SUNDAY
JUNE 21, 1863
THE DAILY PICAYUNE (LA)

Letter from Antelope.¹

New York, June 11.

The telegraph managers are growling over the restrictions placed upon them in sending war news. The loss, I am told, from an observance of the restrictions is not infrequently from two hundred to three hundred dollars per day, and as there is no indemnification, the loss is total. At one time the company were ordered to send no war news at all, and for days we have been without advices from the war except such as were received through the mail, by some “reliable gentleman” just returned from headquarters, or by official messengers. The Press were naturally savage at such a curtailment of their most important columns, and they finally succeeded in obtaining a promise that they should receive dispatches, providing the censor would allow them to pass. What he allows to pass you can see by a perusal of our papers; but the bulk of the most important intelligence is received by mail or special messenger—and not infrequently by the arrival of the correspondent himself. Hooker’s repulse on the Rappahannock was received in this way—not a word was suffered to be sent by telegraph.

The standing orders of the telegraph companies in this city are that they shall send no news East, West or North that is not published in the New York papers. If a private citizen receives exclusively an important item of news, or, indeed, any item of war news, and he wishes to telegraph it to Boston, Albany or elsewhere, he cannot do so, for the reason that it has not been published. It is the same if he wishes to telegraph it to Europe, via Boston, Quebec or Halifax; it cannot be sent, because it has not been published. The special telegraphic correspondent’s occupation’s gone and his former enterprise and outlays to obtain exclusive information area at an end. What he can scrape together from the papers, he has the privilege of sending.

You will see the war hits the “Specials” about as hard as it does any other class, except where they can rush through by mail or in their own pockets, such information as may be acceptable to the journal which they represent.

Apropos of the Press, the meeting of Editors Monday afternoon, to take into consideration the rights and privileges of the press in the present crisis, was very respectably attended, though several of the most influential journals were not represented. Among these were the World, the Herald and the Times—nor was there any representative present from the Commercial Advertiser or the Evening Post. All the journal of the city, however, approved the movement excepting the Times.

Mr. Greeley presided at the meeting, and addresses were made by Mr. Brooks, of the Express, Prime, of the Journal of Commerce, and by others.

The resolutions adopted maintain firmly the right of the press to criticize freely and fearlessly the acts of the Administration and of its civil and military subordinates, and deny the right of any military officer to suppress or interfere with the circulation of journals published hundreds of miles away from the seat of war.->

Mr. Greeley was in favor of leaving it with the President to suppress what he might consider disloyal journals, but the meeting was of opinion that he had that right already, and there was no doubt he would exercise it.

During the debate some of the Baltimore journals came in for a slap. No names were mentioned, but they were declared disloyal, yet a jury of twelve men could not be obtained to convict the editors.

The meeting, though composed of fire and water, war and peace, was every way harmonious, and closed as pleasantly as if Stetson had treated all hands to a bottle of champagne apiece. Perhaps he did so.

Antelope.

•••••

Theatrical Gossip.

Mark Smith, who is well known in New Orleans, and who is a member of Wallack’s company, is making rapid progress in the4 completion of his arrangements for a summer season at the Winter Garden. In this enterprise he has the assistance of that successful young artist who a few months ago produced an enthusiasm at Niblo’s, and has since been equally successful in other parts of the country, Miss Emily Thorne. Their season will commence early in July, and of the earliest productions of the new company will be a burlesque upon one of the most popular and successful dramas of the past season. Miss Bateman sailed for England in the China, June 3. The New York theatrical critics are talking about the establishment of a Dramatic College—not a place for the education of actors in Latin, Greek or English (in which some of them are woefully deficient), but an actors’ home, a place for old, poor, passé, played-out players to live and be happy in. The French theatre in New York has closed its season. Nearly all of the actors in other theatres, excepting those who will do a summer business at the Winter Garden and at Niblo’s, have gone in to the country or are starring in other cities.

•••••

Scarcity of Labor.–The Detroit Press says that in some parts of Michigan the scarcity of laborers is severely felt. The war has effectually thinned out a large proportion of the laboring population, leaving many places so destitute of help that even women have been compelled to labor in the fields.

•••••

They have a qualification, it is intimated, in California, which they introduce into the marriage service. It is said that a reverend gentleman performing the service lately, remarked impressively, “Whom God joins together, let no man put asunder—except a qualified referee.”

MONDAY
JUNE 22, 1863
THE MACON DAILY TELEGRAPH (GA)

The Southern Army as Seen by an Englishman.
Correspondence of the London Standard.

Richmond, Va., April 3d.

