SUNDAY
MAY 24, 1863
THE DAILY PICAYUNE (LA)

The Confederate Raid into Morgantown.–A correspondent of the Wheeling Intelligencer furnishes the following particulars of the “cleaning out” of Morgantown by the Confederate cavalry in the recent raid into Western Virginia:

As soon as their advance was known, the people all left, especially those who had horses, on the “double quick, and most of the citizens also. About 1 o’clock two rebels with a flag of truce came into town, asked for the Mayor and whether any resistance was to be made, and were informed that the town was surrendered to them. They returned to their main body, and in half an hour they came back again. First came about eighty men, and in half an hour there was a force of over 600 rebels in town. They stole all the horses they could get, asked for provisions, and some purchased and others “captured” store goods of various kinds. The farmhouse of Capt. Wm. Lazier, a mile from town, occupied by a tenant (who with his family had escaped from home), was burned by the rebels. They molested no private houses, except the one last mentioned, and generally conducted themselves in a civil manner, except as to stealing horses, store goods, &c.

In the meantime they had detailed squads, scouring the country for six or eight miles round about, capturing horses, &c. Shortly before night the whole force left in the direction of Independence. They bivouacked along the road from eight to ten miles from town, for four or five hours, and towards morning again took up their march in the direction of Independence. In the neighborhood of Three Forks, a few miles this side of Independence, they met Gen. Jones’s command, consisting of from two to three thousand men, two regiments of them mounted infantry, and all returned in the direction of Morgantown. It was all quiet at Morgantown Monday night. Not a rebel was to be seen or heard of. Many of our citizens who had escaped to the hills had returned to their homes, and many country people had come to town. They were all standing in crowds on the streets, to the number of about two hundred, discussing the events of the day before and hoping that the rebels had bid us farewell forever, when, about 11 o’clock, fifty or sixty rebels on their finest horses charged into the town upon the two main streets, at the most terrific rate, yelling like hellhounds ad with their pistols in their hands. They gobbled up twenty horses off the streets, searched every stable in town and got a few more—sounded a bugle call in front of the bank, and left town in less than fifteen minutes from the time they came in, with nearly forty-five horses.

When the charge was made, no one understood what it meant at first, and supposed that every body was to be shot and quartered, and there was a pretty brisk skedaddling off the streets, you may rest assured. It was reported that there were four hundred Union troops within a few miles of town, on the Uniontown road, of which the rebels were informed, and they left town on the “double quick.”

The people again began to breathe free, and supposed they were gone. The rebels again commenced coming into town till near dark, repeating the occurrences of the day before on an increased scale. They were variously estimated at 3000 to 4000. One of our colored citizens counted over 2000 passing at one point.

The rebel cavalry was undoubtedly the flower of their army. Ashby’s old regiment was amongst them. The most of them were comfortably dressed and well equipped. Their boots particularly were better than we expected to see. They were healthy looking and stout men, evidently experienced in “raiding” and capturing horses, if not in fighting. Most of them were educated men and most of them well behaved.

The losses in this country are about as follows: Say, 200 horses $1000, drugs, &c. $300, drugs $1500, goods $400, boots, &c. $500 groceries, $500 goods, $500 hats, $500, goods $100, goods $100.¹ All the hotels of all their grain and provisions.

It may be mentioned that in taking horses they were not respecters of persons, and if a horse owner claimed to be inclined to the South side, they would reply, “All the better.”

The Week.–The past week has been devoid of excitement, excepting such as resulted from the receipt of Northern news. Of steamers, with the arrivals last night and this morning, we have an abundance, certainly for one week. Sometimes a fortnight elapses without a single arrival from the North, and again four or five steamers, with nearly the same dates, flock in at once—thus “giving a sum of more to that which had too much.”

The health of the city continues to be remarkably good, for the season—and business, every week, proceeds in dullness from bad to worse. The weather is as delightful as the overture to “Oberon.”

Locally, almost the only affair of the week was the pasting of labels on the street lamps, indicating the names of the streets. For this, thanks are due to the Provost Marshal—the thanks of strangers, who are thereby saved much question-asking—and the thanks, especially, of old residents, who need this reminder to inform them of the names of such streets as Carondelet, Tchoupitoulas, Canal, New Levee, and some others, which, in these days, are scarcely recognizable by “the oldest inhabitant.”

