a South Carolinian. They feel very generally
that they are fighting the battle for the Palmetto State, and complain
that the Carolinians are careful not to take any large share of the
danger. Very little sympathy is likely wasted upon the latter, by those
whom they have led into these disasters, when our forces undertake the
capture of Charleston. In fact, the hard knocks given there are likely
to be regarded with some pleasure by al parties, except for the South
Carolinians themselves.
-----
The
Coast Survey.—Remembering the strenuous opposition of some
penny-wise people to the appropriation for the Coast Survey, we are glad
to see Captain Porter’s prompt recognition of the services lately
rendered by the Survey to the mortar flotilla below New Orleans.
We
have already stated that officers from the Survey obtained by
triangulation the distances necessary to determine the range for the
mortars. The Coast Survey sent out five officers—Messrs. Gerdes,
Harris, Oltmans, Halter and Bowie. These gentlemen surveyed the whole
ground carefully, when under fire from the forts and from the
sharpshooters of the enemy. The position for mortar vessel was marked,
and her distance from the fort given to a yard. Messrs. Oltmans and
Harris remained on board during the bombardment also, to fix the
positions of the vessels that it was necessary to move, while Mr. Gerdes
supplied the fleet with charts laboriously prepared, and giving the
position of all obstructions in the river. Captain Porter does not
hesitate to say that he is mainly indebted, for the success of his
mortar practice in bombarding the forts, to the accuracy with which the
positions were given by these gentlemen.
Captain
porter’s letter to Professor Bache, in which he states these facts in
detail, close with this pithy remark:
“It
was very curious to hear some wiseacres asking here: ‘What in the name
of Heaven a Coast Survey party had to do with a bombardment.” They
know now.”
|
Confiscation.—The
Washington correspondent of the New York Evening Post says the Senate
select committee on the confiscation bills have had one or two meetings, and
that they will report “an effective bill” to the Senate. This bill, it
is further stated, will probably authorize the President to seize the
property of a rebel without trial, and to hold it temporarily, but will also
provide for a jury trial for the final decision of the question.
This
provision for a jury trial, if made, will be likely to be a pretty sharp
disappointment to those who are most anxious for confiscation. That class of
persons have shown a general disposition to deny the “effectiveness” of
any confiscation bill, which undertakes to forfeit property only after trial
and conviction of the owner—necessary as such provision is for
constitutionality of legislation on the subject.
-----
The
New York Journal of Commerce says that in conversation with a
distinguished clergyman from Albany, who was at Gen. Scott’s residence
last week, the general said: “I think Davis will not be caught. He will
probably escape through Texas into Mexico. To the more prominent traitors
that may be taken, I would mete out a system of judicious but liberal
hanging.”
-----
It
is thought that in addition to the ports of Beaufort, New Orleans and Port
Royal, in a few days the ports of Norfolk, Newbern, Washington and Richmond
will doubtless be opened, and probably Mobile, to be followed in thirty days
at the furthest by the opening of the ports of Pensacola, Fla., and
Savannah, Ga.
-----
NAVAL
RECORD.
Boston,
May 15, 1862.—Captain Foote arrived at Cleveland, O., on Tuesday. He
is quite feeble from his wound and disease.
Com’r
T. A. Hurt of steamer Narragansett, arrived at New York yesterday in
steamer Champion from Aspinwall.
The
veteran Commodore Charles Stewart, who christened the New Ironsides
at Philadelphia last Saturday, was born in 1778, entered the navy in 1798,
and became captain 1806. In 1800, during the French war, he fought three
engagements against superior forces, and in each instance captured his
adversary. He also re-took four captured American vessels. In 1801, during
eh war with Tripoli, he took a vessel of 14 guns. His famous cruise in the Constitution,
during the war of 1812, when he captured the Cyane and Levant,
is well known to every school boy. It was at this time that he acquired the
name of “Old Ironsides.” Although 84 years of age at the breaking out of
the rebellion, he expressed a warm desire to take part in the struggle, and
in answer to a friend at that time, who remarked, “Commodore, don’t you
wish you were a younger man so you could take part in the present
struggle?” he exclaimed, with vigor and animation, “I am young as ever
to fight for my country, and only wish they would give me a chance.”
-----
DRAMATIC.
Boston
Museum.—Mr. Booth, whose engagement excites constantly increasing
interest, repeats Richard III this evening, and tomorrow, for his
benefit, plays Hamlet, by which he will bring himself into close
comparison with his brother. The stock company are rendering him excellent
support.