The Southern army, compared with that of the North, is supposed in Europe to be physically inferior. That opinion, so far at least as it applies to the troops met along the route from Culpepper Court House to Richmond, is a mistake. Tall, straight, muscular, the Confederates are in general as fine a material for war as any men in the world. These Virginians particularly make magnificent soldiery. One of the most marked differences between the two armies is that between the men’s faces. The countenances of the rank and file on each side differ so much as to present a strong contrast. The stolid expression which one observes in faces at the military posts along the Baltimore and Ohio railway compares unpleasantly with the expression of the frank, genial, intelligent countenances in the ranks of the South. The distinction is to a very great extent one of class, but is referable partly to differences of race. The Celtic and Teutonic casts are not so pleasant to behold as that of the Anglo Saxon, and the Virginians, save so far only as they partake of a Huguenot mixture, are of almost purely the same stock as that of England.

The Virginians are British in their blood and in their habits. Their sympathies have always been strongly conservative and English. In the time of Cromwell they protested against the usurpation of the Parliament, in their declaration to support the Stuarts—the “Old Dominion.” A stove and a speaker’s chair presented by the home government to the House of Delegates of the British colony of Virginia are both now really unfit for use; but enshrined as they are by their origin in the affections of these people, motion after motion for their replacement by better ones has been persistently voted down.

Regular uniform the Confederate soldiery have not. A military cap with a crown protruding towards the front is the only piece of dress [by] which the infantry may generally be distinguished from the civilian, but even this is replaced in some instances by a slouched hat. A light gray is the color of the “regulation” pantaloons; but that garment is found to represent among the Southern soldiers as many varieties of shade as those of Joseph’s coat. Russet brown appears to be a favorite color, but one almost as much in vogue among the Confederate troops seems, by its blue tint, to have been selected—without, it may be presumed, the formality of consulting the authorities at Washington—from the wardrobe of the United States. The overcoats of the Southern army appear to have been contributed to an extent truly surprising by the clothing bureau of Mr. Lincoln.

The stores taken from the North by the Confederates must have reached an amount almost incredible. Negroes, men and boys in this city and through the country on the way here from the Potomac, wear coats, pantaloons, caps and sometimes whole suits, which they confess with more or less an exposure of their “ivories,” were took from de Yankees.” Your correspondent slept at the Culpepper hotel under a new blanket marked in large characters “U. S.,” and felt in the morning some misgivings as to whether or not he had incurred during his sleep some responsibility for a certain peccadillo of Stuart’s horse.

Irregular as the tints and shades of their dress are, the Confederate soldiers are clad comfortably. The men are all well shod. Their arms are of the very best description. So great a proportion of these has been contributed by the United States that the outcry raised in that country because John Bull has increased that contribution to even an extent comparatively small is conceived in a spirit of the veriest monopoly.

The cavalry of the North is held here in contempt. An old officer declares that a troop of the regular horse of the late “Union”—the men supplied from the North—having charged under his orders a party of Indians in Texas, was received with a sudden “whoop,” by which one-third of the whole was unhorsed. The Southerners are very fine horsemen; but the mounted soldier of the North or the South falls short of the European standard of cavalry. They very seldom use the sabre. The Northerners always fight dismounted, but the Southerners fight sometimes in the saddle. The Federal horses are in good working condition, but in consequence of the severe duties of picketing and scouting in the enemy’s country during the winter, may be said to be somewhat “poor.” ->

The Confederate horses, notwithstanding their lighter work, are not only thin, but are so much so as to be almost unfit for service. Forage in the Southern army is dealt out sparingly. Abundance of it may be obtained within the Confederacy, but with only a few railways open for the whole business of the country, the limit of supply at any point of aggregated consumption is fixed by the means available for its transportation. The activity of the Southern cavalry is, however, wonderful. “The Black Horse”—a troop now reaching about seventy, and made up of young Virginians of condition—has taken from the enemy since the commencement of the war an average of seven prisoners for each man of the troop.

The firing of the Confederate infantry opens by platoons. After the first round each man shoots when he sees proper, whether in or out of time with the man next him. The firing of the Northern army is bad—generally thrown high. Your correspondent’s remark that several of the bullet wounds received by soldiers here in the hand has been explained by the statement that these wounds have been received in advancing with the rifle elevated or in clearing away tree branches hanging from points above the line of vision.

Hooker is said to have a force of 120,000 ready to push forward; but when he does he will find himself face to face with an enemy which, though inferior to him in numbers, is equal in equipment, superior in physique and spirit. Lee’s command is made up of the flower of the soldiery of the South.

•••••

The Northern Panic.

Opinions are various about the extraordinary panic which seems just now to afflict Lincolndom. Some think it a genuine scare all round, and that Lee is actually threatening Pennsylvania in force, with a view to divert the concentration of the Yankee force from Mississippi, . . . and perhaps to make a telling blow upon one of the three great cities which are very nearly equidistant from Harrisburg and most accessible by that route. Others say that it is a mere raid after horses and cattle, and the Yankee authorities are putting it to good use to fill up their armies temporarily until they can permanently recruit by the operation of the conscription act. There is nothing in the Federal accounts worthy of the slightest credit, to show that this is a movement in force.

