SUNDAY
MARCH 8, 1863
THE DAILY CHRONICLE AND SENTINEL (GA)

From Mississippi Valley and the West.

The latest Vicksburg date is the 28th Feb. The turret gunboat which has created so much commotion turns out to be nothing more than a large flat boat. A deserter, who arrived in Vicksburg on the 27th, says she was fitted up with barrels to resemble a monitor, by the officers of some of the Yankee transports, and sent down the river Tuesday night. This report was confirmed by persons who came upon a flag of truce boat Friday. The rumors, however, about this craft have been so numerous and conflicting, that it is hard to credit any of them. We simply give them for what they are worth. A deserter from the Federal lines confirms the former reports about disaffection, and say the Western men are kept separated from the true “blue bellies.” He also reports that the canal has been filled up again at both ends, and they are now endeavoring to pump the water out with a view to digging the trench wider and deeper. Upon being asked what the army was doing over the river, he replied, “Not a thing but dying!” There are about twenty-two thousand men across the river all told. He knows nothing of the number at Providence, being on a boat sick for some time. The Federals are constructing plank roads from the camps in toward Richmond and across the neck of land. They go up Pawpaw chute after the lumber. He says it was known in the fleet at ten o’clock on Wednesday that we had captured the Indianola on Tuesday night. The Federals thought her one of their most formidable iron-clads. She was out on her first cruise, having been completed but a short time.

The repairs on the Indianola will soon be completed, and she will again be ready for service.

The planters in some sections of Mississippi are planting no cotton at all this year, but are turning their attention wholly to provisions. A good example.

Banks was fired upon on the evening of the 12th ult., in New Orleans. The weapon used was an air gun, and the bullet, after passing near where the General stood, was found on the opposite sidewalk.

——-

Emperor Abraham the First.—The New York Herald has a long article under the head of “President Lincoln, Temporary Dictator.” From it we take the following paragraphs:

The measures which have lately passed Congress, and others which will become laws, will practically invest Lincoln with all the powers of a Dictator. The scope of his authority and discretion will, as President of the United States, hardly be less than that of Louis Napoleon. Our whole political system, of the peace establishment, including the subordination of the Federal Government to the will of the States and people, will be reversed. . . The most remarkable revolution is within a few days of consummation: on the 4th of March, President Lincoln will be clothed with dictatorial powers, political, military and financial, over State and citizen, and by the action of Congress, and under the authority of the Constitution. This organic instrument, and the laws passed in pursuance thereof, constitute the supreme law of the land. Nor do we think that it can be successfully denied or contested, that in straining its warlike authority to the establishment of a temporary dictatorship at Washington, Congress has passed the barriers of the Constitution. . . It is possible that with a Napoleon or a Cromwell clothed with this provisional dictatorship there would be an end of our Republican institutions, and the beginning of an imperial establishment, but there is not the slightest danger of the abuses of power by President Lincoln or ambitious purposes. . . Meanwhile accepting the plea of imperious necessity we currently consent to this transformation of our President into a temporary dictator. . . We concur in these war measures of Congress, from still another view of the subject. They will admonish the great powers of Europe that intervention against the Union is not to be thought of. . . But in every view of the case, we are prepared to support President Lincoln even as a temporary dictator. Let us support him, and all that we have lost may be restored. But if we abandon him, all that we have, may be lost.”

An Incident in the War in Virginia.—In Loudon County, Va., the Federals continue to annoy the people by stealing horses, arresting citizens, &c. On the night of Feb. 18th, a company of about a hundred entered a town with a list of persons to be carried off, among whom were Wm. S. Pickett and the Rev. Chas. H. Nourse. They succeeded in capturing Mr. P., and then repaired about eleven o’clock at night to the residence of the latter. The family had retired, but the knocking soon brought the object of their search forth, when he was confronted by a strapping big fellow in uniform, who demanded to know whether Mr. Nourse was at home. “Yes,” was the parson’s reply? “Rev. Charles H. Nourse?” “Yes.” “Well, Lt. Smith is at the Pickett House, and desires to see you.” “I don’t know Lieut. Smith, and if I did, could not see him to-night.” “But you must go,” replied the hireling in gilt buttons. Being reassured that he would do no such thing, he called for a file of men to arrest the refractory rebel, when Mr. Nourse inflicted a stunning blow somewhere in the countenance of his would-be captor, which sent him reeling backward, while he himself fled and took refuge under the steps of a very dark cellar, which at the time happened to be filled with water. The ruffians rushed into the house, ransacked every nook and corner, even to taking from her bed a daughter who was ill with typhoid fever. Failing to find the “fighting parson,” they finally went to the cellar, treading within an inch and half of his head. Upon entering, the first exclamation was, “This is a dark hole.” Being urged by his comrades to proceed, he did so, and went into the water a foot deep, which caused him to exclaim, “Here’s water.” Being again urged forward, the next step soused him into the cooling element up to his waist. This was rather more than he had bargained for, and here the search terminated. After remaining in his hiding place for several hours, the reverend gentleman emerged, and is now safely in Dixie.

