SUNDAY
NOVEMBER 9, 1862
THE DAILY PICAYUNE (LA)

A Fight at Brashear City, La.

We find the following in the Delta of yesterday:

The following letter from our correspondent with the naval expedition under Lieut. Buchanan, off Brashear City, gives an account of quite a brisk action which took place on the 3d inst., between some of our gunboats and the rebel batteries on the Teche.

It would seem that there has been rather lively work in that region. The Confederates have crossed the Bay at Brashear City, and have gone up to a point on Bayou Teche, about fourteen miles from Brashear, where they have placed obstructions in the stream.

The Confederates destroyed the bridge across Bayou Bœuf, together with a large amount of rolling stock. The bridge is about eight miles from Brashear City, and Col. Thomas, with the 8th Vermont regiment, was engaged in repairing it. The distance from Thibodauxville to Brashear is about twenty-nine miles. A portion of Gen. Weitzel’s command is at Tigerville, about half way between the two places, and as soon as Col. Thomas completes the repairs on the bridge, the whole of his force can be thrown on any point on the road in a few hours. We shall expect to hear a good account of them in a few days. Bayou Teche connects with the waters of Berwick’s Bay through the Atchafalaya river, and leads up into the Attakapis country. Opelousas, Vermillionville, St. Martinsville, Franklin, and other towns are near the bayou or its connecting streams.

Off Brashear City, Nov. 4, 1862.

Dear Delta.--We arrived off here on the night of the 1st, but unfortunately too late to stop the rebels from crossing. There was a great deal of difficulty in getting over the bay, and we felt the want of light draft vessels very much. The day the Kinsman arrived, Lieut. Buchanan crossed in her, and tried to get the Estrella over, but she grounded. He came up to the mouth of the river, but saw nothing but the Hart, which we chased but could not catch. They got the Estrella and the St. Mary’s over the next day, and the following day the Calhoun came up with the Diana.

The night of our arrival here, we chased the rebel gunboat Cotton, but she got away from us by her superior speed. The same night was captured the rebel steamer A. B. Seger. She is a small boat, about the size of the Fancy Natchez, and is very useful.

Yesterday all the gunboats went up Bayou Teche, found the enemy about fourteen miles from here, and passed above the obstructions they had sunk in the Teche.

The boats engaged them for two hours, and drove them off, including the Cotton. The Kinsman bore the brunt of it, and received fifty-four shots in her upper works and hull, and had one man killed, (a soldier of the 21st Indiana,) and five wounded.

The pilot, John Bellino, had his leg badly shattered, and died to-day from the effects of amputation. Capt. Coos, on the Estrella, received three shots, and had two soldiers of the 21st Indiana killed while working the guns, and one man badly wounded.

The Diana received three shots, but had no person hurt. She will have to be hauled out, as her stem is shot away. The Calhoun received eight shots, but fortunately they did no material damage.

Capt. Wiggins fought his ship nobly. He was in such a position that he received all the fire from the artillery on shore, and at the same time had the Cotton playing upon him. He, however, drove the artillery away, and put several shots into the Cotton.

The whole rebel force was there, numbering between three and four thousand men, with (it is said) seventy field pieces. It is reported to-day that we did them a great deal of damage, and that the Cotton is sunk. They had thrown up a mud fort on this side, but evacuated it upon our arrival. An attempt was made to remove the obstructions, but without success; but I think that when Gen. Weitzel arrives, so as to afford protection from the sharpshooters on the banks, we can do so.

The enemy destroyed about 1,000 hogsheads sugar, a lot of molasses, and also burnt ninety-eight cars and steam engines.

The Cotton is iron-cased, and did some excellent shooting. She mounts one long 32-pounder, four 24-pounders, and two 6-pounders, rifled guns. The iron casing on the Kinsman and Diana turned the shot beautifully.

Capt. McClellan, who was on board of the Calhoun, with his company, went ashore with his men and tried to get opposite the Cotton, but before he got up to her she had left. If she has not been sunk, we will get her yet.

Nov. 5.—Lieut. Buchanan has just returned from another trip up the Teche, with the Estrella. He had three men killed by a shot. The Cotton was there. They had a battery on each bank, but he succeeded in driving them all off. I think the Cotton is casemated, as our shell glanced off. He was on fire once. We could plainly see our shot strike him, but he fights bows on.

