SUNDAY
AUGUST 7, 1864
THE DAILY TRUE DELTA (LA)

IMPORTANT FROM MOBILE.

Farragut Passes the Forts.

one of our monitors blown up by a torpedo.

SURRENDER OF THE REBEL RAM TENNESSEE.

buchanan loses a leg.

The following highly important and gratifying news has been sent us from Headquarters:

Headq’rs Military Division of West Mississippi,
New Orleans, La., Aug. 6, 1864.

The fleet under Admiral Farragut passed the forts at the entrance of Mobile bay at 8 o’clock on the morning of the 5th inst.

The monitor Tecumseh was blown up by a rebel torpedo. No other vessel was lost. The rebel ram Tennessee surrendered after an obstinate resistance. Admiral Buchanan lost a leg in the action, and is now a prisoner.

The land forces under Major Gen. Granger invested Fort Gaines, and with the light batteries opened upon the fort simultaneously with the passage of the forts by the fleet, taking the water batteries in reverse and silencing them.

Our losses are not reported.

•••••

STILL LATER FROM MOBILE.

Grant’s Pass Open.

blowing up of fort powell.

FARRAGUT IN GOOD SPIRITS.

no further loss.

The telegraph wires broke yesterday during the transmission of a dispatch addressed to Admiral Palmer. The author says that he passed through Grant’s Pass in a ship’s boat; that he witnessed the explosion of the magazine at Fort Powell, which had first been evacuated; that he spent two hours on board the Hartford, with Admiral Farragut, who was in good health and spirits, and that our loss in vessels was confined to the Tecumseh. It is very provoking to have the wires break at the moment when such happy news is coming over them.

•••••

THE VERY LATEST.

farragut’s dispatch to palmer.

OUR LOSS 240.

brilliant naval victory.

THE RAM SHOWS THE WHITE FLAG.

details of the battle.

Since the above was in type, Admiral Palmer has kindly read to us such portions of an official despatch and private letter from Admiral Farragut as he deems proper to make public. At an early hour on Friday, our fleet, lashed two and two, sailed into the Pass pouring in broadside after broadside of grape and canister–thus driving the gunners of the fort from their pieces and leaving our vessels exposed only to the fire of Forts Gaines and Powell, which were, of course, less effective on account of distance. At the same time, Gen. Granger’s land batteries enfiladed Gaines and caused the evacuation and blowing up of Powell. In passing the forts the Oneida received a shot which temporarily disabled her machinery, but she was safely towed through the fire by her consort. ->

Our monitor Tecumseh was one of the foremost. A torpedo exploding beneath her bottom, she sank almost instantaneously, carrying down all her officers, only ten of her crew escaping. She was commanded by Capt. Lewis Craven. Our loss on this vessel was about one hundred. The gunboats having passed the forts, and being out of their reach, were pursued by the formidable ram Tennessee and three iron-clad gunboats–the Selma, Gaines and Morgan. Our vessels immediately attacked the ram, and battered him so effectually that he surrendered in a few minutes by hanging out the white flag. Admiral Buchanan, the commander, lost a leg, and with all his crew, are prisoners in our hands. There were only three killed on the Tennessee. She was but slightly damaged, and it is probable that Farragut has her fit for action by this time. We also captured the Selma, of which Capt. Murphy was the commander. Lieut. Prentiss, of the Monongahela, lost both legs. He is a gallant officer, and has a young wife in this city. Capt. Malaney, of the Oneida, lost an arm. All the wounded will be sent to Pensacola. Our loss is two hundred and forty killed and wounded. The two remaining rebel gunboats fled under the guns of Fort Morgan for protection; one of them is aground, and the Admiral is confident that he can destroy them to-day. He has not the slightest doubt of his ability to reduce the forts. But their capture will not give us command of the city, which is extensively fortified at Dog river and elsewhere.

The Hartford, Farragut’s flag-ship, was heavily engaged, losing one officer, Higgenbottom, Secretary to the Fleet Captain, killed, together with 20 of her crew, and 26 wounded. All our vessels were wooden except three.

•••••

LATE SOUTHERN INTELLIGENCE.
from mobile papers of july 28.

