SUNDAY
MAY 31, 1863
THE DAILY PICAYUNE (LA)

The Polish Question.

Further Diplomatic Correspondence.

We published yesterday the substance of the Russian replies to England, France and Austria on the Polish question. The following extracts from the comments of the London journals upon the Russian reply are significant:

The Morning Post thinks Prince Gortchakoff’s dispatch sounds very much as if the Government of Russia intended doing nothing further. If that be so, the notes of the three Powers will have been in vain, and Polish independence must be achieved, if ever, at the point of the sword.

The Times considers the Russian reply as unsatisfactory. There is conspicuous throughout a belief that the Western powers will never seriously interfere within anything that passes within the Russian frontier; that Poland will be left to stand or fall according to her own strength, and that consequently an independent and somewhat haughty tone may be used towards those who have affected to lecture the Russian Government on the reform of its ways.

The Times further says that Lord Russell recalled to the recollection of Russia the stipulations of the European settlement of 1815, and all the rights and privileges guaranteed to Poland by solemn treaties, which were ignored for a generation, and finally torn up at Warsaw in 1830. Russia, in a conciliatory tone, declares herself ready to enter with England into a consideration of the terms and conditions of those treaties, with the purpose of ascertaining how much of that ancient character can be made in modern reality, for England is assured that Russia is really only anxious to promote the welfare of Poland. The three Russian answers have one common purpose, but the manner in which it is conveyed in not unskillfully varied. In reply to the Austrian note, Russia pleads the difficulty of dealing with the intrigues of the revolutionary party abroad. Austria is reminded that she shares the danger, as a possessor of Polish territory, and has not yet been so ready in co-operation against the revolt as might have been expected, considering that she has Hungary and Venetia offering fields that may also be cultivated by conspiracy.

A Vienna dispatch says that the French Emperor has, with his own hands, drawn up a prospective rejoinder to the Russian reply, in which his Imperial Majesty lays stress upon the gravity of the situation. His proposed note is now in the hands of the Austrian government, with an invitation to join in it.

The Paris correspondent of the London Times suspects the Emperor is of opinion that Russia will do nothing unless England, France and Austria act in unity, and put a great pressure upon her. She will do nothing if they act separately. France thinks the best results ought to follow from the united action which she so much desires, and that with little or no cost in men or money. In such a case the Emperor would disclaim all intentions or desire of seeking any advantage for himself, but if France be left alone, and decide, which is not so improbable as may be supposed, on acting for herself in rescuing Poland, she will think that all her blood and treasure should not be lavished without compensation. Where that compensation is to be sought for is another question.

Trustworthy and Reliable.–To commanding generals in either army, sometimes, and invariably to the Richmond and New York, Boston and Philadelphia special correspondents in the field, the great sources of information with regard to the situation and condition of “the enemy,” are the trustworthy individual from Washington, the reliable gentleman from Richmond, the disgusted deserter from either side, the wronged refugee, and the intelligent contraband. Mr. R. Samson Pikawn communicates to the New York Sunday Mercury the following judicious advice given [by] his Aunt E. Delusion to young brigadier generals:

In getting miscellaneous information about where the enemy are not, and what they are not doing, our Union brigadiers have a great advantage over the unfortunates on the rebel side, and the daily papers expect them to improve it. The contradictory, confused and complicated accounts of the condition of your adversaries, which you receive from intelligent contrabands, deserters and Union refugees, and obligingly scatter over the country, are received with gladness and devoured with avidity by the active and inquisitive American mind, and are highly satisfactory to the muddled intellects of rural strategists. Some of these accounts must always confirm somebody’s previously expressed impressions or predictions, for which reason it is well to send on a large assortment, that the greater number of your constituents may be pleased. By this means, also, you keep your brigade before the people, and increase your importance. Such reports are also very acceptable to the people at Washington, who are supposed to be better acquainted with the public pulse than you are, and with the amount of “pressure” at any particular juncture, and can pick out what will best serve “the cause”—and themselves. The intelligent contraband has always been an excellent reliance, as he is naturally intimate with most of the rebel generals, and acquainted with their plans. Their ideas of numbers are rather inaccurate, but you may sure that in estimating the force of the enemy they will never be under the mark. Their accounts are the best to send to Washington. If you should want to find out, for your own amusement, the actual number of the enemy, the best rule is to add together the amounts reported by the deserters and the Union refugees, subtract the sum from the contraband’s account, and divide the remainder by two; the quotient will be the answer. For instance, let the scholar make an estimate of Gen. Blowhard’s force:

Half of this remainder gives you 7,500 rebels under General Blowhard. By this rule you can learn pretty exactly the number of men you will have to keep clear of. Of course, it is easier to keep out of the way of a small force than a large one, as they don’t cover so much ground.

