SUNDAY
FEBRUARY 8, 1863
THE DAILY PICAYUNE (LA)

Vicksburg Intelligence.
THROUGH SOUTHERN SOURCES

From the Morning Whig, January 31.

Firing was heard above Warrenton yesterday morning. We suppose some of our guns opened on the ferry boat, as she shortly afterwards ran in through the break in Brown & Johnson’s levee, and got into the lake which runs along by the quarters, where she will be out of danger.

A small steamer was lying at the mouth of the canal, above Dr. White’s yesterday afternoon. A gentleman informed us that he saw a boat some distance down in it during the forenoon. Several transports started up the river yesterday, running light. We suppose they are going after troops. A boat came down to the fleet in eh afternoon with coal barges in tow.

From the Evening Citizen, January 31.

A report circulated this morning that some of our guns had sunk the ferryboat, it probably originated from the fact that a few shots were fired at her yesterday, which compelled her to hide herself behind the levee, out of sight.

From the Grenada Appeal, January 30.

Yesterday was marked by a certain degree of anxiety by the citizens here. For several days past the scouts of the enemy have exhibited their audacity by coming up close to the banks of the river opposite town, and day before yesterday they were seen to be surveying the grounds, which evidently indicated it was their intention to plant batteries in that vicinity. The engineers could be seen at work with their instruments, and the flag-bearers, carrying small white flags at the end of a pole, were also noticed in carrying out the orders for the former.

It was generally believed that by yesterday morning there might be discoveries made of new batteries, planted on the levee during the preceding night. Yesterday morning a number of Federals appeared again on the river bank in De Soto. The party seemed to consist of about fifty men, but they scattered in different directions, so that none but small parties of a half dozen could be seen. The levee and underbrush obstructing the view, it could not be ascertained what they were driving at, but all persons on this side are apprehensive that a battery or two will spring up in that quarter.

The enemy yesterday burned three or four small wooden houses in De Soto. These buildings were situated immediately opposite some of our batteries, and why the enemy should be allowed to come up in the middle of the day to put a torch to them, is a mystery that can only be explained in the inner sanctum of the military authorities. A few shells thrown over there by our batteries would keep them at a safe distance.

Some suspicion exits that the enemy has planted batteries in the rear of these buildings, and when all was ready, they were fired for the purpose of giving them a good range at our batteries, while they answered as a good shield during the construction of their works. It is not yet by any means certain that they have been doing this, and that this city may be visited with a shower of iron hail at any moment. It is not expected that any notice will be given of the time of attack.>

Nothing more has been observed of the steamer in the canal. The water will probably not yet admit of navigation in that stream. Several large gunboats were seen to arrive at the point above during the day. The ferry boat lying below the city also made several efforts to go down the river, but our batteries on this side always checked her progress and forced her to get in close to the Federal shore, and abandon the attempt of going down the river.

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Reconnoissance on Port Hudson.—A correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial writes from “the gunboat Essex, off Port Hudson, Dec. 14,” as follows:

With the gunboats 2, 3 and 7, we arrived at Port Hudson on the 12th December.¹  We found no batteries as we came up. We are anchored about three miles below Port Hudson. We cannot see their guns, but if their works are mounted with guns, they undoubtedly have a large number of cannon. We can see a great many tents.

The contrabands say there are five thousand men there, and they are strongly fortified for two miles back from the river. They say that the Confederacy has offered $100,000 to those that capture the Essex, and $50,000 if she is destroyed. The Negroes say they fear her. From what I hear, Farragut will not trust his ships in range of any more river batteries.

This morning, at half-past 6 o’clock, the rebels opened a battery of artillery on No. 2, and shot through her over twenty times, killing one and wounding several. We then silenced the rebels, when the No. 2 got aground and we had to pull her off. She is taking water fast. The rebels are following us. We have the No. 2 in tow, and she will leave us in a few minutes. We received fifteen or twenty shot, but none passed through. We are still firing, and the rebels following, the levee protecting them. They brought the artillery from Port Hudson last night.