The story by the Philadelphia Inquirer that there are some two or three thousand cavalry in the neighborhood of Chambersburg and Gettysburg is probably the whole truth of the tale. The rest is the offspring of excitement and alarm, or is perhaps an ingenious artifice to entrap volunteers and the militia. It is aid they have already ordered out 200,000—which exactly fills up the vacuum of the retiring volunteers. Some features of the panic are manifestly too farcical to be genuine. The absurdity of ringing the night alarm bells in Brooklyn needs no explanation. It looks very much like part of a deliberately concerted scheme to create a sensation which might be turned to profitable account by the Lincolnites.

The cry of danger to Washington has been three times used to fill up the abolition ranks, and served that purpose effectually. But now as the war begins to drag heavily and the Washington string has been thrummed pretty often, it was a natural suggestion to change the tune and set up an alarm about a general invasion. From Harrisburg Gen. Lee could with almost equal convenience assail New York, Philadelphia or Baltimore. It is the gateway to all these three cities, and the glorious uncertainty existing as to the direction the invading Confederates might take, opened a very strong incentive to a general awakenment.

We think there is a good deal in this idea, but time will disclose the truth of the matter. On this side we are profoundly ignorant of the movements of our own army. Winchester is reported to have been captured on the 15th inst., but since that time nothing has been known or heard of any Confederate movements, except the statements of these panic-stricken Northern telegrams. Evidently the “hard fighting at Perryville,” on the 14th inst., has been made by Gen. Jenkins, and there is nothing in any of the Northern dispatches yet, except what is manifestly founded upon mere excitement and rumor, which would go to show that more than Jenkins’ little force is in Pennsylvania. The Yanks take invasion hardly. They are not used to it like the Southern people.

TUESDAY
JUNE 23, 1863
THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN (MA)

The Situation in Virginia.
Official Statement.

“For the purpose of contradicting all erroneous reports and giving quiet to the public mind,” the New York Times’ correspondent at Gen. Hooker’s headquarters is authorized to state as follows:

“There has been no engagement whatever up to this date, involving any portion of Gen. Hooker’s army except the cavalry. Cavalry skirmishes, fights and reconnoissances are taking place daily, with the advantage uniformly with our forces. Two hundred and fifty prisoners have arrived at headquarters, taken within the last three days. The alarm existing at the North during the past few days is utterly without cause. No enemy is on or near the old Bull Run battle-field, and the panic-stricken report of the appearance of Hill’s rebel force via Dumfries is equally false.” Perhaps these assertions and denials honestly cover the whole ground, but it is difficult to believe that the reports of the last two or three days have had no foundation in fact.

Position of the Enemy.

The same correspondent wrote on Saturday of the position of the rebel army, as understood at Hooker’s headquarters: “The location of the main body of the enemy will soon be a matter of certainty. Yesterday Gen. Buford pushed a strong reconnoissance toward Snicker’s Gap, reaching Philomont, four miles from the Gap, without finding the enemy in force. Without doubt the greater portion of Ewell’s corps is still around Winchester. Longstreet’s corps was in the Loudon valley on Thursday, and Col. Duffie reports that at Upperville it divided into two columns, and moved back, apparently, into the Shenandoah valley. This is confirmed by a few infantry prisoners, taken in the course of the last two days. Hill’s corps has not been positively heard from, but we are looking for it in the direction of Warrenton. There are no rebels, save a few Loudon county cavalry, in the Loudon valley, above Aldie, and the indications, noted in my last, that the enemy would probably attempt the crossing of the Potomac at Nolan’s Ford, are not so numerous as they were. In fact, Gen. Hooker’s present position is such that Lee will be foolhardy in the extreme if he attempts it. Of course he will not attempt it, with this large army on his flank and rear. So, if the prospect of Pennsylvania and Maryland invasion grows less and less, attribute it to the rapid marching and careful dispositions of Gen. Hooker and the army of the Potomac. The gaps in the Bull Run and Catoctia mountains, from Leesburg to Warrenton, are now carefully guarded by our forces, and no movement of the enemy can take place without early knowledge on our part. As yet, the prospect of invasion does not seem flattering to the enemy.”

The Invasion of Maryland.