You will find that your deserters are always conscripts or starved-out people, who are tired of the rebel service. No others desert. The integrity of a deserter can never be called in question, and you can rely implicitly on what they say. They are generally able to give you a great deal of information, as they are fully posted by their officers before they leave their camps. Every deserter is one subtracted from the enemy’s force, as he will never go back until he gets clear of your lines. They should be well clothed as soon as you receive them, well fed, and allowed the liberty of your camp, as it is possible that good treatment may induce them to remain with you.

MONDAY
JUNE 1, 1863
THE CHARLESTON MERCURY (SC)

The Struggle for the Mississippi.

Our telegrams inform us that Grant, after making seven bloody but fruitless assaults upon our entrenched position at Vicksburg, has gone to “digging” in the rear of Hilled City. This, says the Mobile Advertiser, means regular siege operations and an attempt to starve a garrison that he cannot whip. Meantime he leaves his dead Yankees unburied under our works, without any proffer under flag of truce to give them the decent interment which they are entitled to, at least, at his hands. Grant evidently thinks that the carcasses of the poor wretches he has sent to slaughter will be no more serviceable to the “best Government the world ever saw,” on top of the ground than under it. Can he starve out Vicksburg? Not in a hurry, certainly. It is well provisioned for some months, and half provisions for double the number. Grant’s possession of Snyder’s Bluff gives him large advantages in his proposed siege. It enables him to shorten his line of communication with his base of supplies, and avoids the danger of running the batteries on the river front, or the expense and delay of a long transportation around Vicksburg on the Louisiana shore. Meantime the interest of the situation deepens, and the eyes and energies of both the belligerents will, in all probability, be turned and concentrated upon this point. It is not unlikely that the great battle of the war—perhaps, the decisive battle—will be fought within cannon hearing of the Hill City. From the death-like quietude of Rosecrans’ lines, it is premised that Grant has been reinforced from the Tennessee army. The Yankees will need great numbers for the work before them, and they will send them. We shall want them, and they are gone and going.

General Johnston is quietly massing a powerful army in Grant’s rear. Information just received leads the Advertiser to believe that his numbers are already greater than we have supposed. In a short time one hundred thousand Confederates will be ready to dispute the sovereignty of the lower Mississippi, and, if victorious, re-establish the freedom of Louisiana.

•••••

Latest from Vicksburg.

Jackson, May 28.—The enemy has retired from the immediate front of the fortifications at Vicksburg, and is reported to be fortifying his present position. It is expected that want of water will force him back to the Big Black. Wirt Adam’s cavalry have had a spirited skirmish on the Yazoo, killing and wounding some twenty of the enemy.

(Private Dispatch.)

Meridian, May 27.—News has been received from Vicksburg up to Sunday evening. Fighting has taken place every day. On Saturday a tremendous assault was made by concentrating most of the enemy’s cannon upon one point. Our breastworks were broken, and the enemy entered in considerable numbers. They were terribly repulsed, almost all being killed or taken prisoners. We captured their banners on our works. Our loss thus far is between two and three hundred. The enemy admit a loss of from fifteen to twenty thousand.

•••••

Important from the Rappahannock.

Richmond, May 30.—The Fredericksburg correspondent of the Examiner says that the indications and intelligence from the enemy’s camps on the Rappahannock favor the conclusion that the Yankee forces are evacuating the position they have so long held in Stafford county, but their destination is unknown. The Examiner, editorially, says: “There is no longer any room for doubt that Hooker is making some important movement. A gentleman who left Fredericksburg yesterday assures us that he saw upwards [of] 20,000 Yankee troops moving down in the direction of Port Royal.”

The Army of Northern Virginia I to be disbanded into three corps d’armee, commanded respectively by Longstreet, Ewell and A. P. Hill.

Latest from the United States.

Richmond, May 31.—We have received Northern newspapers of May 28.

The latest official (Yankee) news from Vicksburg was dated at 4 o’clock on the morning of the 24th. Vicksburg was then still holding out, but Grant was hopeful of success. The number of troops in Vicksburg was estimated at from 25,000 to 30,000. The place was also full of women and children, comprising not only the original inhabitants, but others who had come in for safety from the surrounding country.

A dispatch from Cincinnati, dated May 26, says that the report of the capture of Helena, Ark., mentioned by the rebel papers, was false.

A War Council was held at the President’s house in Washington on the 28th inst., in reference to the offensive movement which the rebel forces in Northern Virginia have for some time been threatening. Hooker expressed the opinion that the rebels were bringing up all their available forces from Charleston and North Carolina to make an offensive movement. In view, however, of the publicity given to these threats, he thought it their design to provide for the defence of Richmond, so as to deter him (Hooker) from making another advance.

A riot took place at Harrisburg on Monday. It originated in some dissatisfaction amongst the soldiers on account of delay in receiving their pay.

The enrollment under the Yankee Conscript Act was proceeding in New York City. Negroes were taken down with the rest.