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The Fortifications on the South Carolina Coast.—The Boston Journal prints this extract of a private letter received from an officer on board the United States sloop Canandaigua, of the blockading squadron off Charleston:

For ten miles along the beach on each side of Fort Sumter the rebels have a continuous line of water batteries, and there is no doubt in our minds that when the ball opens it will be no child’s play. But we rather think there will be some tall fighting for a short time, if not longer. With anxious hearts we await the signal for the fight to commence, that we may go in and win. The English and French war steamers are hovering around the blockade, waiting to see the fight. There were several contrabands from Charleston who came to our ship last night in a small boat, and they say the rebels at Charleston are building six iron-clad steamers, but are hard up for iron.

MONDAY
FEBRUARY 9, 1863
THE MACON DAILY TELEGRAPH (GA)

The Magruder Fleet.

The success of the Magruder fleet has demonstrated its efficiency. To aid our friends at other points in preparing to meet the enemy, we give them some idea of Gen. Magruder’s plan. If not original, it is better, it is successful. We believe the credit of the invention is due to him. Whether this is or not, we trust our naval men in other quarters will not hesitate to adopt it because it was not got up by a sailor. Quite a fleet of boats is now being got ready on this plan here, and they will teach the invaders what it is to attempt a breach of our defences. The “wooden walls” of England have long been famous. It is left for Texas to gain equal credit with the cotton walls now defending her. She has made a good beginning.

Our rivers and harbors abound in high and low pressure steamers, adapted to the river commerce. The hulls of these steamers are usually good, and with the requisite strengthening, such as Captain Lubbock has put into the State boat Bayou City, can be made sufficiently staunch for rams.

Upon the boiler-deck, cotton bales, two or three deep, are piled up, and securely fastened to frames built up from the hold of the boat. These extend all around the boilers and machinery. A row of cotton bales is also placed on the cabin, and another on the hurricane deck, to protect the sharpshooters.

Sharpshooters and swivels from behind these upper breastworks are enabled, with perfect safety, to sweep the decks of the enemy, and thus prepare the way for borders.

These boats are armed with rifled 32s or larger guns. Quite likely some of the guns from the Westfield, of which there are eight splendid Dahlgrens, may be put on some of the boats. These large guns are a single one in the bow of each boat, and there are small guns also in the stern. The boats [will also be fitted] with wrought iron bowsprits, very sharp at one end, and furnished with barbs, to enable them to hook on to the enemy’s vessel. A steel prow under the water also does it work in scuttling the enemy.

The wrought iron bowsprit with barbs are of much more importance than the  steel prows, inasmuch as they enable our boats to hang on to the enemy’s ships until the crews can board. The crews are generally 150 to 200 men, armed with double-barrelled guns, pistols, cutlasses and bowie knives, and able to slash their way through anything. Once on the enemy’s decks, nothing can prevent them taking the ship.

The capture of the Harriet Lane was achieved with the loss of but five men to the vessel boarding her, and so little injury was done to either vessel, that both are now ready for service again.

With such vessels fitted up on all our bays and rivers, we could soon have a large portion of the enemy’s fleet. But for the white flag ruse of the enemy, we should now have twelve instead of five of the fleet at Galveston.

The Magruder fleet has shown what can be done with genius to plan and pluck to carry out the enterprise. Let the commanders elsewhere take the hint and act upon it, and we will soon be as formidable to the enemy on water as on land.—Houston Telegraph.

Banks’ Army in Winter Quarters.

Reported Destruction of the Frigate Brooklyn.

Port Hudson, Feb. 6.—Deserters are constantly coming in from the enemy at Baton Rouge—at an average rate of two per day for the past two weeks. Al of them concur in reporting great dissatisfaction in Banks’ army. Numerous officers have resigned in consequence of the arrival of a Negro regiment from New Orleans. The whole army is completely demoralized, and in some cases the point of revolt and mutiny has been reached. One regiment is now confined in the Penitentiary for laying down their arms. Banks himself is stated to have declared, “My army has gone to hell. It is useless to deny it.”

Banks’ force is said to be 17,000. No indications of an advance movement have been reported for several days.

A report coming from Baton Rouge represents that the steam frigate Brooklyn has been sunk by the confederate steamers Alabama, Florida and Harriet Lane—the Brooklyn having been sent in pursuit of these vessels. This will require confirmation.²

The Essex made us her regular weekly visit on Sunday last and was fired upon by our pickets—one Yankee reported killed. She shelled our pickets an hour, but hurt nobody.

Deserters say that Banks cannot depend upon his army, and hence his delay in advancing.

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Letter from Vicksburg.

Special Correspondence of the Grenada Appeal.