A dispatch from Monocacy Station, Md., 21st, says that at 4 o’clock that afternoon Maj. Cole of the 1st Maryland cavalry made a gallant dash in to Frederick with 40 men, driving out the enemy, killing 20 and capturing 1. There was no loss on  ->

our side. Our cavalry passed through the city, and immediately after about 150 rebel cavalry re-occupied the place. The rebel cavalry entered Frederick yesterday afternoon about 5 o’clock. They dashed furiously through the town, capturing nine of our men on duty at the signal station and paroled the invalid soldiers, numbering about sixty, in the hospital. A number of horses were seized. The proprietor of the Dill house succeeded in escaping, but lost several horses. Secession flags were displayed at the Central hotel and some of the citizens collected there to welcome the rebels. The majority of the people evinced no pleasure at the visit. The women were exceedingly expressive in their demonstrations of disgust, and showered word of sympathy upon our prisoners as they passed through the streets. The party which entered the city did not number over twenty, and many of them were so intoxicated as to reel in their saddles. Pickets were stationed outside the town and no one was allowed to leave until about midnight, when the rebel cavalry all left, going towards Middletown.

•••••

The Enrollment and the Draft.–The enrollment of citizens liable to draft for the army is nearly complete. Vermont has finished hers; and all the New England states will be through in a few days. Some of the other states, especially on the border, where there have been cases of resistance and violence to the enrolling officers, will not be quite so prompt, but we presume the whole work will be complete by the middle of July at the latest. The order for the draft is the next thing in the program, and may soon be expected; though there is still some ground for hope that it may be avoided by such events as the fall of Vicksburg, that will relieve a large force for other service, and by a successful effort to induce generous volunteering, particularly among the short service troops now being mustered out. But the general expectation is that a draft for 300,000 men will soon be ordered. It would seem that it must be, if we have occasion for a great campaign next fall and winter, requiring as many troops as in the last season. A draft issued now would not furnish its results in the field before October: there is first the apportionment of quotas, next the ceremony of drawing, then the gathering of the unlucky ones, and the hearing and decision on the applications of such as demand exemptions, and the release also of those who prefer to pay their $300 each—under which operations the column of drafted men will dwindle away at least two-thirds, perhaps nearly altogether; then there must be another draft, and the same succeeding operations, all how many times repeated, it is difficult to say; and finally, when the men are really obtained, they are to be organized, officered, drilled, uniformed, gunned, and transported to the seat of war. It is a long and perplexing series of operations, even when attended with the good will and fair play of the people; but when, as it will be in many cases, surrounded with desertions and open resistance, it will prove a difficult and even dangerous work; and most certainly it should be avoided, if it can be consistently with the giving of the necessary strength to our armies. To that, everything should, must yield.

WEDNESDAY
JUNE 24, 1863
NEW HAMPSHIRE PATRIOT & STATE GAZETTE

The War.

There has never been a time since the commencement of the war when so little was known of the real situation of affairs as at present. As to the point of greatest interest, the vicinity of Washington, no one seems to know what has been going on for a week past, nor what is the present status. It is known that Gen. Lee’s army, said to number 90,000, is up in Northern Virginia—that some 15,000 attacked Gen. Milroy at Winchester, the very gate to Maryland and Pennsylvania, and that after a shamefully inefficient defence, he ran away with a small portion of his 7000 men, leaving to the enemy all his artillery, stores and baggage, including three entire batteries of field artillery and one battery of siege guns, about two hundred and eighty wagons, over twelve hundred horses and mules, all the commissary and quartermaster’s stores and ammunition of all kinds, over six thousand muskets and small arms without stint, the private baggage of the officers and men; and the way being thus open, large detachments of rebel cavalry rushed on to the Potomac both above and below Harper’s Ferry, scattering our forces wherever they met any; and crossing the river, spread themselves over Western Maryland and Southern Pennsylvania; ad for a week they have been roving up and down at will, occupying large towns, destroying railroads, bridges and all public property, and capturing horses and cattle, without any opposition. They hold both sides of the river from Leesburg up west as far as Cumberland, except Maryland Heights opposite Harper’s Ferry; they have occupied Frederick, Hagerstown and other places in Maryland, and Greencastle, Chambersburg, McConnellsburg and other towns in Pennsylvania. They have threatened Pittsburg and Harrisburg, and both the people and the authorities of Pennsylvania have had a terrible “scare,” and have made energetic efforts for the defence of those places. The number of rebels who have crossed the river is stated as high as 40,000, including infantry, cavalry and artillery.