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Foreign Intervention.—The Question Settled. England Will Not Interfere. All Doubt at an End.—We find the following in the Chicago Post, taken from the Woodstock (Ill.) Sentinel, of the 26th ult.:

Mr. Miles Booty, of Woodstock, sends us the following:

I have received a letter from my sister in London who keeps a first-class boarding house near the Great Exhibition. She writes, a short time since, the Dukes of Wellington and Argyle called to know whether there was not an American gentleman and his wife boarding there. She replied that there was. They presented their cards and solicited an interview, which was granted. They asked Mr. Hayman, the American gentleman boarding there, what was his opinion of the war. He told them the North would certainly subdue the South, and if the English interfered, they would have a worse time of it than they had at Waterloo. “Do you think so, decidedly?” they asked. “Yes,” said he. “Then England will not interfere,” they answered.

MONDAY
NOVEMBER 10, 1862
THE MACON DAILY TELEGRAPH (GA)

An Astounding Development.

The following is copied, through the Richmond Dispatch, from the New York Times of the 2d instant. It almost surpasses belief that a respectable print of large circulation—a leading organ of the administration party, should gravely advocate a complete military despotism all over the North, in which State Legislatures, Executives, and popular elections should be under the control of Provost Marshals—and that public demoralization should have attained such a depth that these propositions and threats are made on the eve of general elections! Read it and wonder:

With European recognition, and constant efforts, open or secret, to aid the South, the Government at Washington will need all the unity and efficiency contemplated in recent proclamations. It will require millions of men and proportional supplies. Martial law over the entire North is a national necessity. If the Governors of the Northern States manifest a factious spirit, the Provost Marshals, it is presumed, will have the power to keep them in order. If State Legislatures should undertake to interfere with the action of the General Government, necessary to the prosecution of the war, they will come under the  action of martial law, and if the action of any political party shall threaten to change or paralyze the movements of the Government, it will doubtless be competent for the Provost Marshal in any State to suspend political meetings and postpone elections. If the Constitution of the United States is to be construed according to the necessities of a civil war of vast proportions, the Constitutions of individual States cannot be allowed to stand in the way of its vigorous prosecution.

Englishmen are in great trouble at the illegality and unconstitutionality of the acts of President Lincoln. They have a great tenderness for the Constitution and the laws, and feel very badly that the Northern people, while conquering the South, should lose their own liberties. They tell us that the President cannot do this and that—that his proclamations are only waste paper. They appear to have very little idea of what the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States can do. A man of firm and resolute will, with a million men in arms to support him, can do pretty much what he pleases. They have to learn that paper Constitutions, however convenient they may be, can be amended when necessary, suspended or laid aside altogether, and that it is no longer a question in America what this or that Constitution authorizes, but what is necessary to be done to make of thirty-four States and a vast territory one nation.

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Special Notice.
To the Citizens of Macon and the Friends of the Central City Blues.

The “Central City Blues,” the Company which has probably seen more service and suffered more hardships than any that ahs gone from our county, having been in the 12^th Georgia Regiment under Stonewall Jackson for near 13 months, is much in want of clothes, blankets and shoes, and have sent on an Agent to collect and forward an outfit. Most of the men are very poor and their families are not able to supply them. Our Ladies have done what they could and have furnished the pantaloons.

I earnestly appeal to the citizens to aid this Company with their contributions, as they are much in want and cannot be otherwise supplied.

All contributions may be left at the Store of Capt. Benj. F. Ross, who will pack all goods and see that they are safely forwarded.

L. N. Whittle,
November 4th, 1862.

To the Planters of Georgia.

Headquarters, Military District of Georgia.
Savannah, Ga., Nov. 3d, 1862.

I have received from several counties of the State of Georgia, and from individual slaveholders, requests and demands that I should return their Negroes now working upon the fortifications of Savannah. It is my sincere and earnest desire to do so. I think it an injustice to those who have sent their Negroes at my first call, that they should be compelled to bear the whole burden and heat of the day, while others, who are among the wealthiest of the land, look calmly on the danger of the city and the State without contributing a single laborer from their hundreds or their thousands to their defense.

Fellow citizens, with whom ought the blame to rest? Not with those who have contributed their labor, for they have nobly done their duty. Not with me, for I am simply doing that which is absolutely necessary to the protection of the State from invasion and from the designs of the Abolitionists.

Let the blame fall where it is justly due—on those who have refused to send labor to the defenses of Savannah, and who still refuse to take their turn in the work, who, after enjoying immunity for so long a time, still refuse to relieve those who have been laboring for them. Let those citizens whose vital interests are at stake, and who have done their share towards the common weal, rise up and compel those backsliders, and especially the rich among them, too do their part.

From the thousands of slaves who have thus been withheld from the defense of the country, enough and more than enough, might easily be contributed to enable me to send back to their masters all those who have already worked here for three (3) months, and at the same time would give me a sufficient force to complete the defense of our chief city and coast.