•••••

Foreigners and Conscription.–The N. Y. correspondence (May 10) of the Philadelphia Ledger contains the following:

If there are any persons who anticipate trouble with our foreign relations, growing out of President Lincoln’s proclamation declaring aliens who have simply declared their intentions non-exempt from the conscription, I am glad to have it in my power to restore their serenity of mind by a statement of facts not generally known hitherto, but upon the entire correctness of which you may fully rely.

When the conscription bill passed Congress in March last, the British Minister at once wrote home for instructions how to treat the applications for “protection” which had been forwarded to him by the British Consuls in New York and other cities from the class of persons referred. The answer was, in substance, that Her Majesty’s Government would consider it more consistent with precedent and the comity of nations if that class of British subjects referred to were allowed a reasonable time to leave the country, instead of placing them upon the same level with native-born Americans subject to conscription. At the same time, Earl Russell disclaimed any intention to exercise, or to seek to exercise, authority over persons in the United States who had declared an intention to renounce their allegiance. The correspondence, on the whole, was courteous and indicative of a disposition on the part of the British Foreign Office to throw no obstacles in the way of this government not clearly countenanced by international usage.

Lord Lyons lost no time in communicating the contents of this dispatch to Mr. Seward, to whom, as well as to the rest of the Cabinet and the President, it was perfectly satisfactory. The President’s proclamation thereupon was issued. Hence, I repeat, all apprehensions or expectations of trouble from England, so far as the conscription is concerned, may as well be dismissed.

MONDAY
MAY 25, 1863
THE MACON DAILY TELEGRAPH (GA)

LATEST FROM VICKSBURG.

Desperate Fighting.

THE ENEMY REPULSED.

Reported Capture of Helena, Ark.

Mobile, May 23.—The special reporter of the Advertiser and Register at Jackson, on the 22d, says heavy firing was heard in the direction of Vicksburg this morning. It is reported and believed in official circles that the enemy assaulted our works at Vicksburg on Wednesday (the 20th) and were badly repulsed. The enemy have made three desperate assaults on Vicksburg, and have been repulsed.

Snyder’s Bluff has been evacuated. A courier reports that Yazoo City was captured on Wednesday by the Federals. The Navy Yard was burned by us. An officer from Vicksburg reports that Grant has been whipped back.

Semi-official information of the capture of Helena by Price has been received.

A Jackson correspondent of the 19th says Johnston this morning threw ten to twelve thousand men over the Big Black to the Vicksburg side.

It is reported in Mobile that Snyder’s Bluff has been reoccupied, and the occupation of Yazoo City by the Federals is disbelieved.

Still Later.

Mobile, May 23.—The special reporter of the Advertiser and Register, dispatching from Jackson, 23d, says the latest from Vicksburg is to Thursday night. Our loss slight. Injuries to batteries trifling. The garrison is well supplied, and confident of holding the place.

The enemy have been foiled in all his efforts. His dead strew the ground in front of our works. Our estimate places their loss at ten thousand. Firing was heard at intervals last night and to-day. The enemy are reported shelling our batteries.

The enemy are reported at Ponchatoula, running trains up that far from New Orleans.

•••••

Vicksburg.

There is considerable comfort and encouragement in the telegram from Mr. Wagner, dated Atlanta, 23d. Mr. W. was, and we presume still is, the agent of the Associated Press at Jackson, to which place he removed from Vicksburg some two months ago. He is a man of shrewdness and intelligence, and we believe him to be well posted in military affairs in Mississippi. His statement that the garrison of Vicksburg has five months’ supplies on hand and the place cannot be taken except by starvation, we believe to be entitled to much confidence. If this be the state of things, our chance is still good to hold this important position, and we feel assured neither the Government, nor Gen. Johnston, or the authorities of Mississippi or Alabama, will be slack in their efforts to co-operate in the defence. Now is the time to show what can be done, and unless Grant can open communications on the Yazoo, we think he is in no very promising condition to sustain a long siege. It is difficult to conceive how he can keep up his supplies by the ordinary route down the Western bank of the Mississippi, and up the Big Black, and thence by wagon again, for an army of one hundred thousand men. Aside from this difficulty hot weather is upon them, and the “superb health” of the Yankee army cannot be long maintained in that region. Affairs are critical, but by no means desperate.

The Spirit in South Carolina.

The Sumter (S. C.) Watchman says:

Col. Wm. Nettles, commissary agent, gives great praise to the Darlington people. He says that he visited gentlemen in that district who refuse to accept 75 cents for their bacon, but sold it to him for the army for 50 cents—and said they even felt ashamed to take that. They also told him that if what they sold him was not sufficient, to come back, and they would let him have all they had; that they and their Negroes would dispense with meat entirely, rather than our gallant soldiers should suffer! With such men price is nothing; money is nowhere; but patriotism, full, strong, unselfish and all-absorbing, rises paramount, and sweeps all before it. No cross-no crown; no sacrifice, no independence. And surely those who stay at home, in its com fort and security, have no right to expect the brave men in the field to be the only sufferers on the altar of patriotism!