Fifteen nine months’ Pennsylvania regiments had returned to Harrisburg from the war. Governor Curtin left Harrisburg for Washington on the 27th, to consult with Lincoln relative to the protection of the State against invasion.

The principal harbors of New England are being fortified.

•••••

The War in Louisiana.

Pascagoula, May 28.—A special dispatch to the Era, from Port Hudson, May 22d, says:

“Yesterday General Augur’s whole division was engaged in a nine hours’ fight with the enemy. The battle field was Port Hudson Plains, four miles in the rear of Port Hudson, on the Bayou Sara Road. The rebels were thoroughly whipped. They add one brigade of infantry engaged, besides two batteries, and a considerable force of cavalry. They had ambuscaded at every outlet from the plains. They were finally repulsed with heavy loss, leaving a large number of killed and wounded on the field. A flag of truce was sent in at midnight from General Gardner, asking permission to bury the dead. We have taken about nine hundred prisoners.

“The enemy was driven three miles from his first position, and Augur’s division bivouacked for the night on the field of battle. Our loss in killed is twelve, and wounded fifty-six. The 116th New York and the 2d Louisiana suffered the most. Full particulars will reach you by the earliest opportunity.”

TUESDAY
JUNE 2, 1863
PORTLAND DAILY ADVERTISER (ME)

Freedom of Speech North and South.

“They order all these things better in France,” was the much quoted phrase of the humorist who wrote the “Sentimental Journey.” So those who have no regard for the great right of every freeman to express his opinion on questions of public moment, are constantly urging that all these things are better managed in the Confederate States—and inviting tyranny by declaring a gag is put upon public speech by Jeff Davis. Now these wise men have fallen into a grave error. While the Federal administration has imprisoned men for both public utterances and for silence—without written charges or warrant, or any chance of hearing before any tribunal—it does not seem to have been so in the kingdom of Jeff Davis, which we are striving to bring back as a component part of the good old Union our fathers devised for us, and under the folds of whose flag we have been so happy and prosperous. Mr. E. A. Pollard has written and published a Southern history of the rebellion—a rebel view of its progress up to a recent date. We make our point by quoting from the preface to the second edition:

“The flatterer’s idea of the history of the present war would no doubt be to plaster the government with praises; to hide all the faults of the people of the South while gilding their virtues; to make, for a consideration, ‘especial mention’ of all the trash in the army; to scent his puffs thickly with fine writing and tremendous adjectives, and to place over the whole painted and gilded mass of falsehood the figure of Jefferson Davis as the second Daniel come to judgment. The author has no ambition to gratify in these literary elegancies.

“In the eyes of the historian the person of Mr. Jefferson Davis is no more sacred than that of the meanest agent in human affairs. The author has not been disposed to insult the dignity of the office by coarse speeches, but while he has avoided indecency and heat of language, and has, on the other hand, not attempted the elegance and elevation of the literary artist, he trusts that he has given his opinions of the government and public persons with the decent but fearless uncompromising freedom of the conscientious historian. He is certain that he has given these opinions without prejudice against the administration in this war. The danger is, in such a contest as we are waging, that we will be too favorably and generously disposed toward the government, rather than prejudiced against it—that we will be blind to its faults, rather than eager and exacting in their exposure.

“The author is aware that the views expressed in this work of the autocracy of President Davis, and the extraordinary absorption in himself of all the offices of the government, have been resented with much temper by criticism in some of the newspapers. He would ask these persons, who are so anxious to vindicate the character of Mr. Davis in this respect, for a single instance in the history of the war where the cabinet has interposed any views of its own, addressed any counsel to the government, or been anything more than a collection of dummies?”

The author is equally severe upon those people who object to a criticism of public abuses upon the ground that the exposure thereof is a cause of gratification and comfort to the enemy. He says: ->

“There are ignoramuses in the southern confederacy who think it necessary in this war that all the books and newspapers should publish everything in the South in coleur de rose: drunken patriots, cowards in epaulets, crippled toadies, and men living on the charity of Jefferson Davis, trained to damn all newspapers and publications in the South for pointing out abuses in places of authority, for the sage reason that knowledge of these abuses will comfort the enemy and tickle the ears of the Yankees. These creatures would have a history written which would conceal all the shortcomings of our Administration, and represent that our army was perfect I discipline and immaculate in morals; that our people were feeding on milk and honey; that our generalship was without fault, and that Jefferson Davis was the most perfect and most admirable man since the days of Moses, all for the purpose of wearing a false mask to the enemy. They would betray our cause while hoodwinking the enemy; they would make a virtue a falsehood; they would destroy the independence of all published thoughts in this country. The author spits upon the criticisms of such creatures.”