The position of the main body of Lee’s army is not known, but it is supposed to be in the valley to the west of Washington. His design is not known, but it is conjectured that he intends to cross the river near Leesburg and attack Baltimore and cut the communication with Washington, and then assail Washington from that side. If this is his design, he will probably carry it out; for the “panic” at Washington is so great that Hooker’s army will probably be kept close to that place, and the people of Maryland and Pennsylvania be left to defend themselves. It is supposed that Hooker’s army is in front of Washington. Frequent skirmishes have taken place between scouting and reconnoitering parties, some of which have been heavy and severe, attended with considerable loss; and we have had positive reports that a great battle had been fought near Bull Run and that Hooker was defeated, but this is denied by Government authority—a fact which leads us to believe it is true. Troops have been called for from Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, New Jersey, Rhode Island and other States, and a large army has already been raised and sent to the defence of Maryland and Pennsylvania.->

In the meantime, in the absence of any information, the public min d has been filled with anxiety and apprehension—experience having taught them that the suppression of information is significant of disaster. Yet Government dispatches say all is well—just as they did when Banks was being driven by Jackson, with terrible slaughter and destruction, down the valley and through Winchester. They say there is no cause for alarm—just as they did during the horribly disastrous operations of Pope. They say the prospect is encouraging—just as they did when the army of the Potomac was being recklessly slaughtered at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.

From other points our information is quite as meagre and indefinite. Vicksburg holds out, but we are told that it must fall in a day or two—as we were told four weeks ago. Grant is digging his way in, and if he can protect his rear against Johnston he will accomplish his task in time. The same is true in regard to Port Hudson.

Burnside has not arrested a Democrat, or suppressed a newspaper, or issued an edict against free speech, during the past week!

•••••

Significant.–In response to the call of the President upon New York for militia to repel invasion, about 8000 men went from New York and Brooklyn in three days from the date of the call. This, says the N. Y. Herald, is doing pretty well for two counties in which, if a vote were taken to-morrow, there would be cast sixty thousand majority against the present administration. It shows how willingly our people offer their lives to defend their imperilled capital even when they have no respect for those who occupy it. Contrast this with Republican Philadelphia. The rebels were actually threatening that city, and there is a Loyal League in every Ward; yet it is stated that not a single member of that patriotic organization had volunteered up to the time mentioned.

•••••

“Burleigh,” the well known correspondent of the Boston Journal in New York, referring to the recent calls for volunteers in view of the rebel invasion, writes: “Should Mr. Lincoln issue an order like this, ‘Gen. George B.  McClellan is commanded to muster all the force that he can command and march at once to Harrisburg and assume the command of the forces for the repelling of the invasion,’ 50,000 would be ready to follow him in twelve hours. A call on the returned volunteers would be responded to by thousands. The men gathered in groups by dozens say they will go back at once if Gen. McClellan will lead them.” Other accounts corroborate this. But the malignant abolitionists who control the administration will heed no such wishes. They would sooner have our army defeated and see Pennsylvania laid waste by rebel invasion, than to owe victory to the hated McClellan. They will never consent to restore him to command until their own practical safety is imminently endangered—until they think Washington can be saved in no other way. Then the cowardly malignants would get down on their knees and crawl upon their bellies to him and implore him to save them again from merited destruction.

THURSDAY
JUNE 25, 1863
PORTLAND DAILY ADVERTISER (ME)

BY TELEGRAPH.
Advance on Harrisburg.

Harrisburg, June 24.—The operator at Shippensburg, which is 11 miles this side of Chambersburg, telegraphed at noon to-day, that the rebels were one mile from the town and advancing in this direction

•••••

From Harrisburg.
The Rebels in Strong Force Advancing on That Place.

Harrisburg, Pa., June 24.—This city has been in a high state of excitement all day. News from up the Valley show that the rebels are rapidly advancing in this direction in force. No troops would be likely to venture so far from their base of operations into an enemy’s country without a force sufficient to act on the offensive. So far no opposition has been made to their movements.

The rebels are now 12 miles from Carlisle, and still advancing. Gen. Knipe, commanding the force in the valley, will probably give them battle at that point. The rebels will no doubt appear in front of that town to-morrow. Our cavalry, who fall back as fast as the rebels advance, have been unable to discover any infantry yet, but there is no doubt that a strong force is in supporting distance.

A deserter belonging to the 44th Georgia regiment arrived here to-day. Sunday night his regiment was doing picket duty near Hagerstown, and on Monday forenoon fifty of them deserted and safely made their way to the mountains, where they remained all night. Yesterday afternoon they all started for Frederick City, hoping to make their way to Baltimore, with the exception of this man who came to Gettysburg. He states that Ewell’s whole corps of six brigades was at Hagerstown when he left. They number about 12,000. The last brigade left Williamsport Friday, arriving at Hagerstown the same day. Orders were issued Sunday for the corps to move.

New York, 24th.—Harrisburg dispatches to the Herald state that great alarm prevails there. The opinions of Gens. Franklin and Couch are that the rebels are now advancing with a serious intent upon Harrisburg. Every disposition is made to receive them and politicians are leaving.

•••••

Shippensburg Evacuated.

The Shippensburg operator has arrived at Newville. The rebels are said to have a supply train 3 miles long.