Mr. Pickett they made walk to Washington, a distance of about forty miles, and compelled him to swim Goose Creek—a not inconsiderable stream when swollen, to do so.—Richmond Dispatch.

——-

The State Line Troops of Virginia have been transferred to the Confederate authorities, and it is believed that Gen. J. B. Floyd, their late commander, will be assigned by President Davis a command in the Confederate army, with his present rank.

——-

The Governor of Florida has issued a proclamation appealing to the planters not to plant any cotton, but to use the most active efforts on their part to produce the greatest amount of provisions attainable by the means at their command.

——-

The Sandersville Georgian, in speaking of the wheat prospects in that section, says: “We have seldom seen the wheat present a more promising appearance at this season of the year than it does now. In going and returning from Milledgeville, by different routes, we did not see a single sorry field of wheat.”

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

The Future.

There is a thought uttered by Disraeli in the late debate in the House of Commons upon the Queen’s speech, which, though it may be no new idea to the reflecting reader, seems never to have occurred to some of the Richmond newspapers and diplomats. It is reported in these words:

He briefly sketched the rise of the Union, and expressed the opinion that the ultimate results of the war would be an America very different to that known to our fathers, and even to this generation. There would be an America of armies, an America of diplomacy, and an America of turbulency and wars.

We have now an “America of war”—war without attempt at diplomacy of any kind—war which, at best, will settle no question except the inability of  our foes to subjugate us. War which must apparently be prosecuted to the point of utter exhaustion, and test thoroughly the capacity of our people to endure physical and mental suffering. When the point of exhaustion is reached, and both parties are glad to quit, the thousand and one irritating political questions which gave rise to it will still exist, to breed another war, on the future, unless we shall be in condition to determine something more by arms than that the North cannot subjugate us.

In other words, if this war shall terminate leaving two great power in place of one—each counterbalancing the other, and each holding a position of entire independence and isolation, the old subjects of difference are liable at any time to re-light the flames of strife, Nothing but fear can restrain the progressive spirit of Eastern fanaticism within limits admitting of peaceful neighborhood. What should be done? We say it is the part of policy to attach the West to us by close ties of interest and intercourse. We should secure the balance of power in our favor. It will naturally incline to us. We have the means of conciliating it. Why, then, should we not inaugurate the era of diplomacy at once as well to arrest the war, as to secure peace after it is over?

——-

If there is any surgeon or physician in the world especially famed for his treatment of paralysis, we hope the Government will hunt him up and send him to the army of the Potomac.

——-

Is it so? Save the Corn.

I have it from good authority that there are now stored away in damp rooms in Albany [Georgia] not less than one hundred thousand bushels of Government corn that in a short time will be utterly ruined unless it is soon aired and sunned. The Government has no corn to be lost in this way, and I beg that you will call the attention of the proper authorities to this matter, that this corn may be saved. It is in sacks, stored away in close, damp rooms, and is already becoming sour. Air and sunshine may save it if attended to at once.

Capt. Thos. H. Jordan.

——-

Latest Northern News.

The Senate passed a bill authorizing the President to suspend the writ of habeas corpus—yeas 24, nays 13.

A Washington dispatch to the New York Tribune say: “The revolutionary and treasonable attitude assumed by the copperheads of Connecticut in their recent Convention is attracting, as it should, the special attention of the Government. There is a limit to the forbearance of the Administration.”

The Food Question.

We took a new fit of the blues yesterday conversing with an intelligent planter from a neighboring county, about the prospect for food. He says the legislation of the last General Assembly limiting the cotton crop to three acres to the hand, will operate practically to produce more cotton than if there had been no legislation at all and the business had been left to the operation of public opinion. Every man will plant to the maximum, and most of them practically beyond it, by swelling their computation of hands to the extremest limit. Moreover, they will select the best land, and starve the corn crop to manure the cotton. Besides this, last year’s corn crop had the benefit of cotton seed manure, which is equal to ten bushels of corn to every bale of ginned cotton; but this year there is no seed for manure. Last year, also, there were thousands of small farmers to cultivate provision crops and feed their families, who this year are in the army, leaving behind their families to be fed. Thus, if provisions are now so scarce and high with the abundant crops of last year, what may reasonably be expected in view of so great a diminution of the bread products as seems inevitable under these circumstances? Our friend was alarmed at the prospect, and so (we won’t effect to disguise it,) is the humble scribbler of the Telegraph. Planters, farmers, Georgians all, the very best we can do, if every nerve is strained for bread and no cotton planted, will be short enough of the public necessities. The question of Southern independence turns on food. Shall it be starved out?