Academy
of Music.--The general topic of conversation in dramatic circles is the
performance of Macbeth by the Avon Club, in aid of the Soldiers’
Fund, to be given at the Academy on Wednesday next. Mr. Wade is selling
seats very rapidly, and the audience will doubtless be large and
fashionable. It is said that the chorus will number sixty voices.
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FRIDAY
MAY 16,
1862
THE
HARTFORD DAILY COURANT (CT) |
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Interesting
Items.
At
the funeral of a fireman recently killed in New York, while on duty,
over three thousand firemen were present and joined in the funeral.
Portland,
Maine, is to have two more steam fire engines. Those already in use have
given unqualified satisfaction.
Jabez.
C. Knight was re-elected mayor of Providence, on Wednesday, without
opposition. The other republican municipal officers on the ticket with
him were also chosen.
A
new organization for military drill has been formed in Springfield by
some fifty or sixty of the Irish citizens of that place, whose service
will be tendered to the government in case of foreign war.
A
pack of wolves are infesting the north side of the Androscoggin river at
Shelburne, N.H. They visited the sugar orchards and followed and
frightened one man.
The
Newport News states that a lady named Wilcox, who resides near
Wickford, gave birth recently to four bouncing boys. The happy father of
these newly arrived youngster is a private in the fifth battalion Rhode
Island cavalry.
The
greatest smash of crockery that ever took place in Boston occurred at
the fire on Monday, when the wholesale stock of S.W. Waldron, with the
building, was leveled to the earth by a falling wall. Scarcely a ware
escaped demolition.
The
number of postage stamps sold in the New York Post Office has been
gradually increasing for the past two months, and is considered a sure
indication of the revival of business generally. The amount now averages
about $2,300 per day.
A
Cairo dispatch says Beauregard has issued a proclamation stating that
the Federal forces virtually had possession of the Mississippi river,
and ordering all forces to Corinth, and all cotton, molasses and sugar
along the river to be destroyed, which order has been enforced.
The
recent splendid achievements of the navy, and the excellent service it
has rendered, has wrought a visible change in the position of the head
of the Navy Department, and removed the probability of any change in the
Cabinet. There is no longer any talk of Mr. Welles going out.
An
effort to rob the jewelry store of George A. Perry at Millbury, on
Friday night, was foiled by a blind man next door, who hearing the noise
and supposing it to be caused by rats, knocked on the ceiling, which
frightened the thieves so that they left in a hurry. Seventy-eight holes
were bored in the panel of the door.
The
new Gunboat Eastport, captured from the rebels on the Tennessee
river, will be reported to the Navy Department, ready for service, the
latter part of this week. She is at Mound City, and would have been in
duty some time since, but the flood caused work on her to be suspended.
She is quite new and strong, and cannot fail to be quite a valuable
acquisition to the navy.
There
are now, singular as it may seem to some, as many seamen employed
actively in the navy of the United States as there is in that of
England. The personnel of the latter, including the 470
superintending officers of dock yards, 10,850 established workmen, 1,400
hired workmen, 15,000 mariners, 2,361 factory laborers, and 6,100 boys,
amounts to 31,000. In these figures coal heavers, firemen and stewards
are included. It is estimated that we have some 33,000 persons attached
to our vessels afloat.
A
young fellow calling himself Harry M. Williams has been raising “the
old Harry” in a pecuniary way, among boarding house keepers and others
in Springfield, and at last has absconded. His debts amount to several
hundred dollars, and could be bought up as cheaply as confederate bonds.
He was employed in the U.S. Armory, and by pretending that he could not
obtain any pay, he promising to give orders and by other tricks, he
succeeded in cheating almost every one with whom he had any business
transactions. |
The
French Minister has received intelligence from his Consul at Richmond to
the effect that the Rebel Government had notified him that, should it be
found necessary to evacuate the city, the French tobacco must be
destroyed with the rest. At the same time the rebels offer to pay for
it—a proposition not much relished by the Frenchman.
Captain
Raphael Semmes, of the privateer Sumter, is a small, thin, but
wiry man, with a weather-beaten countenance of a thoroughly determined
looking character. Although of middle age, his moustache and beard are
quite white. On his arrival in Paris from Gibraltar, recently, he was
anxious to know whether the confederates had fought any great battle
after retiring from Manassas, and what progress the United States forces
had made at the mouth of the Mississippi. Amongst his baggage was a
large trunk, which Dame Rumor said was filled with booty selected from
captured ships. Captain Semmes is a native of New Orleans, and is
related to Jeff. Davis.