•••••

Fight for Your Bread.–It is quite evident from the recent demonstrations of the enemy that they design to carry out the raiding system, as far as possible, in order to attempt the destruction of our crops. The only way they hope to subjugate us now is by starvation. This nice little scheme must be thwarted. Every town, city, district, community, should organize for home defence—the farmers, whose growing fields are menaced, should hold themselves in readiness to repel the invaders—the men of the cities should drill for action should the occasion come. We must fight for our bread and butter, as well as our homes and firesides. Organize! Organize!

•••••

Formidable Raid in Prospect.–We call attention to the Atlanta Confederacy’s revelations about a new raid upon Alabama and Georgia of twenty thousand men. Although a raid of that magnitude would eat its own head off before it got far, and would fall to pieces for lack of subsistence, yet it is quite probable smaller one may be coming. We don’t think there is a foot of our soil secure from raids unless it be the Okefenoco Swamp.

•••••

It appears that the Federals above Vicksburg have adopted a new mode of sending supplies past our batteries. Instead of taking cargo in a boat, they set barrels of provisions adrift and allow them to float down to Grand Gulf, where they are fished out. This trick has been discovered, and our own men have gone to fishing, and the result thus far has been the catching of a number of kids of salt mackerel, pork, etc., perhaps the first time that salt fish were ever caught in the Mississippi.²

TUESDAY
MAY 26, 1863
THE BOSTON TRAVELLER

General Grant’s Position a Safe One.

The Story in Regard to a Union Defeat Not True.

News from the Interior of Rebeldom—Only 15,000 Rebels at Vicksburg.

New York, May 26.—The Herald’s Washington dispatch says it is believed that Gen. Grant has nothing to fear from a concentration of any considerable force in his rear. The only forces available for the purpose are 6000 under Joe Johnston, a small number driven away from Pemberton under Loring, and one or two brigades from port Hudson, not more than 15,000 at the outside.

The story of the Herald’s Murfreesboro correspondent of the 25th, that the rebels assert that General Grant has been beaten, is probably a canard.

The World’s Washington dispatch says the correspondent of the World with Gen. Grant’s army arrived here to-day from Richmond after a tour of three weeks in the Southern States. Only about 15,000 men were at Vicksburg when he left. Gens. Loring and Forney commanded the corps there. At Montgomery he met Joe Johnston and 600 troops from Savannah, reinforcing Pemberton. There was a half-finished gunboat at Montgomery. The troops in Mississippi and Alabama were excellent. At Atlanta he was confined in a prison in consequence of the excessive attention shown Union prisoners by the populace two days before.

At Richmond a report was current on Saturday that Vicksburg had fallen. The next rebel line of defence is the Tombigbee river, thus releasing the whole state of Mississippi. There are no forces in the interior of the Confederacy. The railroads are in a bad condition. The strength of the rebel army may be put down at 300,000 men, half of which are in Middle Tennessee and Virginia. The rebels robbed and maltreated our wounded in Alabama. At Atlanta, Augusta, Columbia, Knoxville and Weldon our prisoners were greeted with substantial evidences of kindness.

The solid men of the South are anxiously asking what terms we can offer and what is to be their fate. The impression is gaining ground in the Confederacy that we can outlast them and overrun their country.

•••••

Female Prisoners.—The Wheeling Intelligencer says the Provost Marshal there has had a large number of female rebel prisoners. Recently most of the girls among them have been disposed of. Mary Jane Green, of Braxton, charged with destroying the government telegraph, Miss Jennie DeHart, charged with being a spy, and Miss Margaret Murphy were sent beyond the Federal lines. Mary Summers, Elizabeth Hays, Marian McKenzie and Mary Jane Prater, all of whom were arrested in the uniform of soldiers, supposed to be common prostitutes, were taken into Pennsylvania out of the reach of the camps, and there dropped down to take care of themselves.

In addition to this the Provost Marshal still holds the two Miss Copelands, daughters of Col. Copeland, who resides near Clarksburg. They are charged with carrying letters to the rebel army, and appear to be well educated and intelligent young ladies.

Ellen Conner and Harriet Stewart are also held in custody as spies. Miss Conner states that she is no spy, and that at the time of her arrest she was hunting her lover, and Miss Stewart says she was accompanying her.