Judge Whitmore, whose farm the rebels occupied at Greencastle, counted 18 pieces of artillery, and estimates the rebel force at 30,000.

Later.—The Shippensburg operator has left Newville and is now 6 miles west of Carlisle, at Gleason’s Station. He states that the rebels halted 5 miles west of Carlisle.

The bridge at Scotland is again burned and the telegraph destroyed for miles.

Another dispatch states that the rebel force which was at Gettysburg has suddenly appeared near Carlisle. There has been no fighting yet.

A dispatch dated Gleason’s Station, five miles from Carlisle, says our forces evacuated Shippensburg at 1 o’clock. The enemy dashed into town and fired some volleys. No one was hurt. The rebels will be in Carlisle Thursday evening. Our cavalry is in front, about a mile from the rebels.

The rebel cavalry went into Fayetteville last evening. The rebels take all the hats, watches and money from persons, and plunder private property. The rebel pickets are reported at Leesburg to-day.

•••••

The Rebel Raid.

Baltimore, June 24.—Later and reliable advices from Frederick represent there are no rebels near there, and that the force in the valley beyond South Mountain have made no movement in this direction. There are no regiments east of Boonsboro’, which is four miles west of South Mountain. ->

Information at headquarters to-night goes to confirm previous accounts of a very heavy force being in the valley west of Boonsboro’. They were moving northward, but it is not ascertained whether they are taking the Chambersburg road or the road leading towards Gettysburg. The artillery accompanying the rebels is said to number 61 pieces.

Some of the students of St. James’ College, near Hagerstown, arrived here this afternoon. The accounts given by them agree as to the force being large, and as to the number of cannon. One student estimated the column at 8000 strong.

•••••

The Excitement in Pennsylvania.

McConnellsburg, Pa., June 24.—The excitement along the border remains unabated. Business is at a perfect stand still, being exposed constantly to excursions of rebel marauding bands.

Farmers are compelled to keep their horses concealed in the mountains, and the prospects of reaping the coming harvest are discouraging.

The rebels are overruling Franklin county.

Two rebel deserters from a North Carolina regiment, belonging to Ewell’s corps, came into our lines this morning and reported that the whole of that commander’s force are in Pennsylvania.

The rebels are in force at Mercersburg, and have driven in our pickets this side of the town. It is thought they will attempt to feel our strength this side of the mountain.

4:50 p.m.—The rebel infantry are reported coming up the mountain from Mercersburg in force—the roads are blockaded.

•••••

The Rebels Within 25 Miles of Harrisburg.

Harrisburg, Pa., June 24.—The rebels are within 25 miles of Harrisburg. The enemy’s columns halted at dusk about eight miles the other side of Carlisle, and went into camp.

The authorities are in communication with Greyson’s Station, two miles from the rebel pickets.

The result of to-morrow’s operations is looked forward to with much anxiety. Gen. Knipe may give the enemy battle at Carlisle, or he can fall back to the Susquehanna.

A battle will undoubtedly be fought or the place evacuated before to-morrow night. Gen. Couch has thrown a strong column in the neighborhood of Gettysburg on the enemy’s right flank. This, in connection with certain movements by the Army of the Potomac in their rear, will make it a dangerous experiment for them to attempt to hold the line of the Susquehanna.

•••••

From Vicksburg.

Washington, June 24.—Gen. Grant has telegraphed to Headquarters as follows:

Near Vicksburg, June 18, via Cairo, June 23.—Everything progresses well here. Johnston’s forces are at Yazoo City, Brownsville and Clinton.

Deserters come out daily. They all report rations short.

We scarcely lose a man now. The health and condition of the troops are most excellent.

Dispatches from Gen. Banks have been received at the War Department to the effect that on the 14th, having established his batteries within 350 yards of the rebel works at Port Hudson, after a vigorous cannonade, he summoned Gen. Gardner to surrender. On his refusal, an assault was made, and our forces gained positions within 50 to 100 yards of the enemy, which they held. Gen. Paine was severely wounded. Gen. Banks expressed himself confident of success.

FRIDAY
JUNE 26, 1863
THE CALEDONIAN (VT)

Our Quota and Its Use.

The Woodstock Standard remarking on the statement that the quota of this state under the draft would be 2,000 men says:

We have reason to believe that there is some foundation for this report regarding the quota of our state, which the governor has been informed by the proper authorities will be taken to fill up our regiments in the field instead of being created into new regiments. It will require, however, to fill up the old regiments to the maximum standard, over four thousand men. The number from which this two thousand is to be drafted is probably about fifteen thousand, as eighteen thousand of our forty-seven thousand militia are already in the service, and something less than one-half of the balance will be enrolled in the second class. This will take about one in seven.