Surely, Mr. Pollard, editor of the Richmond Examiner, “speaks out in meeting,” and we doubt not his criticisms are as wholesome for the rebels as free speech would be for the Federals-yet we do not find that he has been put in prison or his paper destroyed. We may conclude, therefore, that, if in nothing else, our federal government has kept up with the rebels in the matter of terrorism and the suppression of the right to free speech and jury trial with written charges presented and legal warrants issued.

•••••

The newspapers are bringing to mind the fact that, should Vicksburg be taken by General Grant, the case will be one of just retribution upon the first city that in this rebellion hurled hostile shot against the flag of the nation. Three months before the  attack on Fort Sumter, and four days after the secession of the State of Mississippi, on Jan. 9, 1861, (the first to follow South Carolina), a frantic crew of artillerists, calling themselves the Quitman Battery, planted their field pieces on the bluff at Vicksburg, and on Tuesday, the 13th, brought to the first river steamer, the A. O. Tyler—by the act establishing the blockade on the peaceful travel of the Mississippi, while yet every State bordering on the river, save Mississippi alone, was still in the Union.

•••••

A Boston merchant’s wife lately ran off with $2,200 and her husband’s book-keeper. The merchant has gone in pursuit. The rates of freight on baggage are such that probably he will, if success crowns his efforts, only bring back the cash. He would be foolish to do otherwise.

WEDNESDAY
JUNE 3, 1863
MASSACHUSETTS WEEKLY SPY

Naval Doings in North Carolina.

Flagship Minnesota, off Newport News, Va., May 27.—A report from lieutenant commander Flusser, dated May 6, gives information of recent naval operations in Albemarle Sound and its tributary streams, acting volunteer lieutenant French, who was sent with the Whitehall to cruise about the eastern end of the Sound, to break up the contraband trade there. Under date of the 15th inst., he reported that on the 26th ult. he captured a large two masted boat, without deck, containing some 500 pounds of tobacco, sailed and owned by a Mr. Sawner, of Edenton, who acknowledged himself a rebel. He was bound to Nag’s Head after goods. In the Alligator river he captured or destroyed several boats which were engaged in illicit traffic, and seized on shore, in different places, pork, bacon, leather, tobacco, bagging, lard, and tallow, belonging to persons directly engaged in supplying the rebels, as was proved. Their houses are said to be used as depots for rebel supplies.¹

The Valley City was sent up the Chowan river on the 4th inst. The commander reports the capture or destruction of several boats, and the dispersion of rebel pickets and capture of their arms. He ascended as far as the state line. On his return he sent acting ensign J. Cullatin on shore with an armed boat’s crew and burned the grist mill of J. B. Harr, which he learned from papers found on the premises was grinding corn for the rebel army. While proceeding down the river the rebels fired on the Valley City. Acting master Cullatin received a serious though not fatal wound through the groin by a rifle ball. The Valley City replied promptly with musketry, shell, grape and canister, and killed and wounded a number of rebels.

Commander Flusser reports that lately, when at Hartford, on Perquiman’s river, the rebels were gathering in provisions for their army at Suffolk. He landed at Hyman’s ferry, on the Roanoke river, with soldiers and sailors, and captured a cavalry picket of four men, with their arms, in which affair Mr. Benson of the Commodore Perry was severely but not dangerously wounded by a rifle ball through the right shoulder.

S. P. Lee, Acting Rear Admiral.

•••••

The Sources of the Nile.—The Boston Advertiser has intelligence from Egypt that Messrs. Speke and Grant have discovered the source of the White Nile in a large lake (which they have named Victoria), near the equator. This discovery solves the oldest of all geographical problems.

•••••

The Blockade.—Some idea of the magnitude of the undertaking of blockading the southern coast may be gathered from the facts furnished by Prof. Bache, superintendent of the coast survey, to rear admiral Davis, chief of the navigation bureau. This report shows that the line of coast guarded by our blockading fleet is three thousand five hundred and forty-nine miles long, without counting the indentations of harbors and ports. There are one hundred and eighty-nine openings in this coast, either rivers, bays, harbors, inlets, sounds or passes. No other nation ever did, nor unless in a war with this country, ever could have so vast an extent of coast to close against commerce with the world.

Puebla Taken by the French.

New York, June 1.—An extra of the Diario of the 26th, received per steamer Shell Drake, reports the arrival at Havana of the French war steamer Darien, from Vera Cruz, with important dispatches from Gen. Forey, announcing the occupation of Puebla by the forces under his command. The prisoners include Gen. Ortega, twenty three other generals, nine hundred minor officers, and seventeen thousand men. It appears that on the 16th Gen. Forey opened with heavy artillery on the fort Toli Mehuacan, and on the 17th a breach was effected. The French troops then moved to the assault, and after a desperate resistance entered the plaza, when Gen. Ortega surrendered unconditionally. On the 20th one division of the French army started for the city of Mexico.

Later Dispatches.