Patriots! will you allow the selfish and the unpatriotic to reap all the benefits of our war of independence without sharing with you its burdens, its sacrifices and privations?

As soon as those who have not hitherto contributed send me a sufficient number to fill their places, I pledge myself to send back to their masters the Negroes who are now at work. Until this is done necessity compels me to retain them.

H. W. Mercer,
Brigadier General Commanding.

TUESDAY
NOVEMBER 11, 1862
LOWELL DAILY CITIZEN & NEWS (MA)

FAREWELL OF GENERAL MCCLELLAN.
General Burnside’s Assumption of Command.

The following is from the headquarters of the army of the Potomac, dated last evening at Warrenton, Va.:

Gen. McClellan was to have left yesterday for the North, but the transferring of a command like this could not be accomplished in a day, and he was, therefore, compelled to remain. At nine o’clock last evening all the officers belonging at headquarters assembled at the general’s tent to bid him farewell. The only toast given was by Gen. McClellan—“The Army of the Potomac.”

Gen. McClellan and staff, accompanied by Gen. Burnside, to-day bade farewell to this army, visiting in succession the several army corps. As the general rode through the ranks, the tattered banners of the veteran regiments were dipped to greet him, while the thousands of soldiers gave vent to their feelings in continuous rounds of cheers and applause.

The general and staff will leave by special train to-morrow for the North.

The following order was issued by General Burnside on taking command of the army:

In accordance with General Orders No. 182, issued by the president of the United States, I hereby assume command of the army of the Potomac. Patriotism and the exercise of my every energy in the direction of this army, aided by the full and hearty co-operation of its officers and men, will, I hope, under the blessing of God, insure its success. Having been a sharer of the privations, and a witness of the bravery of the old army of the Potomac in the Maryland campaign, and fully identified with them in their feelings of respect and esteem for Gen. McClellan, entertained through a long and most friendly association with him, I feel that it is not as a stranger I assume command. To the Ninth Army Corps, so long and intimately associated with me, I need say nothing. Our histories are identical. With diffidence for myself, but with a proud confidence in the unswerving loyalty and determination of the gallant army now entrusted to my care, I accept its control with the steadfast assurance that the just cause must prevail.

A. E. Burnside,
Major-General Commanding.

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The removal of General McClellan from the command of the army of the Potomac has elicited various comments from the press, even in advance of any very authentic announcement of the reasons for this step. We regret to notice in some quarters a disposition to charge the president, as in case of the proclamation, with being over-persuaded into an act of indiscretion, if not of folly. How unreasonable and unjust to the president such intimations are, all will realize who remember how constant have been the president’s expressions of confidence in General McClellan down to a recent date—even since the president’s visit to the Upper Potomac. No, we are bound to believe that the president has acted with characteristic caution, from a high sense of responsibility and duty, nor do we doubt that the government has good ground for the course it has seen fit to adopt.

Health of the Army.—There is no doubt that a great deal of physical suffering and sickness might be avoided by proper food and drink. The late David Thomas, who explored the line of the Erie Canal from Rochester to Buffalo, and afterwards superintended its construction as chief engineer, had an unusual and almost intuitive knowledge of physiology as connected with disease. The first or exploring company passed an entire winter in passing from Rochester to Buffalo through a new country and encamped in tents. The members of this company were ordered to drink no water that had not been previously boiled, (either for tea, coffee, or otherwise,) and intoxicating drinks were prohibited. All who observed his orders remained well during the summer; those who broke them were taken with fever. It was the first strictly temperance company, probably, that had been employed in such service; and for the amount of exposure, passed through remarkably unharmed, with the exceptions stated. A similar course with the United States Volunteers would doubtless save thousands.

Another very important requisite for the preservation of health is a regular supply of fruit with the food. We have met with those who have emigrated early to the West, and were exposed to the epidemics which formerly prevailed in newly occupied regions, who have stated that when such a supply could be obtained, they have nearly always escaped disease. Only  a few days since, a resident for some twenty years in one of the Western States informed me that when removing there, they took a large amount of dried fruit, and although enduring many privations the first season, the whole family remained healthy, so long as the supply of dried fruit remained. The next season and afterward, notwithstanding the addition of many comforts not before possessed, several of the family suffered from sickness. This is an abundant fruit season, and it may be well to secure a large amount this coming autumn by drying, for those who are absent from the comforts of home.--Country Gentleman.

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Mr. Cameron, our minister to St. Petersburg, has just arrived home on a short furlough. He represents the Russian government as friendly and steadfast on our side. He says that three large iron-clad rams are being constructed in England, to be used in the confederate service.