The conscription act provides that the draft shall be made by congressional districts, or that each congressional district may be divided into six sub-districts. In this manner injustice is likely to be done to many towns in our state which have hitherto furnished more than their actual quotas. Take for instance the town of Rutland, which has exceeded its quota by eighty men. In making the draft, it must, with several neighboring towns, furnish one-sixth of the proper proportion of the six hundred and seventy-nine required of eh first congressional district, while it cannot if classed with other towns receive credit for the excess already furnished. The Adjutant General of our state has labored to effect a modification of this regulation, and also to have the certificates of disability granted by the state Medical Board taken as evidence or at least considered by the enrolling boards in determining exemptions, but he has failed in his endeavors.

•••••

We have but little reliable news from Virginia. The newspaper correspondents have been endeavoring to ascertain the whereabouts of Lee’s army. One dispatch puts it at or near Thoroughfare Gap, immediately in front of Bull Run; another says that he holds in force Snicker’s Gap, which is the upper one in the Blue Ridge range. But our cavalry have been through these gaps and no rebel cavalry was found there. This shows that the rebels are no nearer Washington than the Shenandoah valley. They had a large cavalry force at Middleburg under Stuart to prevent the Federal cavalry reconnoitering the central Blue Ridge gaps. Gen. Pleasanton has had three desperate battles with Stuart at Middleburg—one on Wednesday and another on Friday of last week and a third on Sunday last.

The National Intelligencer says that very late intelligence was received on Saturday evening last from Gen. Grant’s headquarters, warranting the anticipation that by Monday or Tuesday of next week, the reduction and capture of Vicksburg, so ably and bravely and perseveringly attacked, and so long and heroically defended, will have been accomplished; and this, by the skillful plans and considerate humanity of the distinguished commander of the Union army, without any great additional sacrifice of human life. The London Times has to admit that Gen. Grant’s campaign has been brilliant—it still doubts, however, the ultimate result.

The President on Arbitrary Arrests.

President Lincoln has replied to the resolutions of the Albany Democratic meeting, in a letter which will be read with general interest. It is full, candid, clear and conclusive. Unless they are entirely blinded by prejudice or controlled by party zeal, the democrats who addressed the President on this subject cannot fail to concede very great weight to the considerations which he presents in reply.

Mr. Lincoln vindicates the right and the duty of the Government, under the constitution, to make arbitrary arrests whenever and wherever, “in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.” He shows that this right is not limited by any military lines—it is not restricted to the camp or the field; it exists, and is to be exercised wherever the public safety may require it—and that is to be determined in the exercise of a sound judgment, and upon the official responsibility of those to whom that trust may be confided. He shows that in the case of Mr. Vallandigham, according to the best of his information and belief, the public safety did require his arrest, and that the action of the civil tribunals would not have been adequate to the emergency. At the same time the President leaves no room for doubt of his profound and unchangeable devotion to the great principles of freedom of speech and of personal liberty, and to the guarantees by which these rights are secured in the constitution. “I, too,” he says, “am devotedly for them after civil war, and before civil war, and at all times, except when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require their suppression.” But in these cases he regards public safety as by the express terms of the constitution, the supreme law.

The letter is highly creditable to the President’s ability, and will be accepted by the country at large as additional proof of the conscientious and single-hearted patriotism which he brings to the discharge of duties and responsibilities which are without a parallel for magnitude in the history of the country.—New York Times.

•••••

The rebel General Tilghman, who, according to Madam Rumor and the telegraph—the former about as reliable as the latter now-a-days—has been killed several times, and positively when Gen. Grant advanced upon Vicksburg, has been brought to life in a letter from his wife to his mother in Philadelphia. She says he was wounded but doing well.

•••••

In a Fix.–Brother Spaulding of the Newport [VT] News has been industriously laboring to convince men that they should go to the war, and has succeeded so well that his publisher and foreman have both enlisted, leaving him with a boy to get out the paper. After stating the facts, he says: “But what are we to do? Printers are as scarce as gold and silver coin. Every office in the country has furnished its quota, and we don’t know where to go for recruits. But if worse comes to worse, we intend to advertise the News for sale, take a musket once more, and follow the boys.”

SATURDAY
JUNE 27, 1863
THE HALLOWELL GAZETTE (ME)

The 54th (colored) Mass. Regiment.

We are indebted to the Rev. H. V. Emmons, of this city, now sojourning at Beaufort, S. C., for a copy of the Free South of the 6th inst., from which we learn of the arrival of the 54th Massachusetts regiment at that place. We copy the arrival announcement as follows:

“Beaufort bay was enlivened on Wednesday evening by the arrival of the propeller DeMolay, Capt. Samson, with the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts, Col. Shaw, on board. A telegram from Hilton Head had announced the approach, and several minutes before the vessel appeared in sight, detachments of the First Massachusetts Cavalry were seen dashing down Bay street, ladies in their best attire streamed out from the mansions along the bank of the river, white soldiers gathered in groups along the wharves, and the white population of this little city of Beaufort seemed all at once to have experienced a sensation more or less agreeable. Amid strains of martial music and songs and cheers, the vessel approached the wharf, and as the bystanders caught a glimpse of the officers and men, but one opinion found expression, and that was of satisfaction. The officers looked intelligent and the privates clean, good natured and in superb physical condition.