New York, June 1.—The following are additional particulars of Mexican news:

On the 8th Gen. Comonfort, who had received reinforcements, tried to attack in rear of the French forces, and Gen. Bazain’s division opposed him, which defeated its opponent completely. The battle took place near San Lorenzo, Comonfort losing 2500 men killed, wounded, and prisoners, seven or eight rifled cannon, and the greater part of his equipment and munitions of war. It appears that Comonfort’s attack had for its principal object to favor the entrance into Puebla of a large convoy of provisions and ammunition.

Gen. Forey had received in time part of the heavy artillery he expected, and already on the 16th, had mounted a battery opposite the fort of Toli Mehuacan, one of the most dreaded in Puebla. On the same day, the artillery began to fire, and by the 17th, a breach had been made. General Forey then commanded an assault to be made upon the fort, but resistance immediately ceased. Part of the French army entered the town and Ortega surrendered without conditions with all his forces, including all artillery and equipments. There would be left in Puebla only a necessary garrison to prevent its being molested by guerrillas, and the rest of the forces would immediately take up its march for the capital. The number of prisoners is already stated.

•••••

Miscellaneous.

A copperhead teacher in a public school at Syracuse has forbidden the children under his charge to sing national songs, and the democratic officials sustain him.

A Salt Lake letter in the Chicago Tribune says the grand jury for the United States district court adjourned without taking any action whatever in the matter of the arrest of Brigham Young for polygamy. The whole subject was entirely ignored, save as a matter of jest.

A will found at Port Royal recently by Union soldiers presents a fact not often set forth out of Dixie. The testator, John Cooper of Caroline county, Va., gives his property to his wife and daughter, but to do this he is obliged to emancipate his wife who was his slave, and thereby (according to aristocratic Virginia practice) legitimatize his bastard daughter, born of the aforesaid slave. Such is chivalry.

THURSDAY
JUNE 4, 1863
THE HARTFORD DAILY COURANT (CT)

Statements of a Southern Refugee.

At the present time all accounts of affairs in the interior of rebeldom are read by the northern people with great interest. Two travelers have just revealed their discovery of the sources of the Nile. Ordinarily the solution of the problem of centuries would have produced a commotion in all quarters of the land. But now we care incomparably more for the mysteries that gather around the streams of the South, than for the unlocking of the wonders of Egypt.

The Hilton Head correspondent of the New York Post gives an interesting statement from the mouth of a confederate captain who recently came into our lines on the Ogeechee river. With two privates and three Negroes he left Savannah May 14th. For three days the party were on the way between the city and the Ogeechee, suffering terribly from hunger and thirst. At length they succeeded in effecting an escape, and under shelter of the American flag once more breathed the air of liberty.

The refugee leader is an Irishman. He enlisted at Savannah in the early stages of the war, and by enterprise worked his way up to a captaincy. He first served under Floyd in Western Virginia. Rosecrans once had that rebel officer with 6,000 men in a trap and would have caught the entire lot, had Gen. Benham obeyed orders. During the past summer and autumn he fought under Stonewall Jackson. He speaks of the battle at Thoroughfare Gap, and of Sigel’s skillful generalship on that occasion. By the manœuvering of his troops and the disposition of his guns, he baffled the efforts of the rebels to break through, till the time arrived for the continuance of the retreat. After the battle of Antietam, he says the confederates were greatly demoralized, and became so discontented and insubordinate that the army could easily have been crushed.

His accounts of the failure of food at the South corroborate the numerous statements from other sources already published. For some time the army in Virginia has subsisted on quarter rations of bacon and flour. The existence of such an article as beef has become almost traditional. Luxuries like tea and coffee have almost wholly disappeared. Further South the scarcity is less pinching. Yet in Savannah flour sells for eighty dollars a barrel. Board for a laboring man is ten dollars per week. Georgia is nearly exhausted of meat and there is no young stock coming on to supply future necessities.

The railroad lines are rapidly wearing out. A governmental order has been promulgated prohibiting all trains from running faster than ten miles per hour. There is not a single establishment in the Southern States for the manufacture of railroad iron. Cars are becoming dilapidated and engines shabby and worthless. Every month the waste goes on without the possibility of repair. If the war continues much longer, the great source of Southern resistance—the power of rapid concentration at threatened points by means of the interior lines of communication—will fail.

Of the temper of the confederates he speaks fully. In Lee’s army the soldiers are tired of the war, and ready to welcome peace on any terms. Convinced of the impossibility of wearying out the North, they desire that the North may finish the war by conquering them. On the contrary, the people at home are still as determined as ever. While they make great abatements from their early pretensions, giving up Missouri, Kentucky and Maryland, and even speaking doubtfully of the retention of Virginia, they are resolved to prefer extermination to subjugation, and graves in the last ditch, to honest lives under the old flag.