All Quiet on the Rappahannock.

Washington, May 26.—A gentleman arrived here from the Rappahannock uniformly reports that nothing of importance is transpiring in the army. Many of the staff and line officers have gone North, and there is no indication of any immediate movement. Many of the camps have been changed to more healthy localities. The wounded are well cared for, nothing conducive to health being withheld. The commissary department must be in good hands, as there are no complaints of the character or insufficiency of the food.

•••••

Colonizing Free Persons of Color.—Only one contract has been made to be carried out by the government for the transportation of free persons of color beyond the limits of the United States, and this was at the rate of $50 cash for 500 [of] them in families to the Island of Avnoash in San Domingo. Various applications have been made for such supplies to be employed as laborers in the West India Islands, but the government declines to make any more such contracts for the present under the authority invested in the President.

•••••

Colored Soldiers.—An officer of one of the gunboats off Charleston, who until recently has been opposed to the use of colored soldiers, writes as follows:

“I was a spectator of a fight on the field between Secesh and the 2s S. C. Volunteers (colored). The regiment is a credit to Wendell Phillips, and fought as well as the 8th Maine. They have one fault—they are great on the bayonet, and when they make a charge nothing can stand against them. They will fight equally as well as the whites. Higginson and Kansas Montgomery are their Colonels. The latter is a perfect dare-devil, a splendid fighter, and one of the most mild gentlemen I ever met.”

•••••

U.S. transport steamer Expounder, with the Second Maine Regiment on board, bound to Bangor, put into Newport on Sunday for coal and sailed again at 4p.m.

Though from fifteen hundred to two thousand men have been mustered into this regiment since its formation, it returns home with less than two hundred and fifty effective men, having been thus weakened by casualties, disease and death.

•••••

A Battle Field Joke.—At the battle of Chancellorsville, the Swiss General Fogliardi, who had been accustomed to the broad, open and clear  European battle-fields, where whole army corps can charge in battle line without impediments, and where the surging squadrons of cavalry are the sweeping concomitants of every army, could not exactly see how a great battle could be fought in that tangled, impenetrable wilderness, and remarked to a staff officer, noted for the force and brevity of his expressions, as well as his great personal bravery: “Zis is not a battle—zis is a grand skirmish!” “A skirmish!” reiterated the staff officer, “I’d have you understand, Sir, that two or three skirmishes like this would wipe the whole Swiss nation off the face of the earth!” and rode down the line into the bullets with as much sang froid as though eating his breakfast.

WEDNESDAY
MAY 27, 1863
THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN (MA)

THE DESTRUCTION OF WARRENTON, MISS.

Effective Work of Admiral Porter’s Gunboats.

A Troublesome Stronghold Demolished.

Acting Rear Admiral Porter in a dispatch from Yazoo river, dated the 15th inst., says: “A few days since, the Mound City, Lieut. Commanding Byron Wilson, came up as far as Warrenton to reconnoiter and see what guns there were likely to annoy our transports. The rebels have been engaged for some months in building a strong casemated water battery, intending to mount eight 10-inch guns on it. This work was built with cotton bales covered with logs, the logs covered with railroad iron, and the whole covered with earth. On approaching the works, Lieutenant Wilson sent a party on shore to reconnoiter. On climbing up the casemate to look in, the party discovered that a company of artillerists had taken refuge there, themselves perfectly secure. Our men fired their revolvers into the crowd and warned the vessel that the rebels were about. Lieut. Wilson then commenced shelling the fort, and in a short time it was all ablaze. After burning thoroughly for some time the whole work was destroyed. Thus ended in the space of an hour a fort which had taken the rebels 5 months to build, working mostly day and night. I proceeded to Warrenton this morning to be certain that the work was thoroughly destroyed. It required nothing more done to it. The Mound City had finished it. The rebels set all the houses containing their stores on fire as the gunboats approached, and what they left I ordered to be destroyed. Warrenton has been a troublesome place and merited its fate.”

•••••

We have semi-official news from Vicksburg of the 22d, last Friday. The town still held out firmly, but our army surrounded it on the land sides, and the mortar boats were playing away in front. There seemed to be no help for it, save, possibly, in a large fresh army of the rebels attacking Gen. Grant in the rear. The rebel news is of the 20th, two days earlier, and claims only that Gen. Grant’s assaults had thus far been successfully resisted, and the garrison strengthened. It is a grand contest: it cannot end in failure to the federal army, and it may, it would seem must, be crowned with a splendid success, in the capture of the town and all its garrison and stores.