Vicksburg, Jan.26, 1863.—From information obtained yesterday from the Federal camp over the river, it appears that the suspicions entertained here in regard to an attempt being made to open the canal were correct. During the heavy fog on Saturday morning they had a force of five thousand men engaged in widening the ditch and clearing away the logs and other obstructions. The river being now nearly bank full, the water is running through the canal with a rapid current, and in a short time they hope to have it in a good navigable condition for their transports. The gunboats are not intended to be taken through the canal, and no calculation is made as to its depth for that purpose, but the transports being all of light draught, it is expected that they will be able to pass through without any difficulty.

From the geographical location of the canal it is certain that the river can never be coaxed to form a permanent cut-off; but for the time being, during high water, it may answer their purpose of carrying their light draught transports below the city. But even this will prove a dangerous and costly experiment when they come to find out the real condition of affairs in regard to certain arrangements below the city which commands the debouche of the canal. Of these it may not be proper to say much at this time, but at the right season it will be very proper to let the Federals know all about it.

TUESDAY
FEBRUARY 10, 1863
THE DAILY PALLADIUM (CT)

The Difficulties of Making Peace.

In the Richmond Examiner of the 3d instant is a very striking article which shows the folly of attempting to make a lasting peace between the North and the South, even should the two sections consent to a separation. The Examiner remarks:

“There can be no settled, agreed peace between the two belligerents in this fearful war without an amicable division of the magnificent domain which has heretofore been held as the common property of the Union. Is Maryland to go altogether to the North, or to be divided according to the preponderance of popular sentiment in each of its divisions? The integrity of Virginia can never be yielded either by the Commonwealth herself or by the Confederacy which guaranteed it. Will the North insist upon having the new State of Kanawha as a sine qua non of peace? Are time-serving Kentucky and heroic Missouri to be given up by the Confederacy, as they are impliedly given up by President Davis in his message? Or will the South insist that the territorial position of one and the popular will of the other render their possession by herself a sine qua non of peace? The two great questions, whether States are to be divided at all, and whether they are to be transferred entire or in parts to the one or the other party, with or without reference to their own election, will not be more difficult of settlement than the important question, how shall the vast domain lying west of the Mississippi be disposed of.”

From this it may be seen that the rebels, in replying to our peace Democrats, when negotiating for a separation of the Union in order to end the war, will demand not only the States of Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, and even Tennessee, (for the latter was juggled out of the Union) but they will require that the territories of the Union shall be parceled out and half of them given over to the cause of human bondage.

Is there any sensible man who can believe for one moment that a permanent peace could be effected if to-day hostilities should cease? Could the government honorably acquiesce in the demands of traitors that the heritage of the nation should be divided with those who have trampled all sacred obligations under their feet? Notice with what a dictatorial spirit the Examiner claims that “the magnificent domain which has heretofore been held as the common property of the Union” must be divided.

Though the rebel government holds not an inch of this “common property,” the claim upon it is as arrogantly put forward as if the confederate armies were in full and undisputed possession.

If such is the greedy and grasping spirit of a section struggling to attain by fair or foul means the status of a recognized nationality, to what lengths of audacious pretension would not that section venture if this government should for a moment give them reason to believe that some other than the stern and bloody arbitrament of war could be resorted to after two years of a fierce and costly contest?

There is no other honorable method of terminating the strife. We have no reason to give up the contest. Though the prospect may seem dark and though our progress may be slow, yet when we compare the situation of to-day with the situation of a year ago, we shall find great cause for congratulation, and strong reasons for believing that if the war shall be continued, we shall, before many months, make such serious inroads upon the area of the rebellious state as will preclude all hope of their recognition as a nation by the great powers of the world.

To-day the area of the territory actually under the control of the confederate government is not two-thirds of what it was a year ago. And though they may insolently demand that states, not now in their control, and territories that never have been, shall be divided with them, the stern logic of war may soon convince them of the futility of the demand and the uselessness of continuing the contest.

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Movements of the Iron-clads.—A Port Royal letter of the 3d says he Montauk has been engaged several days attacking the iron-clad battery on Ogeechee river. The rebels have got much heavier guns than ever used before, and they also have steel-pointed shot, but although the turret has been struck sixteen times, they have all glanced off. Capt. Worden had nearly demolished most of the rebel parapet, and expects soon to capture the battery behind which lies the steamer Nashville. The Passaic is said to be up Wassaw sound, and heavy firing was heard there on the 2d. The rebel ram Fingal is in that vicinity. The Patapsco and Weehawken were both hourly expected. The harbor of Port Royal is full of vessels and troops, and Gen. Foster has arrived.