Their notions of the peculiar institution are as sublimated as ever. In fact, the subject of slavery constitutes the burthen of Southern thought and the chief topic of Southern conversation. They believe in the divinity and perpetuity of the system, and are resolved in the adjustment of peace to compel the United States to sign a bond to return all fugitives. The colored soldiers who have dug trenches, built fortifications and fought battles for the Union, must all be sent back to servitude. This smacks of the habitual modesty of the rebels. ->

Under the changes of war, the rich are growing richer, and the poor poorer. Planters with products to sell have “heaps” of confederate paper, which is now at a discount of seven hundred per cent in Savannah. They take advantage of the necessities of the needy to buy up their Negroes, &c., which these are obliged to sell to procure the means of subsistence.

•••••

Latest from Vicksburg.

Lake Panden, on the Yazoo River, May 31.–Scouts report that Gen. Johnston is advancing. One army corps drew seven days rations and marched to meet him. At daylight yesterday, his advance was stated to be between the Yazoo and Big Black rivers, with the intention of retaking Haines’ Bluff, and breaking up communications by the Yazoo route. His force is estimated at from 15,000 to 35,000. Gen. Grant is confident of his ability to defeat him without raising the siege.

Memphis, June 5.—Advices from Grant’s army, to the 30th, have been received. The siege of Vicksburg is slowly progressing. The mortars are firing slowly day and night.

All the prisoners in the Vicksburg jail have been released and put across the river. They report that one of the mortar shells exploded in the jail and destroyed it.

•••••

The authorities at Washington appear to be perplexed at the movements of Lee’s rebel army, and fears are expressed that he intends another raid into Maryland. Instead of waiting for something to turn up or for Lee to get into Maryland, it seems to us very strange that Hooker’s army don’t move on Lee, and by so doing put a stop to his movements, whatever they may be.

•••••

The Crops at the South.–According to the Augusta (Ga.) Constitutionalist the talk about a large grain crop in the South is not true. The report has been got up by speculators for their own advantage. They have purchased the crops from the farmers at a low price, with the view of selling at famine rates, as it is the fact that the whole crop will not furnish nine months’ supply. Farmers, the Constitutionalist says, will be humbugged, speculators enriched, and government and people forced to pay the old high prices or perhaps more.

•••••

The Monitors.–The editor of the Scientific American, who has examined the monitor Passaic, now undergoing repairs at New York, says the trial to which she was subjected during the attack on Charleston proves that our iron-clads are impregnable, and that we may safely defy all the English iron-clads and their armaments. The Whitworth shot, or fac similes of them, in a majority of cases struck sideways; they reached the turret in all possible positions and show very poor shooting on the part of the rebels. There is no indentation on the Passaic deeper than a tea saucer, and she was the most injured of the attacking fleet except the Keokuk, which was not a monitor.

FRIDAY
JUNE 5, 1863
THE CALEDONIAN (VT)

THE CONTEST AT VICKSBURG.
The Battle Raging with Terrible Earnestness on Monday.
The Rebel Redoubts All Carried by Gen. Grant.

The Chicago Times has [a] special dispatch dated in the field, near Vicksburg, May 23d, (Saturday) 9 o’clock p.m., which says:

“There has been no fighting to-day. The troops are resting from yesterday’s assault. Our repulse was complete in all parts of the line. No discouragement need be entertained of our final success. We are entrenching ourselves and building rifle pits. Cavalry have been sent out towards Canton, to ascertain the whereabouts of Gen. Johnston’s forces. Our loss yesterday was not far from 1000.”

The Times also has the following dispatch, dated Memphis, May 27: The steamer City of Memphis, which left the vicinity of Vicksburg on Monday last (25th) arrived here today, and reports Gen. Grant as having captured every redoubt. At one place it was necessary, owing to the steepness of the hill, to scale it with ladders. Gen. Hovey led the assault. The rebels rolled their shells down the hill at the federals, which exploded amongst them, making fearful havoc. The fight was going on furiously, when the City of Memphis left. The federal losses are said to be very heavy.

RebelS Receiving Reinforcements.

Joe Johnston is rapidly receiving reinforcements in the vicinity of Jackson, with the intention of attacking Grant’s rear. He is reported to have said that if Vicksburg holds out 15 days, he will throw 100,000 troops into it, if it requires the relinquishment of every foot of territory in his department to effect it.

What Gen. Grant Thinks.

A Washington letter in the New York Commercial says: Although it has been contradicted, it is true that the president did receive a dispatch a day or two ago from Gen. Grant, in which he stated that he had intercepted a dispatch from the rebel secretary of war, not Jeff Davis, as published to Gen. Pemberton, stating that if he could hold out at Vicksburg 15 days longer, he could send him 100,000 men. Gen. Grant adds that this was impossible, for two reasons,—first, that Col. Grierson had so destroyed the railroads in Mississippi that that number of men could not be forwarded in time, and second, that Pemberton could not hold out 15 days. Gen. Grant was sanguine then.