——-

From the West.

Port Hudson, March 5.—Intelligence, reliable and of great importance, has been received from the front. The preparations being made by Banks’ army point unmistakably to an early advance. Seventeen mortar boats, the sloop of war Mississippi, and gunboats are now anchored at Baton Rouge. Banks’ force is fully 30,000. Ambulances and litters are being prepared. The opinion of the military at this point is that there will be an attack within a few days. The utmost confidence prevails among both officers and men in our ability to defeat the enemy. The report that our pickets had been driven in is unfounded, but an immediate advance is anticipated. The latest information confirms the disaffection in the abolition ranks. It is reported that Banks is opposed to the attack, but has orders from the War Department.

——-

Mark the Cotton Planters.

It has been suggested that patriots in every county will organize themselves into associations to prosecute every man who violates the statute of the last Legislature, and plants more than three acres of cotton to the hand. That is the game to play with the traitors—the men who have no bowels of compassion for soldiers’ families and no heart in our glorious Southern cause. Down with them and the extortioners! They are all mean and should be driven to ——. Arouse then, patriots, and be on the alert to punish treason.

TUESDAY
MARCH 10, 1863
LOWELL DAILY CITIZEN & NEWS (MA)

Steel Clad Vessels.—The correspondent of the Boston Post, communicates some information concerning the construction of formidable steel-clads, on the river Clyde, originally intended, as is believed, for the confederates, but available to other parties as well. If the Post’s correspondent is reliable, there would seem to be no question that the vessels in preparation are more formidable than any craft we have afloat, or in process of construction. The Boston Traveller treats the matter as one of immediate and serious concern to the city of Boston, and in a spirited appeal invokes the attention of the people, and of the state authorities. This appeal is, we think, by no means idle or premature. Boston is in danger as Charleston. Our coast defences are good of their kind, but they are not adapted to meet the exigencies which recent inventions present.

——-

The Pirate Nashville.—A Hilton Head correspondent, under date of the 1st inst., states that the pirate Nashville endeavored, during a fog, to run past the blockaders, but got aground. Commander Worden discovered her, and ran up within twelve hundred yards of her with the Montauk. Fort McAllister opened a furious fire on the Montauk, but Capt. Worden took no notice of it, leaving the wooden gunboats to reply to that. The fourth shell from the Montauk, a 15-inch, burst in the Nashville, setting her on fire. Another one went through her side into the magazine, and the embryo pirate blew up with a loud explosion. Neither the Montauk nor the wooden vessels were harmed by the fire from the fort, nor was any one hurt.

——-

France.—The National Intelligencer’s Paris correspondent writes, under date of Feb. 17th, that the pretended raising of the Charleston blockade by the rebels excited only ridicule in Paris, and adds:

“On the whole the last intelligence is regarded as favorable to the North; and, above all, the announcement that the senate had rejected by a large majority the hostile vote respecting the French expedition in Mexico, which had been proposed to it, has been received with much satisfaction by the Imperial Government.”

——-

A letter from Lake Providence, Louisiana, says: “There are thousands of acres of cotton here yet unpicked, which the contrabands, of whom there are two thousand here now, will be set at presently. We ought to confiscate enough cotton, mules, horses, &c, down here to pay the expenses of the expedition, and to pay the soldiers now when it is due and when their families need it.”

——-

The Contrabands.—Very encouraging letters, says the Boston Transcript, have been received from the ladies sent out by the Educational Commission as teachers to the contrabands at Craney Island, near Norfolk. Dr. O. Brown, the efficient superintendent there, is busily engaged in settling the Negroes on lands in the vicinity of Norfolk abandoned by the rebels. He has no doubt of their being able to support themselves by farming. The Negroes are very ready to work, and much pleased to have the opportunity. One of the teachers writes: “It would do your heart good to see the eagerness with which they accept the doctor’s proposition to labor; each universally desires his own patch, when asked his choice between working singly or in a community. So far all have done well.”

War Matters.—Major General Butler is spoken of as Provost Marshal General under the conscription law.