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Very Well Said.—Remarking upon the removal of Gen. McClellan, the New Bedford Mercury says:

The cause is worth  more than many McClellans, and we have the most implicit faith that, in taking this step, the President has regarded the truest interests of the country. He will be assailed by many as having yielded to the pressure of the radicals. To us it indicates a determination on his part to push the war with vigor. At all events, we stand by the President, and ask those inclined to question the wisdom of this move to suspend their judgment and wait for further developments. Abraham Lincoln has not displaced George B. McClellan without good cause.

WEDNESDAY
NOVEMBER 12, 1862
THE BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER

WHY THE SOUTH MADE WAR.

The following article, which appears under the above title  in the New York Observer of November 6, deserves attention from the fact of its appearance in a  journal which has heretofore maintained a reputation for extreme “conservatism”—

“Who began it?” is an old question when men are fighting; but the Richmond Examiner, a Southern authority that will not be impeached, tells us the origin and cause of the present war with such distinctness and evident truthfulness that we are disposed to put it on record for future reference as well as present remark.

The Richmond Examiner says it is proposed in some parts of the South to make a forced conscription of slaves for purposes of labor, and it adds, “As the war originated and is carried on in great part for the defence of the slaveholder in his property, rights, and the perpetuation of the institution, he ought to be first and foremost in aiding, by every means in his power, the triumph and success of our arms. The slaveholder ought to remember hat for every Negro he thus furnishes he puts a soldier in the ranks.”

If we were seeking justification for the immediate use of all constitutional and lawful means in time of war to break up the institution of slavery in the rebellious States, we should find it in such bold avowals as this. From time to time we have been told that slavery was not the cause of the war; that it was only the pretext or occasion, and that the war would have been waged by the secessionists had there been no slavery to protect. Every day develops fresh evidence to the contrary. Those of us at the North who always defended the constitutional rights of the South know that while we were at peace the country was safe under the Constitution, and all sections were alike protected by the army and navy, the entire military force of the Government being pledged to the support and execution of the laws. And the South had the most overwhelming and repeated evidence that, however reluctant a slavery-hating people were to enforce an obnoxious law, they could and would be true to the bond and uphold the faith of the nation. But the political power of the slave-holding and of the Eastern States was passing away under the tremendous growth of the Northern and Western States, and the South was fearful that by-and-by the Supreme Court, and then the Constitution itself, would be changed to suit the progressive anti-slavery sentiment of the age. It was this fear that ripened he conspiracy and quickened into precipitate action the men who, “by years of toil and labor, brought on this war.” And in the second year of its bloody history, a leading newspaper at eh capital of the rebellion tells us explicitly:

“As the war originated and is carried on in great part for the defence of the slaveholder in his property, rights, and the perpetuation of the institution.”

We note the exceeding wickedness of a war wage for such an unholy purpose. It was not enough that we had a Constitution tolerating slavery in States that would have it, but a peaceful, prosperous, happy nation must be rent and drenched in fraternal blood for “the perpetuation of the institution.” No war was ever originated among civilized and Christian people on a more flagitious pretext.¹ The King of Dahomey makes war on neighboring kings to obtain captives to sell into slavery, but the King is a heathen. Here it is avowed that a Christian people “originated” a war for “the perpetuation of the institution” of slavery.

If this is the object, as its authors avow, and as Mr. “Vice President” Stephens more than intimated in the beginning, then it is right and proper that the Government should do all it can, in accordance with the Constitution and the laws, to destroy that object, and, with it, all pretext for the war. This was never denied under any form of Government. While the traitor forfeits the protection of the throne, he also, by the laws of all lands, forfeits his property to the Government that he would subvert. Proceeding on this principle, the path of our national duty is plain. Every man who rebels against the authority of the United States may be justly deprived of his slaves as son as the power of the Government is brought to bear upon the person so rebelling. It is said that there are no slaveholders in the rebel States who have not criminally participated in the rebellion. If this is so, all the slaves in those States may be emancipated by the regular operation of the laws of the land just so rapidly as the military power of the country makes it possible to execute any law. No decree can work any faster than power goes to enforce it.

And we note, also, in this avowal by the Richmond Examiner, a cogent argument for the union of all patriotic citizens in a steady, progressive, and mighty effort in support of the President’s plan for the gradual removal of slavery from the loyal States, with compensation to the owners willing to emancipate their slaves. We solemnly believe that the time has come for all good men to lay aside their individual, party, and sectional sympathies, while they concentrate their energies in sustaining such a public sentiment as will secure the adoption of this or some better plan for the deliverance of our whole country from a gigantic evil, the “perpetuation” of which is now openly avowed by the rebels to be the ground on which they made and carry on the war. We would make peace the instant the rebels return to their allegiance, submitting to the Constitution and laws; but what security have we that the same cause will not, twenty or fifty years hence, produce the same results, if it is indeed true that this deplorable war, with its horrid hecatombs of our sons and brothers, was actually begun and continued for the “perpetuation of slavery.”