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The Expedition Against Charleston.

Boston, Feb. 9.—A Newbern correspondent of the Traveller, who had just returned from Beaufort, writes, under date of the 31st ult.:

The sailing of the expedition for, I believe, Charleston Harbor, was one of the grandest sights I ever witnessed.

The fleet consisted of about 125 vessels, steamers, transports, tugs and schooners. About 11 o’clock, on the 30th of January, the sails of the various smaller craft were unloosed, and silently, one by one, in close order, they glided from the harbor. Next followed in the same rapid succession the steamers, storeships, transports, tugs, and all others.

It was a magnificent sight, the long line of vessels crowded with troops cheering and bands playing, with full colors streaming from the masts.

I counted 78 schooners and storeships and steamers, containing a very large body of troops. At dark the vessels were still passing the forts. The gunboat Daylight had reached Morehead City from the blockade fleet off Charleston. The officers of this vessel report that the iron gunboats Passaic and Montauk, a number of mortar vessels, and various other U. S. war vessels, were at anchor in Bull’s Bay near Charleston, when they left.

The Massachusetts 44th and some other regiments at Newbern had been ordered on another expedition, which was to start upon the morning of Feb. 1.

WEDNESDAY
FEBRUARY 11, 1863
NEW HAMPSHIRE PATRIOT & STATE GAZETTE

How to Avoid a Draft.—The Independent Democrat argues that the way to avoid a draft in this and other States to fill up our armies is to enlist Negroes, and that by opposing the Negro Bill, Democrats are laboring to make a draft necessary! It seems to believe, with Beecher, that our sure and safe reliance is upon the Negro. This is almost too ridiculous to require reply or argument. Yet the Providence Post has answered it in advance. That paper well aid, in reply to Beecher, that, first, we cannot get the Negroes; secondly, if we could get them, they would not fight; and thirdly, if we could get them and they would fight, the 150,000 called for would not supply the place of the 400,000 white soldiers whose terms of service expire in the Summer. And it adds:

Governor Sprague told the Negroes of Rhode Island to come forward, and he would organize them into a regiment. Did they respond? No—they never raised one company! The cry for help was carried into Massachusetts, but Massachusetts couldn’t raise a company. At first, they were waiting for an emancipation proclamation. They got that in September, but it only gave the dumps. By and by they discovered that they were waiting for the supplemental proclamation, to be issued, or not to be, on the first of January. The first of January came, and brought with it the final edict of Abraham; but from that day to this, not a Negro volunteer has been heard of. We asked a Negro the other day what had become of his regiment, and got for his reply, “It is too devilish cold to think about such things.” The offer of the Governor, made in good faith, may stand five years, but not a single Negro company will ever be organized. Our Negro slaves fought in the war of the Revolution by the side of their masters, but never against them.

Can we do better with Southern Negroes? In only a few districts can we get at them. Hunter raised a regiment at Hilton Head, but the majority ran away, taking their arms and uniforms with them, and the regiment was broken up before it had anything to do. Another effort has been made, but not one of the original regiment has re-enlisted, and it is stated that those who do enlist, run way when they get a chance. Near New Orleans some progress has been made in getting Negro companies organized, but it is admitted that the work is about played out. No sane man believes that ten regiments could be organized in the whole South in as many years. Stevens’ bill authorizing the raising [of] one hundred and fifty regiments is too ridiculous to even pass for a good joke. And if we could raise this number—this splendid army of one hundred and fifty thousand black men, “panting for freedom and thirsting for revenge” —would any general trust himself at their head, with Stonewall Jackson and fifteen thousand rebels in front? Of course not!

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The Way the Money Goes.—There are eight Major Generals in our army who are without a command, viz: Burnside, McClellan, Fremont, Sumner, Franklin, Buell, McDowell and C. M. Clay. The pay of these commanders amounts to more than $100,000 per month. There are also scores of Brigadiers who are receiving large salaries for doing nothing.—Manchester American.

Yes, this is the way the money goes; and all of these Generals are “laid up” for political reasons—party reasons.