The rebel Captain Mosby with his command stealthily entered Fairfax Court House Friday morning at 2 o’clock. They captured the Provost Marshal, patrols, horses, &c., together with General Stoughton and all the men detached from his brigade. They also took every horse that could be found, public and private. The commanding officer of the post (Col. Johnson of the 5th N. Y. Cavalry) made his escape. The rebels searched for men in every direction. All the available cavalry were, at last accounts, in pursuit of the rebels.

The reports in the Memphis journals of Saturday, Feb. 28th, are very encouraging with regard to the success of the Yazoo Pass expedition. It was confidently stated that the gunboat Carondelet and five others had reached the Tallahatchie river by the way of Yazoo Pass, and were pushing on to their destined position.

The Memphis correspondent of the Missouri Democrat, under date of March 1st, confirms the news as follows:

“Yazoo Pass is supposed to be a success. By it, boats would be enabled to reach the rear of Vicksburg and the Tallahatchie, and perform a most important work in reducing the place. All boats passing up and down the river are now compelled to report at White river and Yazoo Pass.”

——-

The Lowell Advertiser anxiously inquires, is there any provision in the constitution authorizing the destruction of slavery by our armies? Not in so many words, nor, alas, is there any provision authorizing the shooting of rebels, the capture of wagon-trains, and many other things which our neighbor would not hesitate to do if actually put to the test. Touching the war powers of the government, generally, we cannot do better than to quote the words of John Quincy Adams:

“I lay this down as the law of nations. I say that military authority takes, for the time, the place of all municipal institutions, and slavery among the rest; and that, under that state of things, so far from its being true that the states where slavery exists have the exclusive management of the subject, not only the president of the United States, but the commander of the army, has the power to order the universal emancipation of the slaves. . . From the instant that the slaveholding states become the theatre of war, civil, servile, or foreign, from that instant the war powers of congress extend to interference with the institution of slavery, in every way in which it can be interfered with, from a claim of indemnity for slaves taken or destroyed, to the cession of states, burdened with slavery, to a foreign power. . . It is a war power, I say it is a war power; and, when your country is actually in war, whether it be a war of invasion or a war of insurrection, congress has the power to carry on the war, and must carry it on, according to the laws of war; and, by the laws of war, an invaded country has all its laws and municipal institutions swept by the board, and martial power takes the place of them. When two hostile armies are set in martial array, the commanders of both armies have power to emancipate all the slaves in invaded territory.”

WEDNESDAY
MARCH 11, 1863
THE CONSTITUTION (CT)

Peace or the Union.

There is no greater delusion than that peace may be made with the rebels and the Union at the same time be maintained. But this delusion is put forth by the Seymour democrats of this State, and the people are required to believe that such a result may be reached, and that the election of Thomas H. Seymour and the defeat of Wm. A. Buckingham will contribute too such a peace. This attempt of the Seymourites is no less than a magnificent fraud and imposition on the credulity of the people. The endeavor is made to create capital out of a natural impatience at a prolonged war, and to take advantage of any uneasiness which may be felt under the enormous cost which this conflict imposes.

Let it be borne in mind that peace means disunion. It can be obtained now only at the price of the dismemberment of the Government, the dissolution of the Union, and the destruction of our nationality. What we as Americans hold most der can be preserved only by continuing this war until an honorable peace can be obtained. It will require two parties to conclude an amicable arrangement. Suppose we at the North offer the olive branch, and signify our readiness to lay down our arms, and conclude a treaty of peace. Upon what terms, we would ask, are loyal men willing to agree to such a treaty? It cannot be that after fighting two years with repeated successes, and after having taken from the rebels more than one half the territory which they at first occupied and when we are now on the eve of further successes, that we will be craven enough to submit to the terms which they of us demanded at first. They then asserted the right of secession, claimed that they had seceded from the Union, and demanded that we should recognize the independence of their Confederacy. Because we would not do it then, they forced this war upon us. Peace might have been had two years ago if we had consented to disunion. But the nation said no. There was a unanimous response to the call which went forth from the Government when the first armed assault was made upon the flag. A peace with the rebels was felt to be treason to the Union. The same peace which might have been obtained in 1861 can be had in 1863. On the same terms the rebels will agree now to lay down their arms, and on no other terms have they signified their willingness to do so. Are the freemen of Connecticut prepared to consent to peace at the price of disunion?