The Fight Still Progressing Thursday the 28th.
The Rebels Closely Pressed on All Sides.

A special dispatch from headquarters in the field near Vicksburg, May 29th, says: But little has been effected in the last 36 hours. Over 100 pieces of field artillery and several siege and round shot and shell were poured on the enemy’s works yesterday. The mortar fleet took position at De Soto point and bombarded the city the entire day. On the right Gen. Sherman has pushed Steele’s division squarely to the foot of the parapets. Our men who lay in the ditch and on top of the parapet inside one of the parapet forts were unable to take it by storm, but determined not to retire. The Federals and rebel soldiers are not 25 feet apart, but they are powerless to inflict much harm. Each watches the other, and dozens of muskets are fired as soon as a soldier exposes himself above the works on either side.

Nearly the same condition exists in McPherson’s front. His sharpshooters prevent the working of the enemy’s pieces in one or two forts. A charge was made yesterday morning, the 28th, on one of them by Stephenson’s brigade, and repulsed. Two companies of one regiment got inside. A few got out again, but the most of them were captured. The forts are all filled with infantry. Our artillery has dismounted a few guns and damaged the works but they are still strong.->

Gen. McClernand was hard pressed on the left yesterday, the 28th, and sent for reinforcements. Quimby’s division went to his assistance at 4 p.m.

Our flag was planted at the foot of the earthworks on the outside of one of the rebel forts and kept there several hours, but the fort was not taken. McClernand’s loss is estimated at 1,000 killed and wounded yesterday. The fighting grows more desperate every day. Transports bring supplies within three miles of the right wing. Gen. Johnston is reported near the Big [Black] river, in our rear, with reinforcements for the besieged. Gen. Grant can detail men enough from his operations at Vicksburg to keep Johnston in check.

•••••

Capture of a Rebel Navy Yard.
Capture of a Rebel Ram and a Large Amount of Property.

Flagship Black Hawk, Mississippi Squadron,
near Vicksburg, May 25.

To Honorable Gideon Welles, Secretary of Navy.—Sir: I have the honor to inform you that the expedition under command of Lieutenant Commander Walker, after taking possession of the forts at Haines’ Bluff, was perfectly successful. Three powerful steamers and a ram were destroyed at Yazoo City. The ram was a monster, 310 feet long, 70 feet from beam to beam, and covered with four inch iron plates; also a fine navy yard, with machine shops of all kinds, saw mills, blacksmith shops, &c., were burned up. The property destroyed and captured amounted to over $2,000,000. Had the monster ram been finished, she would have given us some trouble. One battery was destroyed at Drury’s Bluff. Our loss on the expedition was 1 killed and 7 wounded.

David D. Porter,
Acting Rear Admiral,
Commanding Mississippi Squadron.

•••••

All Sorts of Items.

All Europe is not ignorant or inimical. Here is an item which will touch every Union heart, and warm t towards all Germany: Over 80 large packages of fine linen and lint, which had been contributed by the friends of the Union along the Rhine, for the benefit of our sick and wounded soldiers, arrived at New York by steamship from Hamburg a few days ago. Some of the packages were of the size of hogsheads, and all were made up of the best material. The linen was especially fine. Every package bore this inscription: “Rhenish Bavaria. For the wounded defenders of the United States.”

The New York Independent says: “Generals do not thrive under the drip of the capitol. At thirty-six hours’ distance from Washington, armies and generals succeed. At twenty hours’ they just hold their own; but within six hours’ the are as dead as a field of wheat under the shadow of a tree.”

Seventy-four manumitted Negroes, former slaves of secessionists from Missouri, were stopped a few days since, after they had crossed the Mississippi at Millersville, near Quincy, Ill., and robbed of all their arms and money they had, and then turned loose. The robbers were Illinois copperheads. The Negroes have since enlisted in the Massachusetts colored regiment.

SATURDAY
JUNE 6, 1863
THE SATURDAY EVENING GAZETTE (MA)

The Week’s War Story.

Col. Grierson’s cavalry made another raid from Baton Rouge, capturing and destroying a large rebel camp.

The English ships Nora and Chas. Hill, being in company on the 25th of March and bound for the West Indies, were captured and burnt by the Alabama. The crew was kept 21 days on board the privateer, landed at Fernando de Noronha, where they remained five days, half starved, and at last got to Pernambuco in a wretched condition. The skippers had taken every precaution to guard against the Alabama, and the attention of the British Government has been called to the subject.

A peace convention was held at Cooper Institute, New York, on Wednesday, at which the principal speaker was Fernando Wood. Peace and Vallandigham pervaded the resolutions passed.