In the annals of human crime, dark and bloody as they are, we note no avowal more unblushing and barbarous, none that so utterly ignores the character and obligations of Christian civilization and common humanity, none that so stamps a war with all the attributes of sin and shame to be borne in ages of history by those who began and carried it on for such a purpose.

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Official Report of Admiral Farragut.

Washington, November 11.—The Navy Department has received voluminous dispatches from Rear Admiral Farragut, date Pensacola Bay, Oct. 15. After stating that Galveston, Corpus Christi, Sabine City and the adjacent waters are now in our possession, he says:

“A short time ago I sent down the coast of Texas acting volunteer Lieut. J. W. Kittridge with the barque Arthur, the little steamer Sachem, and a launch, with which force he said he could take Corpus Christi and the waters adjacent, whence we heard of so many small craft running to Havana. He succeeded very well, took the place, made several captures, and compelled the enemy to burn several of their vessels. But on one occasion, venturing on shore with his small boat, he was surrounded and taken prisoner and carried to Houston, where they paroled him on condition that he should go North and not serve until regularly exchanged.

“I next sent the Kensington, Acting Master Crocker, Commanding, with the Rachel Seaman and a launch with a howitzer to Sabine Pass. He, too, succeeded very well. He found at the bar one of the mortar schooners, Acting Master Pennington commanding, whom he invited to take part with him, which he did, and, according to Acting Master Crocker’s report, performed his duty with great credit. They took the fort and are still going ahead finely, having take several prizes, one of which arrived here yesterday with dispatches.

“I next sent Commander Renshaw with the gunboats Owasco, Harriet Lane, Clifton and Westfield, to take Galveston, which he did in the shortest time and without the loss of a man. It appears that the first shot from the Owasco exploded directly over the heads of the men at and around the big gun, their main reliance, when the enemy left. A flag of truce was hoisted and the preliminaries arranged for a surrender, which took place on the 9th inst.

“Corpus Christi and the adjoining waters are still held by the Sachem and other small vessels.”

THURSDAY
NOVEMBER 13, 1862
THE FARMERS’ CABINET (NH)

The Removal of Gen. McClellan.
Official Explanations.

Headquarters of the Army,
Washington, Oct. 28, 1862.

Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War:

In reply to the general interrogatories contained in your letter of yesterday, I have to report:

First—That requisitions for supplies to the army under Gen. McClellan are made by the staff officers on the chiefs of bureaus here; that is, for Quartermaster’s supplies, by his chief Quartermaster on the Quartermaster General; for commissary supplies, by his chief Commissary on the Commissary General, etc. No such requisitions have been made, to my knowledge, upon the Secretary of War, and none upon the General in Chief.

Second—On several occasions Gen. McClellan has telegraphed to me that his army was deficient in certain supplies. All these telegrams were immediately referred to the heads of bureaus with orders to report. It was ascertained that in every instance the requisitions had been immediately filled, except one, where the Quartermaster General had been obliged to send from Philadelphia certain articles of clothing, tents, etc., not having a full supply here. There has not been, so far as I could ascertain, any neglect or delay in any Department or bureau in issuing all supplies asked for by Gen. McClellan, or by the officers of his staff. Delays have occasionally occurred in forwarding supplies by rail on account of the crowded condition of the depots, or of a want of cars; but whenever notified of this, agents have been sent out to remove the difficulty. Under the excellent superintendence of Gen. Haupt I think these delays have been less frequent, and of shorter duration, than is usual with freight trains. An army of the size of that under Gen. McClellan will frequently be, for some days, without the supplies asked for, on account of neglect in making timely requisitions and unavoidable delays in forwarding them, and in distributing them to the different brigades and regiments.

From all the information I can obtain I am of the opinion that the requisitions from that army have been filled more promptly, and the men as a general rule have been better supplied than our armies operating in the West. The latter have operated at a much greater distance from the sources of supplies, and have had far less facilities of transportation.

Third—Soon after the battle of Antietam, Gen. McClellan was urged to give me information of his intended movements in order that if he moved between the enemy and Washington, reinforcements could be sent from this place. On the first of October, finding that he proposed to operate from Harper’s Ferry, I urged him to cross the river at once and give battle to the enemy, pointing to him the disadvantages of delaying until the autumn rains had swollen the Potomac and impaired the roads. On the 6th of October he was peremptorily ordered to cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy, or drive him south. Your army must move while the roads are good. It will be observed that three weeks have elapsed since the order was given.