Items of Scientific Discovery.—The Moon’s influence on the weather has long been asserted by popular opinion, and science seems to be confirming it as a fact. Mr. Park Harrison, from a study of the thermometric observations at Greenwich, finds that there is a tolerably constant increase of temperature from the new moon to the full, and a decrease from the full moon to the first quarter. He also finds that the maximum of rainy or cloudy days corresponds with the first half of the lunar period, and the maximum of fine clear days with the last half. He explains the fact by the dispersing action of the full moon upon the clouds. This dispersing action is in turn accounted for by Sir John Herschel thus: The heat rays of the moon are almost inappreciable even by the most delicate instruments. Melloni found that the index of an extremely sensitive thermo-electric pile scarcely moved when a moonbeam was concentrated on it by a lens so powerful that a sunbeam thus converged would have burnt platinum into vapor.

The heat rays sent from the moon, therefore, must be intercepted and absorbed by our atmosphere. Being thus concentrated in the upper strata of the atmosphere, the heat necessarily warms that region, and thus dissipates the clouds and hinders their formation. The full moon will therefore clear the sky, and by so doing will lower the temperature of the earth, for clouds act as a blanket to the earth, keeping its heat from radiating into space. The new moon, deprived for some time of the sun’s heat, is incapable of exercising a similar influence, and the rainy or cloudy days are, therefore, more frequent during the first half of the lunar period. Leverrier accepts this hypothesis of Herschel, but it has been combatted by other astronomers, and must still be considers sub judice.  

The Sick and Wounded.—The Government declines to allow the sick and wounded soldiers of this State to be brought home to have the care of their friends and the comforts essential to their speedy recovery. It is supposed that it is feared their votes would help elect the Democratic ticket, and that “that’s what the matter is.” But it is useless cruelty to keep these suffering soldiers away from the care and comforts which their friends are anxious to devote to them. The Democrats will sweep the State without their aid. But we regret that these gallant men are to be deprived both of the comforts of home and the pleasure of aiding in overthrowing a corrupt and heartless political party who seek to use them only to perpetuate their power and to carry out schemes of plunder and national ruin.

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Official Blundering.—A letter from New Orleans relates another instance of official blundering in fitting out the Banks expedition: “The Medical Department did not know where the expedition was bound, but supposed up James river, and accordingly sent all the ambulances and medical stores up there, and the troops are not in a condition to move without them—nothing to take care of the wounded with.”  

THURSDAY
FEBRUARY 12, 1863
LOWELL DAILY CITIZEN & NEWS (MA)

Negroes Fighting in Florida.—The following is a fuller account than the telegraph furnished of Col. Higginson’s late expedition into Georgia and Florida:

The expedition sailed on the 23d of January. At St. Simon and Jekyll islands it captured a quantity of T railroad iron, valued at $5,000, live stock and farming utensils of much utility to contrabands, who are exceedingly anxious to make a crop this season. Arriving at Fernandina, Col. Higginson proceeded up the St. Mary’s river about twenty-five miles, to a point called Township, where he landed his command, and after marching a few miles from the river, on the Florida side, he met and thoroughly routed a company of mounted Floridian, emptying at the first discharge thirteen saddles, and killing and wounding many more, while on the Union side only one man was killed, Mr. Parsons, a private in Co. G, and two others were seriously though not dangerously wounded.

Two days after, Col. Higginson ascended the John Adams as high as Woodstock, Fla. His troops made sad havoc of the rebels as often as they appeared in force on either bank. At Woodstock, seven rebel prisoners were taken, and the expedition brought off forty thousand brick, lumber, live stock, and all the jewels belonging to Madame Aburtis’ slave barracoon, or in chivalry parlance, jail, consisting of iron collars, bracelets for wrists and ankles, for both sexes. The only further casualty to our side was the death of Capt. J. C. Clifton, commanding the John Adams. While engaged in conversation with Major Strong, standing near the pilot-house, a Minié ball, fired from the shore, passed through his head, killing him instantly. Two bullets, aimed at Major Strong, struck in fearful proximity to him, but then, as on several other occasions of extreme danger in face of the enemy, he behaved in the most gallant manner.