Gen. Hunter addressed a letter to Jeff Davis, dated the 23d of April, stating that in retaliation for the order to execute such Negroes as might be captured in arms against the South, unless such order should be instantly revoked, he would at once cause the execution of every rebel officer and every rebel slaveholder in his possession. He has also issued an order drafting all the able bodied men not in the employ of the Government found in that department after the 15th inst. Gen. Hunter has since been relieved of the command of the Department of the South, to be succeeded by Gen. Gilmer. (Both items doubtful.)

There was a fight of nine hours on Port Hudson Plains, four miles in the rear of Port Hudson, on the 23d ult., Gen. Auger’s whole division being engaged. The rebels were thoroughly whipped, a large number killed and wounded, and a hundred captured. The Federal loss was 19 killed and 80 wounded. The 10th Mass. Regt. Was engaged and had 5 wounded, 49th Mass. 4 wounded, 48th Mass. 2 killed and 8 wounded.

One of the murderers of Capt. Dwight has been arrested and immediately shot.

The steamer Louisiana Belle, on her way from Brashear to Washington, La., was attacked by guerrillas. She had on board Co. B of the Mass. 4th, ten men of whom were wounded. The guerrillas were driven off after an hour and a half’s fighting.

Gen. Burnside prohibited the circulation of the New York World and Chicago Times in his Department. Federal troops took possession of the Chicago Times office on Tuesday night and left after giving notice of a permanent occupancy if any attempt was made to publish another paper. In the U. S. Court a motion by the counsel for the Times to defer an application for an injunction until notice of the application could be given to the military commander at Camp Douglas was granted. On Wednesday night, in obedience to a call, a large meeting assembled. Speeches were made counseling observance of the laws, but denouncing Gen. Burnside’s act. Resolutions requesting the disavowal of the order and its withdrawal passed the Illinois House of Representatives. By direction of the President, Gen. Burnside revoked his order on the 4th inst. On Friday the bill asking for an injunction was withdrawn, and the case was dismissed.

The editors of New York are to meet on the 8th inst., to consider the right of journalists to criticize the acts of those charged with the conduct of the Government.

The capture of ten blockade runners was reported at Washington on the 4th inst.

Col. Grierson has been appointed Brigadier General for his recent distinguished services.

From Vicksburg we learn that on the evening of the 20th ult., Gen. Pemberton asked for two and a half hours to bury his dead, which was granted. Up to the 29th, three assaults had been made on the rebel stronghold, in each of which the Federal troops were repulsed. The last was made by Gen. Sherman with 20,000 men, in which he lost [600?] killed and a large number wounded.

A dispatch from Gen. Auger, dated the 23d, stated that Gen. Grant had had a big victory over Johnston, capturing over 6000 prisoners and over sixty pieces of artillery. He had invested Vicksburg, carried the first two lines of the city defences, and his right rested on the Mississippi, from whence he received supplies.

The gunboat Cincinnati was sunk by the fire from the rebel batteries on the 25th, with a loss of 20 killed and wounded. It is believed, however, that she can be raised.

The cessation of hostilities on the 21st was to allow the women and children to leave the city.

It is said that the sick who remain in Vicksburg have excavated caves, and remain there night and day.

On the 30th Gen. Grant notified the Government that everything was progressing satisfactorily. Gens. McPherson and Sherman had pushed their artillery within 50 yards of the rebel works. Heavy reinforcements were arriving for Gen. Grant.

On the 1st inst., firing was was going on all day, and a conflagration was raging in the city.

The garrison at Franklin, Tenn., was attacked by 1200 cavalry on the 4th, and the Union forces driven back to their entrenchments, but they rallied and drove the enemy with heavy loss. The Federal forces at Trome, Tenn., were simultaneously attacked, but the rebels were driven back with a loss of 200.

It is thought that the draft in this State will be about 1300 men to a Congressional district.

•••••

Mélange.

Coal is selling from nine to nine and a half per ton. There is every indication that it will be much higher in the fall.

According to Mr. Appolonio’s report, six colored men in Boston have during the past year married white brides, but no white man has selected a colored woman for a wife.

Montreal is full of Southern “skedaddlers,” who with their wives and children occupy all the hotels and sing secesh songs from morning till night. A trip to Montreal was once quite delightful, but we advise all loyal people to permit the grass to grow in its streets.

The proprietors of a hall at Newton Corner recently permitted a performance of private theatricals for the benefit of the soldiers, but they refused to allow the company to repeat them, as they had discovered such entertainments were of an immoral tendency. Whew!

The first class hotels of Boston are to charge three dollars per day after Monday next, which is not an extravagant increase with beefsteak at twenty-five cents per pound. Such comforts as one finds at the Tremont and Revere Houses, in the shape of good attendance, excellent tables, and comfortable sleeping apartments are certainly worth this price, which has for some time been the tariff of hotels not half so good in New York and other places.

1 Eastern North Carolina served as the breadbasket of the Army of Northern Virginia throughout the war. The constant raids by the Union Navy, targeting such collection points as described in this article, seriously damaged Lee’s supply lines.