Fourth—In my opinion, there has been no such want of supplies in the army under Gen. McClellan as to prevent his compliance with the orders to advance against the enemy. Had he moved to the south side of the Potomac, he could have received his supplies almost as readily as if remaining inactive on the north.

Fifth—On the 7th of October, in a telegram, in regard to his intended movements, Gen. McClellan stated that it would require at least three days to supply the 1st, 5th and 6th corps; that they needed shoes and other indispensable articles of clothing, as well as shelter tents. No complaints were made that any requisitions had not been filled, and it was inferred from his language that he was only waiting for the distribution of supplies. On the 11th he telegraphed that a portion of supplies sent by rail had been delayed.

As already stated, agents were immediately sent from here to investigate this complaint and they reported that everything had gone forward. On the same date, the 11th, he spoke of many of his horses being down by fatigue. On the 12th he complained that the rate of supply was only 150 horses per week for the entire army there and in front of Washington. I immediately directed the Quartermaster General to inquire into this matter and report why a larger supply was not furnished. Gen. Meigs reported on the 14th, that the average issue of horses to Gen> McClellan’s army in the field and in front of Washington, for the previous six weeks, had been 1459 per week, or 8754 in all; in addition, that large numbers of mules had been supplied, and that the number of animals with Gen. McClellan’s army on the upper Potomac was over 31,000. He also reported that he was then sending to that army all the horses he could procure.

On the 18th, Gen. McClellan stated in regard to Gen. Meigs’ report that he had filled every requisition for shoes and clothing: “Gen. Meigs may have ordered these articles to be forwarded, but they have not reached our depots, and unless greater effort to ensure prompt transmission is made by the department of which Gen. Meigs is the head, they might as well remain in New York or Philadelphia so far as the army is concerned.”

I immediately called Gen. Meigs’ attention to this apparent neglect in his department. On the 25th he reported as the result of his investigation that 48,000 pairs of boots and shoes had been received by the Quartermaster of Gen. McClellan’s army at Harper’s Ferry, Frederick, and Hagerstown; that 20,000 pairs were at Harper’s Ferry Depot on the 21st; that 10,000 more were on their way, and 15,000 more ordered.

Col. Ingalls, Aide-de-Camp and Chief Quartermaster to Gen. McClellan, telegraphed on the 25th: “The suffering for want of clothing is exaggerated I think, and certainly might have been avoided by timely requisitions of regimental and brigade commanders.” On the 24th he telegraphed to the Quartermaster General that the “clothing was not detained in the cars at the depots. Such complaints are groundless. The fact is the clothing arrives and is issued, but more is still wanted.

“I have ordered more than would seem necessary from any data furnished me, and I beg to remind you that you have always very promptly met all my requisitions so far as clothing is concerned. Our depot is not at fault. It provides as soon as due notice is given. I foresee no time when an army of over 100,000 men will not call for clothing and other articles.”

In regard to Gen. McClellan’s means of promptly communicating the wants of his army to me or to the proper bureaus of the War Department, I report that in addition to the ordinary mails he has been in hourly communication with Washington by telegraph.

Very respectfully your obedient servant,

H. W. Halleck,
General-in-Chief.

FRIDAY
NOVEMBER 14, 1862
THE CALEDONIAN (VT)

Threatening Aspect of Affairs in Europe.

Perhaps the following opinions of Mr. Cameron, who has just returned to this country, may have something to do with the relief of Gen. McClellan from command:

“The feeling in Europe is described by Mr. Cameron as strongly favoring of intervention, and this feeling is increasing in consequence of the continued inactivity of the Federal arms. In England it is thought that no active interventions will take place until Parliament meets. The success or failure of the present campaign will probably decide the matter, and only decided victories on our side will dispel the idea, in his opinion. It is generally understood in England that a rebel naval attack on our Atlantic cities is in preparation. Three immense ironclad steam rams, the most powerful ever constructed, are building in English ship yards, and with these it is supposed that the rebels will attack our Northern cities. They have an especial desire to make a dash at New York, and even if the enterprise were but partially successful, the presence of rebel war vessels in New York harbor, if only for an hour, would have a  great effect abroad.

“The sympathy for the rebels in England is daily increasing, and delay in Federal advance is interpreted as a tacit admission of our inability to cope with the enemy.

“Mr. Cameron thinks that the fortifications of New York should be at once attended to, and is surprised that the danger of an attack on our cities is not more fully appreciated here.”

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A Cavalry Fight.
Stuart’s Cavalry Defeated.