“The DeMolay left Boston on the 28th ult., had a pleasant passage, and not a single case of serious illness on board. The regiment is now encamped but a short distance from the city and are highly pleased with their location, the appearance of Beaufort, their reception by the officers in command of the regiments near them, and the prospect of being called into active service before many weeks shall have passed.”

•••••

Gen. Lee’s Strategy.–The Washington Republican says:

“It is now considered among the things quite certain that the recent small rebel movement into Maryland was intended by Gen. Lee as a feint to induce Gen. Hooker to throw his whole army into that state, thus uncovering Washington, so far as the army of the Potomac was concerned, and leaving Lee’s forces to contend only with the works around the capital.

“It will be remembered that when Lee entered Maryland before, our army left the front and moved through Washington and up into Maryland, where Lee was checked in his course and compelled to recross the Potomac. Tis time he did not move his whole army into Maryland, but halted the main body of it in front of Washington, on the west side of the Blue Ridge, controlling all the passes and gaps.

“He made a dash in force upon Winchester and carried that place, with terrible slaughter to his troops, pushed on to Martinsburg and captured that place, and then sent a small force into Maryland to produce consternation among the people of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the whole North. He intended this demonstration too divert the attention of Gen. Hooker away from his (Lee’s) real purpose, but Hooker was not so easily deceived. He kept an eye upon Le himself and not upon his raiders. Gen. Hooker knew very well that Gen. Schenck was strong enough to take care of all the rebels that had left Lee to go towards Pennsylvania.

“Finding that he had made a mistake, Lee is contracting his lines again, and drawing in his cavalry from Maryland and Pennsylvania, and concentrating his forces in the valley between Winchester and Strasburg; whereas a few days ago his army stretched over one hundred and fifty miles of territory. Viewing the present situation, we think another battle will be fought on the old Bull Run battlefield.”

Official Report of the
Capture of the Ram Atlanta.

Flagship Wabash,
Port Royal Harbor, South Carolina,
June 17th, 1863.

The Atlanta, Captain W. Webb, came down this morning, via Wilmington river, to attack our vessels at Warsaw Sound, accompanied by two wooden steamers filled, it is said, with persons as spectators.

The Weehawken, Captain John Rodgers, engaged her, firing in all five shots, three of which took effect, penetrating her armor and killing or wounding the crews of two guns.

The armament of the Atlanta was two 7-inch and tow 6-inch guns. She was but slightly injured.

Very respectfully you obd’t servant,

S. F. Du Pont,
Rear Admiral commanding blockading squadron.

P.S. The officers and crew of the Atlanta numbered 165 persons.

•••••

Washington, 23d.

Captain John Rodgers circumstantially relates the proceedings attending the capture of the Atlanta. On examination it was found that the enemy had been struck four times–first on the windward side by a 15-inch convex shot, which although fired at an angle of 50 degrees with her keel, broke in her armor and wood backing, strewing the deck with splinters, prostrating about 40 men by the concussion, and wounding several by broken pieces of armor and splinters. One man has died. The second shot, an 11-inch solid, struck the edge of the overhang knuckle, doing no damage except breaking a plate or two. The third shot, a 15-inch convex, struck the top of the pilot house, knocking it off, wounding two pilots and stunning the men at the wheel. The fourth shot, supposed to be an 11-inch, struck a port stopper in the center, breaking it in two and shattering it very much, driving many fragments in through the port.

There were on board at this time of her capture, as per muster rolls, 21 officers and 124 men, including 28 marines.

•••••

Col. Montgomery’s Raid.–The Free South publishes the particulars of the raid made by Col. Montgomery on the first inst., which has heretofore been noticed by telegraph, winding up the account in the following satisfactory manner:

“Having brought within his lines nearly eight hundred valuable slaves, having destroyed property to the amount of two millions, most of which belonged to notorious leaders in this rebellion, having demonstrated that Negro soldiers will follow and fight wherever a brave and bold man dares to lead them, and that the slave population of South Carolina are eager to embrace the opportunity to escape, Col. Montgomery returned to Beaufort early on the morning of the 3d inst, without the loss of a man.”

1 Very few articles at this time are credited to a specific writer; some carry only the initials of the reporter or writer. “Antelope” is the pen name of one of the serial writers for the Daily Picayune, which also printed letters from Europe penned by “Gamma.”