•••••

Our troops in North Carolina are again threatened by the rebels. They can doubtless successfully defend themselves, certainly by retiring to Newbern, where they have the help of gunboats and fortifications. But all offensive operations on our part are over I that department; and  it might well be abandoned wholly, or brought into a narrow, fortified stronghold on the coast, and held simply as a retreat for the loyal, a port for our blockaders, a gathering point for Negro recruits, and a base for some possible future demonstration at a different stage of the war. Nearly half of the soldiers now there are nine months men, whose time will soon expire; and nothing effective can we hope to do from from that point, unless through large additions that are not to be spared from more important lines. The whole North Carolina enterprise has not paid its cost; we have little or nothing to show for the large force kept there for a year and a half, and the vast sum expended in maintaining them—little glory for the soldiers, little inroad into the enemy’s power or territory. It is time to stop flea-hitting like this, and bend all our power to more serious business. Let us call back our North Carolina troops, and join them to our peninsula army, and push close up to Richmond in preparation for the next move of the army of the Potomac.

General News Summary.

A letter from a well-informed gentleman of Manchester, England, dated the 7th, says: “I am glad to be able to inform you that public opinion is at present so strong on the subject of the vessels of the character of the Alabama, that I do not doubt for a moment that the sailing of such vessels will be prevented in future, and so war with America avoided. Societies of every kind have been formed by the friends of the North here, as a means of disseminating right views and affecting public opinion; and I hope that we may make greater progress still.”

The Glasgow Journal gives a list of thirty-eight steamers built on the Clyde since the close of 1861, and used to run the blockade. Of these thirty-eight, ten are yet lying in the river; sixteen have been captured or destroyed by our cruisers, and twelve are still running or else in rebel hands, as the Fingal, which is now an iron-clad in the Savannah river.

Captain Abendorff and Sergeant Buckler of the Sprague light cavalry,³ now encamped in New York, have been arrested and placed in Fort Lafayette, for getting up a scheme to make their company into a band of guerrillas as soon as they arrived at the seat of war, and commence a system of pillage on friend and foe alike.

A monument is to be erected at Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, to the memory of Capt. James Cook, the famous voyager and discoverer.

The latest mode of shop-lifting is for an elegantly dressed lady to enter an establishment and ask for a garter. Blushing clerk offers a piece of silk braid, and turns modestly away while the lady avail as herself of it—not to hold up her silk stocking, but to tie a large piece of goods to her crinoline, and retire bowing and smiling her thanks.

Direct news has been received from the City of Mexico up to May 2d, contained in the regular review of the Revista Quincenal of the Mexican capital, with the official communications of Generals Ortega and Comonfort, concerning the recent struggle for the possession of Puebla. From the 16th of March, when the assault on the city began, every effort of the French had been met by disaster, and on the 2d of May they had not yet accomplished anything worth naming. No less than nine assaults had been made on the Mexican works; but in almost every case the assailants were repelled. The French losses are put down at 6,000 men, 3,000 deserters and 242 prisoners. Among these we find seven officers. The Mexican Congress had been opened with a great deal of ceremony.

THURSDAY
MAY 28, 1863
THE VERMONT PHŒNIX

Details of the Splendid Triumph
of the Federal Army and Navy.

Official Account to May 20 from Com. Porter.

Flagship Black Hawk, Haines’ Bluff,
Yazoo river, May 20th.

Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy:

On the morning of the 15th, I came over to the Yazoo to be ready to co-operate with Gen. Grant, leaving two of the iron-clads at Red river, one at Grand Gulf, one at Carthage, three at Warrenton, and two in the Yazoo. This left me a small force, still I disposed of them to the best advantage.

On the 18th at meridian, firing was heard in the rear of Vicksburg, which assured me that Gen. Grant was approaching the city. The cannonading was kept up furiously for some time, when by the aid of glasses I discovered a company of our artillery advancing, taking position and driving the rebels before them. I immediately saw that Gen. Sherman’s division had come on to the left of Snyder’s Bluff, and that the rebels at that place had been cut off from joining the forces in the city. I dispatched the DeKalb, Lieut. Commander Walker, the Choctaw, Lieut. Commander Ramsey, the Romeo, the Petrel, and the Forest Rose, all under command of Lieut. Commander Breeze, up the Yazoo to open communication in that way with Gens. Grant and Sherman. This I succeeded in doing, and in three hours received letters from Gens. Grant, Sherman and Steele, informing me of their vast success, and asking me to send up provisions, which was at once done.