-----
Important
from South Carolina--
Proclamation Freeing Slaves.
New
York, May 15.—The N.Y. Post says: Advices per the Cahawba
state that Gen. Hunter has issued a proclamation freeing the slaves in
his department. He was organizing a Negro brigade, and had delegated
some officers to train the contrabands to the use of arms.
-----
Deserters
from Beauregard’s Army--
They Bring Doleful Accounts.
Chicago,
May 15.—A special to the Times, by steamer City of
Memphis, from Pittsburg, Monday, states that two rebel regiments
from Kentucky ad Tennessee attempted to desert and come over en masse,
to the federal army. The enemy held them in check, and a mutiny ensued.
A strong force from our advance line went over to interfere, and in a
short time returned with 60 prisoners, mostly from the ranks of the
deserting regiments.
They
give a doleful account of affairs in Beauregard’s army, and confirm
the previous statements that troops from the Border States are anxious
to return to their former allegiance.
Deserters
say there is plenty of subsistence at Corinth.
-----
Interesting
from Richmond.—Capt. J. A. Farrish of the New York 79th, and
Lieut. J. W. Dempsey of the 2d New York Regiment, have arrived in
Washington from Richmond, and furnish the annexed interesting
intelligence:
“They
report that a large meeting was held in Richmond to decide what should
be done with the city on the arrival of the Federals. The property
holders and most substantial men of the city favored a surrender, while
those who had no interest there, and generally blacklegs and thieves,
were rampant for burning it.
“Capt.
Farrish thinks there is a very strong Union feeling in Richmond. Every
corner is nightly pasted thick with Union sentiments and mysterious
writings, which alarm the secessionists very much.
“Last
Saturday, and all day Sunday, there was much excitement in the city, and
the troops were being rapidly sent off, while all the artillery that had
been sent south of Richmond some time previous was hurriedly brought
back and shipped north.
“The
Confederates at Richmond have every vehicle and cart engaged busily
hauling stores and filling them in the canal and all other boats, for
the purpose of sinking them in the James river, on the approach of the
Federal fleet.” |
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SATURDAY
MAY 17, 1862
PORTLAND
DAILY ADVERTISER (ME) |
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Slavery
Abolished in Georgia, Florida and
South Carolina
The
following is the proclamation of Gen. Hunter, abolishing slavery within
the department of which he is the commander:
Headquarters,
Dep’t of the South,
Hilton Head, S.C., May 9, 1862.
General
Order, No. 11.
The
three States of Georgia, Florida and South Carolina, comprising the
Military Department of the South, having deliberately declared
themselves no longer under the protection of the United States of
America, and having taken up arms against said United States, it becomes
a military necessity to declare Martial Law. This was accordingly done
on the 25th day of April, 1862. Slavery and Martial law, in a free
country, are altogether incompatible; the persons in thee three States,
Georgia, Florida and South Carolina, heretofore held as slaves, are
therefore declared free.
David
Hunter,
Major General Commanding
In
reference to it, the Boston Journal thinks “if Gen. Hunter has
issued this proclamation without the sanction of the President, as we
presume is the case, it is a stretch of authority which is to be
deprecated. It is certainly to be regretted that the Administration has
had no definite policy upon the subject of slavery within the
jurisdiction of the army, but has left the question to be dealt with
entirely by the commanding General in the field. While Halleck at the
West keeps all the slaves without his lines, not even giving those of
rebels a chance to free themselves, Gen. Hunter declares the freedom of
slaves who are beyond his actual jurisdiction. Thus, there are two
extreme ideas prevailing in the treatment of slavery, which might be
harmonized by the simple promulgation of some simple, well-defined plan
for the guidance of the Union forces.”
-----
From
Corinth.
Camp
on the Corinth Road, May 15.—The following is a paragraph of a
special field order just issued. Guards will be immediately placed along
[the] line of Chambers Creek. No officers or soldiers will be permitted
to pass to the rear, and no citizens to the front of the line without
special authority. Commanders of corps and divisions will see that their
camps are cleared of all authorized hangers on, and any one attempting
to evade this, will be compelled to work on the entrenchments, batteries
or construction of roads.
This
is understood to apply to all persons, correspondents included.