The leaders of the Seymour party know that peace can be had only at the price of disunion. They cannot be blind to the fact that the rebels constantly affirm that they will agree to no arrangement which does not recognize their independence. They cannot be blind to the fact that overtures have been made by certain prominent politicians, which overtures have been disdainfully refused. And furthermore, Thomas H. Seymour himself stated in a letter which we published last week that he doubted “if the Union could be restored at all.” He thought there was only “a possible chance” in its favor. ->

Knowing as they do that peace now can be had only at the price of disunion, we repeat that they are engaged in a vast effort at popular delusion and deception. The masses of the people of this State are loyal, and are a ready to fight for their liberties as were their fathers of 1776. They abhor disunion. The rebel sympathizers in this State know this, and dare not propose broadly that the Government be broken up and the Union be destroyed. So they insidiously call for peace, describe the horrors of war, and deprecate taxation. This is their game.

Let us have an honorable peace. Let us have peace and the Union. When we shall have overthrown this rebellion, and caused the authority of the Government to be acknowledged in every State and Territory, then we can rejoice in the blessings of peace. Said Col. Henry C. Deming, and every patriot will endorse the sentiment: “I was for compromise while compromise was honorable; for peace while peace was possible; for war when it was inevitable, and when I could not tender peace or compromise without being guilty of treason to my country.”

-----

Destruction of the Steamer Nashville.—A dispatch from Savannah to a Richmond paper states that the steamer Nashville ran aground before Fort McAllister and was destroyed by our iron-clads. The fort was not taken.

The Nashville has had a brief though somewhat eventful career as a blockade runner. On the 18th of August, 1861, she ran the blockade at Norfolk and proceeded to the Bermudas. She subsequently returned to Charleston and, on her next trip, conveyed Mason and Slidell to Cardenas, where she arrived October 17. Thence she proceeded to England. Just before entering the harbor of Southampton she captured and burned the Harvey Birch on the 19th of November, and on the 21st she entered Southampton and landed the officers and crew of the burned vessel.

The Tuscarora was in the harbor at the time, and remained there watching her until February 3d, 1862, when, owing to the strict compliance on the part of the Tuscarora with the port laws, she evaded the federal gunboat and went to sea. She ran the blockade of Beaufort, N. C., March 1st, and made her escape from that harbor March 18, four days subsequent to General Burnside’s victory at Newbern. She arrived at Nassau, N. P. April 1st, and changed her name to the Thomas L. Wragg. April 26, she ran into Savannah, where the rebels proceeded to convert her into a gunboat, changing her name to the Rattlesnake. She has been lying in Ogeechee river, above Fort McAllister, waiting for the Spring tides, to run out. In attempting to do so she is reported to have run aground, and was destroyed by the monitor fleet in the river.

THURSDAY
MARCH 12, 1863
THE PROVIDENCE EVENING PRESS (RI)

Five Days Later from Europe.

New York, March 11.—Washington’s birthday was celebrated by a banquet at St. James’ Hall, London. In the absence of Consul Morse from illness, Gen. Vanderburg presided. Mr. Adams replied to a toast to the Union. His remarks were confined to extolling Washington for his glorious efforts in behalf of the Union, repudiating the idea that he could, if alive, possibly be found on the side of the rebels, and claimed that henceforth the memory of Washington must be kept in reverence exclusively by loyal Americans. Messrs. Cunningham and White, members of Parliament, both spoke in condemnation of slavery as the prime cause of the war, and in terms of sympathy with the north.

The Times announces the Confederate three million pounds sterling loan as undertaken by Erlanger & Co., of Paris and Frankfurt.

The relief ship Achilles, from Philadelphia, reached Liverpool on the 22d.

Lord Stratham, in the House of Lords, at the request of Earl Russell, postponed till the 2d of March his motion for the correspondence with the Confederate Commissioners relative to recognition.

Lord Palmerston denounced strongly the shipment of Negroes by France from Egypt to Mexico, and called upon France to repair the wrong.

Lord Palmerston, in reply to an inquiry, said that the only official documents of the British government relative to the French mediation scheme was Earl Russell’s letter of the 13th, already published. He would give no information as to the reply of America to Napoleon’s last proposition. It was a matter entirely between those two governments.

——-

The New York ice dealers have secured an abundant crop of ice, from 13 to 16 inches thick, up the Hudson, and all along the banks of the river it may be seen piled up, covered with straw, awaiting the opening of navigation for transportation to the city.

——-

A Light-Fingered Soldier.—One of Uncle Sam’s men, while on board the Perry this morning, coming up from Portsmouth Grove, stole the steamer’s flag and secreted it in his knapsack. He was detected and compelled to hand it over. He ought to be made to “see stars” and have the stripes.