In the meantime, Lt. Commander Walke in the DeKalb, pushed on to Haines’ Bluff, which the enemy had commenced evacuating the day before, though a part remained behind in the hopes of destroying or taking away a large amount of ammunition on hand. When they saw the gunboats, they ran out and left everything in good order—guns, fort, tents and equipage of all kinds—which fell into our hands. As soon as the capture of Haines’ Bluff and its 14 guns was reported to me, I shoved up the gunboats from below Vicksburg to fire at the hill batteries, which fire was kept up for two or three hours. At midnight they moved up to the town, and opened on it for about an hour and continued at intervals during the night to annoy the garrison.

On the 19th I placed 6 mortars in position, with orders to fire night and day, as rapidly as they could.

The works at Haines’ Bluff are very formidable. There are 14 of the heaviest kind of mounted 8 and 10 inch, and 7½ inch rifled guns, with ammunition enough to last a long siege. As the gun carriages might again fall into the hands of the enemy, I had them burnt, blew up the magazine and destroyed the works generally. I also burnt up the encampments, which were permanently and remarkably well constructed, looking as if the rebels intended to stay for some time.

These works and encampments covered many acres of ground, and the fortifications and the rifle-pits proper of Haines’ Bluff extended about a mile and a quarter. Such a net-work of defences I never saw. The rebels were a year constructing them, and all were rendered useless in an hour.->

As soon as I got through with the destruction of the magazines and other works, I started Lieut. Commander Walker up the Yazoo river with sufficient force to destroy all the enemy’s property in that direction, with orders to return with all dispatches, and only to proceed as far as Yazoo City, where the rebels have a navy yard and store houses.

In the meantime Gen. Grant has closely invested Vicksburg, and has possession of the best commanding points. In a very short time a general assault will take place, when I hope to announce that Vicksburg has fallen, after a series of the most brilliant successes that ever attended an army.

There has never been a case during the war, where the rebels have been so successfully beaten at all points; and the patience and endurance shown by our army and navy for so many months is about being rewarded. It is a mere question of a few hours, and then with the occupation of Port Hudson, which will follow Vicksburg, the Mississippi will be open its entire length.

D. D. Porter,
Acting rear-admiral, commanding Mississippi squadron.

•••••

The Snows and Seas of Mars.—Mars has lately presented a favorable opportunity for the examination of its surface. The constitution of this planet more nearly approaches that of the earth than any other in the system. Snow can be detected at both poles, the white circle increasing in winter and decreasing in summer. It has been found that the center of this region of snow does not coincide exactly with the poles of the planet. And in this respect it is like the earth, whose greatest cold is not exactly at the pole. A greenish belt with deep bays and inlets near the equator, which is supposed to be a sea, has recently been detected. The termination of the snowy region is very sharp and abrupt, giving the idea of a lofty cliff. A reddish island in the above sea has also been detected. The probability of Mars being inhabited is greater than that of any other planet. Its density is very nearly that of the earth. The heat and light of the sun would be only half of that enjoyed on our globe, but then this may be compensated by an atmosphere which may forma  warmer wrapping than ours and by a more sensitive eye. A great part of the surface of the globe is covered with snow for half of the year; the people in Mars would not be worse off than we are in Canada, and life is tolerable here. People emigrating from this planet to Mars would find that they were only half as heavy as they are here, which some would not regard as a disadvantage.—Scientific American.

FRIDAY
MAY 29, 1863
PORTLAND DAILY ADVERTISER (ME)

Commerce on the Mississippi.

We yesterday saw a lengthy and important article in the New York World, on this subject, taking the ground that the capture of Vicksburg, although an important victory, would not only not be a death blow to the rebellion, but it would not result in the free navigation of the Mississippi, or, in other words, open it to any extended trade for a long period to come. We forebore copying the article, thinking perhaps that the World was the only paper that might take this view of the matter, and that the opinion might be based in some manner on prejudice. It appears, however, that this is the general tone of the New York press, as the following from the New York Times will show. Although the view is discouraging as regards that great and important outlet to the growing and boundless West, still it is best that our people should understand things as they really exist, more especially our mercantile communities, who are more materially affected by this very matter. We commend the following for its logical and common sense view of the future of the opening or trade on the Mississippi:

“While we cannot over-estimate the importance to the Union cause, in a military view, of the capture of the rebel stronghold at Vicksburg, it becomes our duty to present to the commercial public some limitations on its value, so far as regards immediate operations in their line. We do this, not for discouragement, but for safety—to warn impulsive and not well-informed persons against too hasty investments of their capital or time in Mississippi river speculations.