In closing his report to Gen. Saxton, Col. Higginson says:

“No officer in this regiment now doubts that the key to the successful prosecution of this war lies in the unlimited employment of black troops. Their superiority lies simply in the fact that they know the country, which white troops do not; and, moreover, that they have peculiarities of temperament, position and motive which belong to them alone. Instead of leaving their homes and families to fight, they are fighting for their homes and families, and they show the resolution and sagacity which a personal purpose gives. It would have been madness to attempt with the bravest white troops what I have successfully accomplished with black ones.”

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Personal.—To-day, February 12th, is the fifty-fourth anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. Lanman, in his sketchbook, printed in 1859, records his rise and progress in ten lines: “He was born in Hardin county, Ky., February 12, 1800; received a limited education; adopted the profession of law; was a captain of volunteers in the Black Hawk War; at one time postmaster of a small village; four times elected to the Illinois legislature; and a representative in congress from 1847 to 1849.” Should Mr. Lanman bring out another edition of his work, several little matters may now be added to the record.

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Illinois Democratic General upon Copperhead Politics and Politicians.—Gen. J. A. Logan, who for years has been known throughout Illinois as a democratic leader, and at one time, perhaps, opposed to some of the principles of the administration, recently spoke of the copperhead plotters as follows: >

“Tell the people of my State that we are in favor of carrying the war into Egypt. We can whip the rebels, and are going to do it, and when we are done with that and return to our homes, we are going to whip every secession sympathizer and preacher of peace who may have the courage to remain there!”

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Miscellaneous.

The editor of the Taunton Gazette suggests that there should be a statute of limitation against the early marriages of army widows.

A Washington letter says it is estimated that the average number of officers about Washington is five thousand who are shirking duty, yet who march up to the pay-table every month with the fidelity of a quartermaster’s mule to his daily peck of oats. A senator hit them off cleverly the other day, saying, “Some one threw a rock at a lame dog at Willard’s the other night, and it knocked down two brigadier generals, yet it was not a god night for generals.”

A rather important step on the subject of slavery has been taken by the Spanish government. An order has been published in the official Gazette, dated Madrid, Dec. 11, 1862, by which it is decreed that slaves going with their masters from Cuba to the United States North, or to any free country, become thereby free, the same as if they had gone to Spain.

The editor of an obscure democratic sheet out west has had a severe attack of Massachusetts on the brain. Hear him: “Her wealth is the accumulated interest of capital made in the rum and slave trade; her prosperity has sprung from the manufacture of slave-grown products; and yet, to break down this system which has made her all she is, she does not hesitate to deluge a nation with blood. May her factories crumble to dust, her shipping rot at her wharves, until she learns in the dear school of experience how much woe she has brought upon the land whose wealth has flowed into her coffers.” We would recommend a daily dose of Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup, and soaking the feet in tepid water, till the inflammation goes down.—Springfield Republican.

Senator Sumner’s bill to raise additional soldiers for the United States provides that all able-bodied males between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years set free by the act of August 6, 1861, or that of July 17, 1862, or by the recent proclamation of the president, or by any other legal or competent authority exercised in suppressing the rebellion, shall be enrolled, armed and equipped as a military force of the United States to a number not exceeding 300,000, to be paid $11 per month, one-half each month, and the remainder at the end of service, to be officered ad commanded by persons appointed and commissioned by the president, each private at the end of his service to be entitled to ten acres of land to be used as a homestead, and each officer to twenty-five acres. Section 3d authorizes voluntary enrollment of persons of African descent in any part of the United States.

FRIDAY
FEBRUARY 13, 1863
THE CALEDONIAN (VT)

A Fighting Parson.

Col. Granville Moody of the 74th Ohio is a famous Methodist preacher from Cincinnati. He is something over fifty, I reckon; six feet two or three inches, of imposing presence, with a fine, genial face, and prodigious vocal range. The reverend colonel, who proved himself a fighting parson of the first water, was hit four times at the battle of Murfreesboro, and will carry the signature of battle when he goes back to the altar. His benevolence justifies his military flock in the indulgence of sly humor at his expense, but he never permits them to disturb his equanimity. Several battle anecdotes of him are well authenticated. Not long ago, Gen. Negley merrily accused him of using heterodox expletives in the ardor of conflict. “Is it a fact, colonel,” inquired the general, “that you told the boys to ‘give’em hell’?” “Now,” replied the colonel, reproachfully, “there’s more of the boys’ mischiefs. I told them to give the rebels ‘Hail Columbia,’ and they have perverted my language.” The parson, however, explained with a sly twinkle in the corner of his eye, which left me in considerable doubt.