——-

Defence of Boston Harbor.—The Committee of the Massachusetts Legislature on Federal Relations held a meeting in Boston last evening. Several of the leading shipping merchants of the city were invited to be present and present their views of the best plan for making the harbor of Boston secure from incursions from domestic or foreign enemies. The Advertiser says that all those present “represented the necessity of immediate action in the matter of harbor defence, and urged an appropriation of a million dollars, to be expended under the direction of the Governor and Council. The best means of defence was discussed and revolving towers urged as the most efficient protection known. It was also urged that a vessel of the Monitor pattern should be kept in the harbor, that a suitable cable should be kept in readiness to draw across the narrows, and that material for speedily filling up Broad Sound should be held in constant readiness for use. A model of an iron-clad revolving tower for land defence invented by Mr. Ridgeway was examined by the Committee.

Fort Donelson Again Threatened.

New York, March 12.—A Nashville dispatch of the 11th says that Unionists direct from Shelbyville, state that Bragg has been re-inforced by eleven brigades. The rebel General Early stated to him that enough force had been received from Richmond to resist any attack of Rosecrans.

Another rebel expedition to Kentucky is on foot, and 15 regiments of cavalry are already under marching orders at Knoxville.

Gen. Granger, the famous Union fighting General, takes command a Nashville in a day or two.

A large fleet of transports and gunboats arrived at Nashville on the 10th.

It is rumored that Donelson is again threatened.

——-

The conscription law has created quite a flutter among foreigners who have taken out their first papers, as they are not exempt from draft, according to the terms of that bill. The Journal of Commerce says the Consular offices in New York city have been besieged for several days past by applicants for relief. It adds that “the office of the British Consul has been visited by a large number of such applicants. The consuls can make but one reply to these applications—that they have no power in the premises, but that they will communicate with the ministers of their respective governments at Washington, or with the home governments, and put the question in a train for settlement one way or the other at an early day. It is understood that Lord Lyons, having been consulted on the subject, has submitted the points involved to the decision of the English Government, from whom an answer is expected before the conscription law gets into operation.”

——-

Coincidence of Dreams.—A Philadelphia paper stated last week that one of Hawkins’ Zouaves saw, in a dream, a scroll on which was inscribed “Peace, April 23, 1863.” Nothing very remarkable in this, certainly, but a correspondent at Fort Warren, in Boston harbor, assures us that the venerable Mr. Wright, a member of Capt. Cabot’s artillery company, had the same dream more than four months since, the date being coincident. Lovers of the marvelous will therefore make a note of this and “see what they shall see.”—Boston Journal.

——-

If reports from Vicksburg are true, the rebels did not make much by the capture of the Indianola. That this vessel was sunk by two rebel rams is confidently asserted, and it is also stated that at least one of the rebel rams engaged in the encounter, the Webb, also sunk soon after, from the effects of shells from the Indianola, and damage received in butting that vessel. If this should prove true, the rebels really suffered more than we did, for though the loss of the Indianola was a serious one, the loss of the Webb is a more serious one to them.

——-

It is believed that the secessionist in Kentucky and Eastern Tennessee are preparing for a general uprising. A dispatch from Cincinnati says that a considerable number of secessionists have already assembled near Mount Sterling, Kentucky, where they expect to be joined by 25,000 men from East Tennessee. Gen. Wright, commander of the Union force in that department, is making arrangements to block the game.

FRIDAY
MARCH 13, 1863
THE BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER

The Turreted Monster.

The following is from the Washington correspondence of the New York Tribune, and tallies with some statements made by correspondence from Vicksburg:

“Rear-Admiral Porter, in a private letter received here today, says that he made, in twelve hours, out of a flat-boat, the ‘Turreted Monster,’ of whose exploits below Vicksburg the Richmond Enquirer makes so much fuss. He sent her floating down the Mississippi with a crew or a pilot. As she passed between the rebel batteries they opened on her fiercely, several hundred shots in all being fired. She escaped uninjured, and went on her way down the stream triumphantly, the Queen of the West running before her. At last, when she was supposed to have got about twenty-five miles below Vicksburg, a loud explosion was heard, which the rebel telegrams show to have been caused by the destruction of the Indianola.”¹

——-

A letter from headquarters, off Vicksburg, states that the river has now risen until it has overflowed its banks. All that portion of the bank between the levee and the river is under water, and the levee is all that restrains it from overflowing the camps, all of these being situated on ground that is seven or eight feet lower than the present level of the water in the river. There is no symptom of any plan of attack upon Vicksburg. Everything is deferred until the completion of the canal, when the plan of attack will probably develop itself by the running of transports through it so as to be beyond the range of the enemy’s batteries on the hills opposite, the re-embarkation of the troops and the landing [of] the whole army somewhere below Vicksburg on the Mississippi side of the river.

——-

The steamers Kangaroo and City of Baltimore, which arrived at New York on Wednesday night, brought 1200 bales of cotton from Liverpool.