“If Vicksburg is taken, Port Hudson will fall, and the Mississippi river will be open from its source to its mouth. Very true, but it will not at once and of necessity float off all the products of the Northwest, and restore trade to its former channels. It should be remembered that the Mississippi river has been open to Memphis for more than a year, and to Vicksburg for more than half a year. The rebel batteries at Columbus, Island No. 10, Fort Pillow, Memphis, Helena and Napoleon were silenced, one after another, and all the country adjacent has been made to acknowledge the supremacy of the United States on the Mississippi. But notwithstanding this opening of the river for two-thirds of the distance from St. Louis to New Orleans, and its constant patrol by passing gunboats; and notwithstanding no rebel forces have dared to occupy the banks in the reclaimed region in any numbers, it is to be remarked that no legitimate commerce has been established throughout the great extent of territory, during all the time of Union reoccupation. What trade has existed, or exists now, is very limited in its character, and strictly under military surveillance and military protection. So lately as last February, no freight or passenger boat running on the Mississippi river was allowed to make any landing, save under the guns of a military post or under the close convoy of a gunboat. Subsequently, trading boats were pillaged and burnt when touching shore within five miles of Memphis; and for some time, owing to the dangers of navigation and to the illicit trade that it seemed impossible to prevent, with rebellious populations in the interior, all shipment of goods South were positively prohibited. This, be it remembered, when the river and the country adjacent were wholly “within Union lines.”->

“If we take the Mississippi river below Port Hudson to New Orleans and the Passes, now a year under Union control, and look for the valuable commerce restored and floating peacefully on its bosom, we shall look in vain. Nothing of the sort is to be seen there. Navigation, both above and below the rebel obstructions, has been and is attended with extreme danger to unarmed boats, and the escape of such from annoyance and injury by guerrilla firing has been the exception, not the rule.

“The truth is, there can be no large, safe, restored commerce on the Mississippi river, till a state of war no longer exists on its banks, or in the regions adjacent. A single shot from a four or six-pounder, hid in a cane-brake, could send a boat and cargo to the bottom worth a quarter of a million of dollars. And of the hundreds of boats needed to do the once heavy carrying on the Mississippi, how many could have a gunboat convoy for its protection, even if the slow going and cumbrous steerage of the iron-clads did not unfit them for such service?

“Again, it is to be remembered in this connection, that an almost entire Western marine must be built, before extensive navigation on the Mississippi can be resumed, even after all difficulty from hostile population on the banks is removed. Hundreds of boats have been burnt, wrecked or worn out by the Government in hard usage since the war began. Scarcely any new boats in all that time have been built. Those that remain afloat are taken up by the Government, and are indispensable to the military movements that must for months—indeed, we know not for how long—be continued in the Southwest.

“To these practical difficulties add the impoverished and distracted condition of the South, the disorganization of labor, the devastation of millions of the most productive and highly-improved acres of the Southern coast by fire and flood—one-third of the State of Louisiana being submerged, it is said, by the Lake Providence Canal alone—and it is apparent that no rose-colored view can be taken of the immediate reorganization of commerce on the Mississippi river.”

•••••

The Colored Regiment.—The Fifty-fourth Massachusetts (colored) Regiment left Boston yesterday for South Carolina. The ranks were entirely full, the men in regular United States uniform, equipped and headed by a full band of colored musicians. After being reviewed on the Common by Gov. Andrew and staff, the regiment embarked on the new steamer De Molay and will at once leave. The march of the regiment through the city was attended by enthusiastic cheering, and such vast crowds as lined the streets have seldom before been seen.

SATURDAY
MAY 30, 1863
THE DAILY PALLADIUM (CT)

Piratical Vessels.

We have just been apprised of the capture of some eight or ten more vessels by rebel privateers, the value of one of which, the Oneida, is stated at $400,000, while the Commonwealth, captured on her way to San Francisco, is said to be valued at half a million of dollars. We are of those who think these piratical craft ought to be driven from the ocean, and we believe there is Yankee courage and energy enough to do it if the government will only consent to avail themselves of it.

There are many shipmasters in Connecticut alone who would gladly aid in ridding the seas of these monsters, if they had commissions to do so. The only valid objection that has yet been urged is that their destruction by such means would be a violation of international law, and this just now seems to have become a myth or is tortured to mean anything but justice. The translation as given by parties across the water appears to be “might makes right”—and under this rule, the United States holds no inferior station.