Gen. Pleasanton remained over night at Mark’s Hall, and Wednesday morning moved on towards Barber’s, five miles distant, and near the mouth of Chester Gap. Before reaching the town he came up with Gen. Stuart, with 3000 men and one battery. The enemy had their guns posted on a hill on the left of the road, but were driven off. Col. Gregg of the 8th Pennsylvania charged on them with a full regiment, completely routing them and taking prisoners. As the rebels fled, Capt. Saunders with a squadron of the 6th Pennsylvania regiment charged on their flank, while Capt. Pennington, with another force, assaulted them with shell. The rebels left ten dead on the field. Our loss was one killed and five wounded. Among the enemy’s dead was a captain. The adjutant of a Virginia regiment had his leg broken, and is a prisoner. The conduct of our cavalry in this action was splendid, and it is only necessary for Gen. Stuart to meet them in an open field to show our superiority. Salem was occupied on Wednesday by Gen. Bayard’s cavalry, after driving the 1st Virginia cavalry from the town, and capturing seven prisoners.

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Emigration to this country is on the increase. The number of emigrants who arrived at New York during October was 6,191, against 3,266, the same month last year.

Joe Parsons of Baltimore.

Joe enlisted in the 1st Maryland regiment, and was plainly a “rough,” originally. As we passed along the hall we first saw him, crouched near an open window, lustily singing, “I’m a Bold Soldier Boy;” and, observing the broad bandage over his eyes, I said, “What is your name, good fellow?”

“Joe, sir,” he answered, “Joe Parsons.”

“And what is the matter with you?”

“Blind, sir—blind as a bat.”

“In battle?”

“Yes, at Antietam. Both eyes shot out at one clip.”

Poor Joe was in the front, at Antietam creek, when a Minié ball had passed directly through his eyes, across his face, destroying his sight forever. He was but 20 years old, but was as happy as a lark.

“It is dreadful,” I said.

“I’m very thankful I’m alive, sir. It might ha’ been much worse, ye see,” he continued. And then he told us his story.

“I was hit,” he said, “and it knocked me down. I lay there all night, and the next day the fight was renewed. I could stand the pain, yer see, but the balls was flying all round, and I wanted to get away. I couldn’t see nothin’ though. So I waited and listened, and at last I heard a feller groanin' beyond me. ‘Hello,” says I. ‘Hello yourself,’ says he. ‘Who be yer?’ says I, ‘a rebel?’ ‘You’re a Yankee,’ says he. ‘So I am,’ says I; ‘what’s the matter with you?’ ‘My leg’s smashed,’ says he. ‘Can’t yer walk?’ ‘No.’ ‘Can yer see?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Well,’ says I, ‘you’re a d____d rebel, but will you do me a little favor?’ ‘I will,’ say he, ‘ef I ken.’ Then I says, ‘Well, ole butternut, I can’t see nothin’. My eyes is knocked out, but I ken walk. Come over here. Let’s git out o’ this. You pint the way, and I’ll tote yer off the field on my back.’ ‘Bully for you,’ says he. And so we managed to git together. We shook hands on it. I took a wink outer his canteen, and he got on to my shoulders. I did the walkin’ for both, and he did the navigatin’. And ef he didn’t make me carry him straight into a rebel colonel’s tent, a mile away, I’m a liar! ‘Whar d’yer come from, an’ who be yer?’ I told him. He said I was done for, and couldn’t do no more shoot’n; and he sent me over to our lines. So, after three days, I came down here with the wounded boys, where we’re doing pretty well, all things considered.”

“But you will never see the light again, my poor fellow,” I said, sympathetically.

“That’s so,” he answered, glibly, “But I can’t help it, you notice. I did my dooty—got shot, pop in the eye—an’ that’s my misfortune, not my fault, as the old man said of the blind hoss. But ‘I’m a bold soldier boy,’ ” he continued, cheerily renewing his song; and we left him in his singular merriment. Poor sightless, unlucky, but stout-hearted Joe Parsons!—Correspondence, Boston Transcript.

SATURDAY
NOVEMBER 15, 1862
THE HARTFORD DAILY COURANT (CT)

The Filibustering Propensity of the South.

The manner in which the Davis Government has conducted the privateering business foreshadows pretty clearly the future policy of the Confederacy in case it wins its independence. Captain Semmes and his dainty associates represent a turbulent, adventurous and defiant class which flourishes in Southern cities, and exercises no small influence upon Southern ideas and sentiments. Many of them are men of position and power. They crave action, finding keen gratification in the desperate pursuit of desperate objects. The ill-fated Lopez was induced by such adventurers to undertake the expedition which cost him his life. In times of tranquility they have flocked to the standard of any filibuster whose schemes offered a change from the dreary monotony of peace.