You probably know that our western circuit preachers are Stentors. Where other parsons are emphatic, they roar in the fervor of exhortation, especially when they bulge upon you with a big “amen.” You must imagine this fact to appreciate the story. The colonel’s mind was saturated with piety and fight. He had already had one bout with the rebels, and did give them “Hail Columbia.” They were renewing the attack. The colonel braced himself for the chock. Seeing his line in fine order, he thought he would exhort them briefly. The rebels were coming swiftly. Glancing first at the foe, then at the lads, he said quietly, “Now, my boys, fight for your country and your God,” and raising his voice to thunder tones, he bellowed in the same breath,” AIM LOW!” Says one of his gallant fellows, I fancied for an instant that it was the frenzied ejaculation from the profoundest depths of the “amen corner.” Any day now you may hear the lads of the 74th roaring, “Fight for your country and your God—aim low!”—Letter from Rosecran’s Army.

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Sidney Smith tells of a maid who used to boil the eggs very well by her master’s watch, but one day he could not lend it to her because it was under repairs; so she took the time from the kitchen clock, and the eggs came up nearly raw. “Why did you not take three minutes from the clock as you did the watch, Mary?” “Well, sir, I supposed that would be too much, as the hands on the clock are so much longer.”

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Important to Liquor Sellers.—There has been quite a scramble in some localities for a U.S. tax law license to sell rot-gut, the applicant thinking thereby he would be protected from prosecution under the state prohibitory liquor law. Such is not the case, as numerous decisions have already proved. An instance happened last week, of one Ellen Donovan, who was arrested at Greenfield, Mass., as a seller of intoxicating liquors. Some 30 or 40 different sales were proved, and she was convicted. She endeavored to protect herself by a United States tax law license, but the court rules that such a license was protection only against a prosecution from the tax collector, and wholly invalid as far as the state law is concerned.

Gold.—There has been a steady decline in gold in New York during the week. It sold Monday morning at 156 but had fallen to 153 Wednesday morning. Speculators do not seem desirous to operate extensively until some financial policy is settled upon by government. In government securities there is a much better feeling than there was last week. The supply of money is increasing and the demand less active.

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Reduction of the Rebel Force on the Rappahannock.—The Richmond Whig of last Saturday after noticing a rumor that the Federal army before Fredericksburg was to be broken up and the bulk of it sent to the West—only a fragment to be retained for the defense of Washington—adds:

“This comes of our movements being known to the enemy. If we only had our full forces now upon the Rappahannock, instead of being scattered South and West, we could make short work of the Yankee concern at Washington. But it is useless to cry over spilt milk.”

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All Sorts of Items.

Our sidewalks are glazed with ice. The walking is very uneven and bad, especially on those which are steeply descending. Some Christian householders put sand or ashes on these walks, and the passers-by rise up and call them blessed. Others don’t, and the passers-by fall down and call them names.

A Mr. Stokes of Trenton, N.J., lately sued Judge Nair, of the True American, for damages for having put his marriage among the deaths. Although the editor offered to make it all right by putting Stokes’ death among the marriages, the indignant Benedict would not accept the amende honorable. Damages six cents.

That earnest, eccentric and blunt-spoken religious exhorter, Elder Knapp, who is now holding forth every evening at the Wabash Avenue Baptist Church, Chicago, in a prayer the other evening used the following language: “Oh, Lord, wilt thou bless Abraham Lincoln? Thou knowest that all the Southern aristocracy and all the rotten portion of the Northern democrats are down on him. Therefore wilt thou bless him?

Nobody can be more opposed than we are to violations of the Constitution, but we have no manner of patience with those journals that are more shocked at the illegal imprisonment of one rebel in the United States than at the lawless hanging of a hundred Union men in the Rebel Confederacy.—Louisville Journal.

SATURDAY
FEBRUARY 14, 1863
THE SATURDAY EVENING GAZETTE (MA)

The Colored Soldiers.

Those who read the reports of Col. Higginson, of the South Carolina 1st Regiment, regarding the conduct of his colored soldiers, after allowing for the enthusiastic character of the Colonel and his tendency to exaggeration on a subject wherein he is so much interested, must have come to the conclusion that in unfavorably estimating the fitness of these soldiers they had made a mistake. All the philosophical fine talk about the native unfitness of the African and his want of capacity for such service—his tenderness of nature and indisposition to fight—fell down before this fact reported by Colonel Higginson, even though people were disposed to discount half that he said. We believe every word of it.