•••••

Courtesy to Soldiers.

Knight Hospital,
New Haven, Conn., May 29, 1863.

To the Editors of the Palladium:

Will you permit me, through the columns of your journal, to propound the following queries.

1st. Why is it, if a soldier be guilty of a slight misdemeanor, he is looked upon as a fair subject for reporter’s wit and newspaper items, whereas were he a citizen, in broadcloth, said reporters and newspapers are silent for fear of injuring his reputation? What a pity soldiers have no reputation.

2d. Why is it, if a soldier meet a lady upon our public thoroughfares, she must raise the folds of her delicate muslin, and sweep by as if there was something contaminating in even the touch of a blue uniform? I have seen the same in Newbern, N. C. I did not expect it in New Haven.

3d. Why is it, because one soldier may be coarse, rude or insulting, all of us must be looked upon as brutes, fit subjects for scorn and contempt, and as sad instances of the demoralization of the army?

4th. Is it not encouraging for young men to volunteer, to suffer as we have suffered, to risk their lives as we have done, for those who caring nothing for what may have been our positions in society once, now elevate their nasal protuberances because we wear that horrid uniform?

Having recently been obliged after twenty months service in the field to visit your city for the purpose of recruiting a constitution nearly broken down by service, I wish some friend of the soldier, if perchance such a person can be found in New Haven, to answer the above and oblige.

One of the 8th Connecticut Volunteers.

•••••

We assure our correspondent that the soldiers are not regarded as “fit objects for scorn and contempt” by any considerable portion of our citizens, and certainly not by those whose good opinion he would desire especially to secure. The ladies of New Haven have ever manifested the warmest interest in the welfare of the soldiers, as their presence in the Hospital, their labors for the Sanitary Commission, and their generous contributions attest. And if there are those who would deliberately wound the feelings of a soldier, our correspondent needs no assurance from us that they are not ladies, nor would they be recognized as such in New Haven society. The ladies of New Haven understand very well that they honor themselves in honoring the brave men who fight for the dear old flag.

Children Saved and Ruined.

It is an important question asked almost daily, “What can we city people do with our children?” They grow up slender, puny and sickly if confined within doors and kept constantly at study; if allowed to wander in our streets and lanes they are morally ruined in a short time; what shall we do? We know of no better way than for each parent to provide a place at their homes for children. Let there be a play-room built, or an appropriate place in every house, where swings, gymnastic apparatus and other fixings may be placed to amuse and benefit the child. In the garden, let there be a digging place where the little ones can muss and dig as much as they please; let the boys have tools and a joiner’s bench, a small one somewhere, where they can be kept busy. All these make the children happy, and render home a delightful place to them. Let the girls and boys be trained in gymnastics. We are glad that Dr. Trine has succeeded so well in New Haven, and that classes of boys and girls, gentlemen and ladies, too, are being benefitted by this pleasing plan of gymnastics which he teaches. It not only saves the children from ruin, but creates sound health of body, which is so great a blessing. It is better to pay Dr. Trine for health than other doctors for physic. It is better to expand the chest and give action to the system, than in a few years be seeking cures for consumption. So important is this matter of gymnastics considered by one of our citizens, that his whole family, seven in number, have practiced in Dr. Trine’s classes, and all have been benefitted. Many are purchasing sets of the apparatus to practice at home. Next Monday evening, Dr. Lewis, of Boston, lectures on this subject in Music Hall, and Dr. Trine’s pupils appear in their convenient costume, and will show to our citizens this delightful manner of creating health and enjoyment.

•••••

It is impossible not to pay the tribute of admiration to the heroism displayed by the Poles. An army of 180,000 Russians is unable to crush the insurrection, which gives battle day after day, dispersed all over the country, though not yet in possession of any town or important place. The struggle takes more and more the character of a religious as well as of a national war. The Roman Catholic clergy preach openly in favor of the insurrection, and the Russian soldiers burn and defile the churches, and murder all the Polish priests and gentry whom they meet.

•••••

The Philadelphia papers seem to share in the apprehensions of the Pennsylvania Governor, and estimate Lee’s force ready for an advance on Maryland and Pennsylvania at one hundred and fifty thousand men. We don’t believe they will over trouble Pennsylvania much until Jeff Davis knows a little more about the fate of Vicksburg.

1 This appears to be a store-by-store tally, which is why the categories repeat, (e.g., store “A” lost $100 of goods; store “B” lost $500 of goods, &c.)

2 A kid is a small wooden tub.

3 A company of the 16th New York Cavalry.