The acquisition of independence would add indefinitely to the number of “gentlemanly” but unscrupulous rovers on the lower Mississippi and the borders of the Gulf. The people of the South are by habit brave and martial. The institution of slavery relieving large numbers from the necessity of labor, and throwing them upon society with an abundance of wealth, furnishes the means to realize the dreams of danger, conquest, and glory, with which the youthful imagination is continually fed among warlike races. Thither, too, would flock the restless and reckless of other lands. Community of feeling would draw into brotherhood the most dangerous elements of the old world and the new, and this grand association of desperadoes would find shelter beneath the ægis of the Confederacy.

Then this new nation would become the terror of the Western Hemisphere. Violence would be its law, and war its normal state. Not only would it extend its clutches to grasp Cuba and the islands of the sea; not only would it conquer Mexico and Central America, crushing out the present inhabitants by its devouring legions to make room for the slave; but bitter hatred would spur it to constant quarrels with former associates on the north. At short intervals, fleets of piratical cruisers would be let loose upon our commerce. Before the note of warning could reach distant waters to apprise our merchantmen of the danger, millions of property would be swept away.

The North lives by peaceful industry and enterprise. The people of the North abhor violence, resorting to arms reluctantly, and only in the last extremity, when further peace would bring dishonor. We are choosing now between one war, mighty and crushing, into which all the life of the nation must be thrown, and an interminable series of wars that would keep us always poor by destroying our peculiar industry.

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Interesting Items.

Two resignations in consequence of the change in commanders, reported in General Doubleday’s division, were endorsed with the recommendation that “they be dishonorably dismissed the service.” That is the way to deal with such cases.

The President received a dispatch Thursday from Gen. Pope giving the names of 300 Indians condemned to be hung, and requesting approval of the court-martial sentence. He was replied to be the President—only ringleaders should be executed, and asking for a copy of the evidence.

One million dollars for the relief of volunteers’ families has already been used up in New York, and the corporation is about commencing on the third appropriation of $500,000, having pledged to support the families of volunteers as long as the war lasts. The rate of expenditure is about $70,000 a month.

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The Transatlantic Telegraph line is not so stone dead as it has seemed to be for four years past. Notwithstanding the failure of the enterprise of 1858, capitalists in Great Britain, with their government at their back, have gone on adding achievement to achievement, until now the most prominent firm in the business is confident of its ability to lay a line across the Atlantic that will give satisfaction. Messrs. Glass, Elliott & Co., of London, have laid, within the last eight years, six thousand six hundred and fifty miles of insulated wires, now in working condition, connecting various countries. Between England and Holland four wires have been laid, each 140 miles long; between England and Hanover, 280 miles, two wires; between England and Denmark, 368 miles, three wires; France and Algiers, 550 miles, one wire; Malta and Alexandria, 1,535 miles, one wire. The line between France and Algiers is submerged nearly as deep as the line between Ireland and Newfoundland would go. Messrs. Glass, Elliott & Co. offer to take the stock of a Transatlantic Telegraph Company to the amount of $100,000; and in evidence of their confidence in their own ability to do the job, after the experiences they have had, they ask that they should be paid weekly only for the time of their laborers and the first cost of the material used, and they will take their profit of twenty per cent on the line in installments, payable only after the cable shall be in working condition. There is no doubt that Messrs. Glass, Elliott & Co. are the leading men in the submarine telegraph business; are men of capital, whose experience and past success is unquestionable, and business men of sound judgment credit their claim to be able to lay a line across the Atlantic that will work and prove of great importance.

But the lapse of time has started a political difficulty which was not pressed against Cyrus Field’s company, although thoughtful Americans were everywhere aware that it existed. The initial points of the proposed line, both in America and Europe, are in the British dominions, Ireland and Newfoundland. The terminus on the American side ought to be in the United States before our Government can see its way clear to expend money in support of what may be used in war to our incalculable harm. What an immense advantage England would enjoy over America in case of war! And no treaty stipulations can be framed, that it would not be easy for England to break, or get round in practice, by some subtle diplomacy or other. This nation has lost the confidence it once had in the honor and good faith of Great Britain. Her conduct in this struggle of ours, has destroyed the sympathy we once felt for her, and which we fondly, and perhaps foolishly, supposed that she reciprocated. As Lord Chatham said to the British Peers: “Confidence is a plant of slow growth.” But it withers like Jonah’s gourd in a night. We must have one of the termini on soil subject to American sovereignty before our Government will be likely to go deep into a new Atlantic cable enterprise.

¹ flagitious—shamefully wicked, flagrantly criminal.