The reasoning against colored soldiers has been based on wrong premises. The Negroes have been called African so long that the mind is too apt to forget that they are Americans, drawing their life and strength from the same soil that eh white soldiers derives his. It is forgotten, too, what circumstances have to do in developing manhood. Where the time is full of influences and all are exhibited by the magnetism of events, the susceptible Negro cannot remain passive. His obedient nature, that has been counted timidity, answers the call of duty and self-respect, and he becomes a man as soon as he feels like claiming the august title.

From actual observation of the conduct of black soldiers in the field in a tropical country, we always have felt assured that they would prove better soldiers in this, because we thought they might, in a hot country, possess in a degree the indolent habits and enervation of their African origin, while in a temperate region the climate was supposed to have braced their nerves to more energy and more activity. In all that was incumbent upon them in the tropics, no complaint was ever made of their want of efficiency in duty or proficiency in discipline or the manual. With white officers they did as well as the white soldiers. They had a proper sense of the importance of their station, and never by any bad conduct did they allow themselves to fall into disrepute or disgrace by comparison with the white soldiers. They were, by contrasting the white pipe clay and scarlet uniforms with their black faces, brighter soldiers externally than their Anglo-Saxon companions in arms, and held their heads a deal higher.

Although the instances have been many of the valorous conduct of such people in other lands, it may be for America to show their ability on a more extended scale to act as fighting men, and hence we hail with no little pleasure the report of Col. Higginson as evidence of the first experiment in the African’s progress—Americanized by growth from the soil and humanized by indoctrinated ideas of human rights that belong to him, long withheld, for which he will fight.

It is said, with a sneer, that colored regiments cannot be raised at the North. Perhaps not. The race at the North, as much as we boast of our equality, is not what it is at the South, under the “Patriarchal system,” as it is pleasantly called.  >

There, a colored man is the cooper, or the baker, or the carpenter, or the blacksmith—an important member of society [even] if he is a slave—and he feels his importance as such. The young men there are compelled to work—become strongly developed in muscle, their minds clear to conduct the pursuits required of them, and ripen early into vigorous, if not free, manhood; here they grow up into barbers, waiters, or fiddlers, and imitate the little vices of the whites—their foppishness in custom, their smoking and their chewing. These have little to fight for, they have no nationality, and sympathy with any great idea has not been cultivated, and therefore the fruits of such cultivation it is hardly reasonable to expect.

We are glad the black soldier experiment is to be tried, and like the promise of the first report. It will give encouragement to exertion otherwheres, and though we don’t believe, with some, that the Negro is to be the savior of our country, we believe he may be made an excellent help to that desired end. We believe the whites are able to effect it, but if the blacks desire, as is shown, to have a finger in the pie, let them put it in if it be black. Pie crust doesn’t taste any worse for being made by a black cook.

——-

Miscellaneous.

The Newbern, N.C., Progress bids its readers au revoir on account of having exhausted its stock of paper.

The Richmond Enquirer proprietors have bought the Forest Manufacturing Co. paper mill in Wake county, N.C., for $50,000. They have plenty of rags in rebeldom.

These iron-clads are playful monsters. The Montauk, the other day, for the purpose of testing her power of resistance, stood the fire of a whole fort of guns for four hours. So much for trial; we hope she will do something in earnest by and by.

A young married coupe in Lincoln, N.H., having separated, the father determined he would keep their child, whereupon the people took the matter in hand and said he shouldn’t, threatening him with a coat of tar and feathers if he persisted. It is strange the exultation we feel when justice is secured, even at the sacrifice of a little legal right. We heard a good clergyman, a day or two since, regretting that a too rapid civilization had banished the pillory and ducking stool.

A Memphis observer describing the immense rush after cotton along the railroad between Jackson and Vicksburg says, “if there is one spectacle more sublime than any other afforded by the present strife, it is a steamboat load of well-dressed gentlemen rushing forward, heroically to take the profits of the war when the risks are all over. It makes one feel that we have not lost our character as a commercial people.”

1 According to their numbers, these should be, respectively, the tinclads Marmora, Romeo and New Era.

2 In reality, the Brooklyn survived the war and continued in service until 1889.