——-

A Wail from Charleston.—The Charleston, South Carolina, Courier takes the following rather sombre view of the prospects of secession. Charleston is no doubt a very good point just now for making such a review of circumstances as this:

“The continuance of this contest involves increased suffering. The evils that follow in the train of this calamitous visitation grow more direful every day. Other hearts than those now aching with anxiety and bleeding from bereavement are rent with grief, and the friend who sympathized with some afflicted one yesterday, today weeps bitter tears over his own sorrow. The iron is driven deeper, and our burden becomes more and more heavy. And though more than eighteen months have passed away since the strife was begun, the end seems more distant than it appeared to be a twelvemonth since. Hope after hope has gone out in the darkness, and expectations we fondly cherished have turned out to be miserable delusions. So often have we been disappointed and deceived that now our faith rejects every promise and turns away from every sign. Our foe is active and determined, and powerful as he ever was, and the agent that was to compel foreign nations to intervene and put an end to this wicked and infamous contest has not been potent enough to accomplish that end.”

From Port Royal.

The steamship Ericsson arrived at Baltimore yesterday morning from Port Royal 8th inst., with mails and dispatches for the government in the hands of chief engineer Stimers, who as on board the gunboat Passaic during the attack on Fort McAllister.

The monitors are all back at Port Royal in good condition. A 10-inch mortar shell struck the deck of the Passaic, but did not go through. A torpedo was exploded under the Montauk, and although it raised her a foot out of the water, no damage was done. The bombardment lasted twenty hours, and was a grand sight, but the boats could not get near enough to the fort to dismantle it. The distance was 1400 yards.

The British steamer Queen of the Wave is ashore near Charleston. Her crew escaped. Admiral Dupont was endeavoring to save her.

The iron-clad Catskill arrived on Tuesday the 3d inst., and is ready for service.

The gunboat Quaker City left Port Royal on the 8th for Philadelphia. The Ericsson passed her off Wilmington, she then being in chase of an English propeller, and and boarded her as the Ericsson passed. She was supposed to be a prize.

The movement on Charleston has not begun. The Charleston papers say that both the Indianola and Queen of the West are in good condition.

A rebel lieutenant, captured near Charleston, says that secret negotiations for peace have been progressing for three weeks at Richmond, but the papers are not allowed to allude to the fact or to give particulars.

——-

Private letters from London speak with alarm of the fleet which is in progress of construction in England and Scotland for the rebels. Our government is urged to demand in peremptory language that they be forbidden to sail on their errand of destruction to American commerce. A threat of open war is, in the opinion of the writers, a sure and only means of putting an end to these secret hostilities.

——-

The New York Tribune’s Washington dispatch states that the Navy Department will immediately issue proposals, to be answered within 30 days, for monster sea-going iron-clads—their masts, boats and rigging to be made of iron, their burden eight thousand tons, the draft twenty-one feet. They are to carry ten guns in casemates, weighing twenty-five tons without the carriages, and are to be worked by ten pairs of engines. The nine new monitors, which are in process of construction, and will probably be ready two or three months after the time at which they were promised, are to be made considerably longer than those now afloat, and will have twice their speed.

——-

It is the general impression at headquarters that the enemy on the Rappahannock is withdrawing large numbers of his forces. Longstreet is known to have gone. The Charleston Mercury of a late date says that the entire division has left. Some 15,000 of the men passed through Richmond a few days ago, taking the route to the south side of the James.

SATURDAY
MARCH 14, 1863
THE DAILY PALLADIUM (CT)

The Register’s Scarecrow.