Fifty-seven privates, three corporals, and one sergeant, captured at
Dresden, Tenn., came in this morning under a flag of truce. An equal
number will be sent to-morrow in exchange.
Col.
Jacob Thompson, of Beauregard’s staff, formerly Secretary of the
Interior, accompanied the flag of truce. He admits the fall of New
Orleans, Norfolk and Pensacola, but denies the fall of Richmond.
Deserters
are coming in by squads daily. All agree that the rebels are still at
Corinth fortifying.
There
have been picket skirmishes all day in which six were wounded on our
side. Weather very warm.
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Removal
of the Confederate Capital.—A gentleman at Cairo from Richmond,
via Norfolk, reports that the rebel capital is in process of removal to
Montgomery, Ala., the place of its nativity. This was being effected in
the most quiet manner possible, to avoid creating any increased public
alarm. Union sentiments are boldly avowed at Memphis. |
From
Corinth.
Before
Corinth, May 16.—It having been satisfactorily shown that spies
visited our camp and crossed the Tennessee river, and proceeded by night
in dugouts to Florence, Ala., where they held easy conversation with the
enemy, it was deemed necessary to exclude all civilians from the camps,
and the general order mentioned yesterday was issued for such an object.
A
Federal sergeant, captured at Shiloh, exchanged yesterday, says he was
taken from Corinth to Jackson, Miss., thence to Jackson, Tenn., and back
to Corinth. He states that from the time that he left Corinth until his
return, he was guarded by unarmed men.
A
contraband, purporting to be an intimate friend of Gen. Hardee’s
servant, also reports having been told that Hardee was very sick of the
war, and would leave, but Beauregard would not let him.
-----
War
Facts and Rumors.
St.
Louis, May 15.—Cleveland Leaders, the notorious jayhawker and
robber, was arrested on the 11th, at Osawatomie. He endeavored to escape
and was shot.
Barbour,
one of his gang, was also arrested and taken to Fort Leavenworth.
A
Frenchman, member of the 18th Louisiana regiment, arrived here. He
reports three companies, composed of Frenchmen, were obliged to enlist,
being unable to obtain work, food or money. The whole army are without
coffee. At one time they were more than three days without rations. He
says Van Dorn and Price left Corinth three days ago, and it is not known
where they have gone.
The
weather is clear and hot, and the rods are very dusty.
-----
From
Washington.
Washington,
May 16.—The Fugitive Slave Law is being quietly enforced in the
district to-day, the military authorities not interfering with judicial
proceedings. There are at least 400 cases pending. It is said that some
of the Negroes whose owners or agents from Maryland are here seeking
their recovery, mysteriously disappeared this morning.
-----
The
Fugitive Slave Law.—The Washington correspondent of the Baltimore Sun,
usually very correct, says the President has decided that the fugitive
slave law shall be enforced in the District of Columbia. Much agitation
prevails in the lower counties of Maryland, in regard to the shelter
afforded in the District to fugitives in that vicinity.
-----
A
Sale of Free Negroes Stopped.—Three hundred and sixteen free
blacks of both sexes were advertised to be sold at Norfolk last Monday,
for failing to pay taxes. Gen. Wool’s arrival a few days before
interfered with the sale.
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ADVERTISEMENT
PORTLAND
ICE COMPANY
MOSES G. DOW, Special Agent.
Will supply the citizens of Portland with pure ice of unsurpassed
goodness during the summer season of 1862, on the most favorable terms.
Orders left at his store, 156 Bliddle street, will be promptly attended
to. |
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1The
folks in New Orleans were absolutely correct that Butler’s health
regulations regarding yellow fever were totally ineffectual, and also
right in saying that the source of that scourge was unknown. It would be
1881 before a Cuban doctor, Carlo Finlay, suggested that mosquitoes
might be the vector for the contagion, and the 1890s before a U.S. Army
surgeon, Walter Reed, and his team confirmed this theory (Reed is
credited with the “discovery,” but always maintained that he based
his work on Finlay’s hypothesis). The locals were also right to
advocate a general cleanup of the city in order to minimize the danger
of typhus. General Butler did this and is, grudgingly, given the credit
by New Orleaneans.
2“saffron-visaged
plague of the tropics” translates from Victorian prose to modern
English as simply “yellow fever.”
3Estivation
(also known as “summer sleep”) is a form of hibernation or removal
to a more suitable environment by an animal to increase its chance of
survival during extreme heat.
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