The Register is very hard to please. If the government orders a draft, it finds fault with that. And if the proposition is made to have the commutation of the drafted men paid by the towns so that only volunteers may serve, it finds fault with that. It is dreadfully horrified at the idea of the State “buying off from its treasury, all the drafted men, rich or poor, that may be drawn out as the quota of Connecticut, and thus perhaps leave Uncle Sam without a live soldiers to respond to his call!” But again, if Uncle Sam makes a call, it proposes to resist it and not let a soldier be drafted. In other words, what Union men would reach through law and order, the Register desires to obtain by lawlessness and rebellion. It is an awful thing that money should be taken from the State treasury to buy off “rich and poor,” as if the “rich and poor” did not put that money into the treasury; but if the draft is made it will be all right to have armed opposition to it, and prevent, by bloodshed and civil war in Connecticut, any soldier’s responding to the call. When the Register goes further and says the draft must be made very soon, that six hundred thousand and perhaps eight hundred thousand men will be drafted, and the draft is only delayed on account of the New England elections, it utters a string of malicious falsehoods. Secretary Stanton has repeatedly said that he had troops enough for the present; that he was never more hopeful of the war than now, and that our forces in the field were a third larger than those of the enemy. In addition to this there are more than one hundred thousand troops yet to be furnished by other states before Connecticut can be called on for a soldier. Under any possible call for troops from Connecticut not more than four regiments would be asked for, and that those could be furnished by volunteers after the nine months men return we have not the slightest doubt. The talk of the Register about a draft “of six hundred thousand of the poorest men in the country,” is intended only for effect upon our election. It knows there is no real difficulty in the case. But while the Register is making such a cry over the three hundred dollar commutation, leaving every man, “rich or poor,” to go to the war if drafted, or else furnish a substitute at such price as he could? Does it think the law would be more favorable to the poor with that provision left out! Does it object to the government’s limiting the price at which substitutes or exemption may be obtained? We have no doubt it does. The Register and its party want the poor man to be forced to go to the war or else to rebel against the government. It would like nothing better than a law which should put it beyond the power of a poor man to get a substitute any way.

——-

Sleighs on the Run.

About half past six o’clock last night a sleigh containing a man drawn by a splendid horse, dashed won Olive street at an uncontrollable pace, and while turning the corner of Wooster street, the man was thrown out and the horse and sleigh ran into Mr. Alexander Storer’s store windows, dashing out glass and doing other damage. The establishment than ran down Wooster on that side of the street for half a block, when it crossed over to the other pavement and had a stout pull all the way down Wooster street. About the same time, a horse with sleigh attached ran madly down Church street from Chapel—taking the sidewalk by the Glebe building—smashing up the sleigh near the Catholic church. Considering the amount of travel on that sidewalk, it is wonderful that no one was killed. See an advertisement for this runaway horse.

The Two Parties.

There are two parties in this state asking the suffrages of the people. The one is the party of law and order, the other the party of anarchy and rebellion. The one is for the Union at all hazards and to the last extremity, the other is for letting traitors have their own way. The one is for maintaining the government and sustaining those who administer it, the other is for opposing the government and raising a fire in its rear. The Union party pledges to the country its life, its fortune and its sacred honor; the copperhead party calls the war against treason “an unholy crusade,” the attempt to put down the rebellion by arms “a monstrous fallacy,” and declares that Connecticut shall no longer aid her loyal sisters of the north, but shall throw her influence in favor of treason and Jeff Davis. The Union men say in the language of Andrew Jackson: “The Union must and shall be preserved;” copperheads say, “You can’t conquer the south; let us give up the contest and let the Union go.” The Union men stand by the soldiers of the Union; the copperheads abhor the soldiers’ cause. The Union men say let the wives and children of the soldiers be fed and clothed; the copperheads declare that if they get the power they will stop all bounties and cut off these women and children from their support. The Union men say “let the debts of the state and nation be paid, and private property be sacred, whether invested in houses or banks or state bonds;” the copperheads say “repudiate, and let men who have invested in bonds or in the banks which have put their money in government securities lose their money.” The former say, “Our country is worth saving; sacrifices have been made for it. We are ready to make more. The martyrs of the war call upon us to be men and heroes. The soldiers in the army call upon us to sustain the course for which they fight. We cannot give up this contest without endless divisions and war, and we will stand by the dear old flag, honored heretofore all over the world, and honored on many a bloody battle-field of the south.” The copperheads say, “We will light the flames of civil war here at home—we will resist, by force, the government of our country—we will fight here in Connecticut, not for the Union, but for the traitors of the south.” They have nominated a man for Governor, whose heart has never thrilled with a patriotic emotion during all the war, while he has read of Donelson and James Island, of Antietam and Fredericksburg, and of the many other fights where Connecticut men have fought and died.

Let the men of Connecticut choose between these two parties. Will they be loyal and true or will they be traitors and false? Will they have peace at home or war? Will they have security in Connecticut for themselves and their property under the protection of law, or will they have anarchy and rebellion here, with all their attendant horrors? The laws of the United States cannot be resisted nor the government defied, as the copperheads threaten, without civil war here. For the loyal men of Connecticut will never see the government of their country defied with impunity. No matter where treason lifts its head, south or north, it must be put down. Let the people reflect well upon the horrors of civil war before they vote for Thomas H. Seymour.

1  Porter would remember this trick of building a faux ironclad when he was in charge of moving up the Cape Fear River to Wilmington, N.C. in 1865. He had his men construct “Old Bogey,” which was directed up the river ahead of the actual gunboats to draw enemy fire and thereby identify the location of rebel batteries.