The [Mobile Advertiser and] Register is hopeful of the result at Atlanta:

Croakers have ruled the news market for the past thirty-six hours and have held high carnival. They have started evil reports enough to spoil the digestion o half the nation. First they had it that Hood’s army was badly cut up in the late fight and, improving on this, a subsequent battle was improvised, in which the Confederate army was beaten at all points. These reports are all of home manufacture, sprung from the fears of gloomy minds or based upon stories of supposed travellers from the front. While we write there is nothing real to rest them upon. No such news has come over the wires. Our latest intelligence is from under Gen. Hood’s own signature. We take for granted that Gen. Hood is a gentleman, and would not deliberately lie in official bulletins. In that bulletin he tells his soldiers of a “brilliant success” they had won; he emphatically ignores the thought of retreating or being flanked. He says that they have proved by their valor that they could meet the flanking movements of the enemy by fighting, and that their safest place was nearest the foe. He had before told us of 2000 prisoners captured, 22 pieces of artillery, and 16 stands of colors, which, as he says, are the true criterion of victory. We prefer to rely hopefully upon what we know, than to imitate the example of those who love to torment themselves and others with the vague and imaginary fears of defeat and disaster. We advise our readers to follow our example.

MONDAY
AUGUST 8, 1864
THE DAILY RICHMOND EXAMINER (VA)

The enemy’s Press is divided upon a highly interesting question; for whereas the New York World, in giving the account of Grant’s disaster of eight days ago, says, “Thus terminates the summer campaign”–on the other hand, a correspondent of the Times says, perhaps more judiciously, “It is not improbable that the rebels will this summer make a movement in force across the Potomac, and that the main battle of the campaign may be fought on Northern soil.” According to this last theory the summer’s campaign, instead of being just finished, is only now fairly beginning. It can scarce be reasonably expected, indeed, that whenever the enemy chooses to say, “now here ends the campaign,” our troops should be immediately placed in winter quarters. To the ending of a campaign, as well as to the beginning of it, there go two parties, and it does not follow that the party which gave the signal for battle should therefore have power to give the signal for armistice. There has been heretofore, on our side, too much waiting upon our enemy’s next resolution; because on the failure of each summer’s campaign of the invaders, our people have been disposed to believe those invaders had got enough of it, and would never be able to raise another great army. According to the system adopted, perhaps at first from necessity upon our side, the enemy has always been allowed full leisure, whenever he wanted it, both to fill up and reorganize armies, and also to get up again the war excitement and inspire fresh hopes of conquest by means of false statements in the newspapers, lying sermons of preachers, and all kinds of machinery for acting on the passion, the cupidity, the intense craving of sensation, which constitute the strange temperament of that Yankee nation: the most mercurial nation, the most excitable, impressible, we had almost said poetical, but prefer the word melodramatic. A very little throws them into black despondency for a moment; still less into paroxysms of triumphal hope and self-admiration, wherein they imagine themselves to be fixing the regards of all mankind–the envy and despair of a jealous universe. Thus the most petty, partial and local successes can easily be dilated and expanded by gas as to countervail in their imaginations the most material and fatal disasters, and after a season of repose, spent in blarneying one another for their inconceivable bravery, and adoring themselves in the graven images of Frank Leslie’s wood cuts, they are ready for the next year’s campaign as high in hope and confidence as when they first flew to arms to replant the “Old Flag” on Sumter. This makes them a people truly difficult to deal with. Any nation, whose governing classes were instructed and intelligent, would have perceived two years ago that the task of subjugating the South was simply impossible.

It needed a half-educated community, with enormous self-conceit, to go on with so stupendous a crusade three years in the face of so many and so signal defeats. We might calculate on what a rational people would do; might conclude, for example, with certainty, that, after the enormous failure of Grant and his great mob–which they call an army–to take Richmond, or even to advance out of its trenches at high-water mark; after having, at the same time, wholly lost their Trans-Mississippi “conquests,” while they have no forces to hold Tennessee or even Kentucky; and, instead of Richmond being in danger, Richmond sends an army to threaten Washington–we might conclude safely that they would be only devising the wisest and least disgraceful way of retiring from an enterprise manifestly beyond their power. ->

But this conclusion would be quite unsafe with the peculiar people with whom we have to do; and it is the inapplicability to them of the usual laws of human action which makes them troublesome and dangerous. Even supposing the last of Grant’s men decamped from before Petersburg and gone home; even supposing the remnant of Sherman’s army on its weary way back to the Tennessee, with Forrest’s cavalry hanging fiercely on flank and rear; supposing, further, Kentucky up in arms to bar Sherman’s way to his own country, Missouri already in the hands of Price, and the summer’s campaign thus winding up; yet would it be extremely rash to abate one jot or tittle of our preparation at every point for another and more furious invasion next year.

There is but one way to end this stupid repetition of the same absurd but sanguinary performance. It is to allow our enemies no rest between the repetitions. It is to give them no leisure for rehearsals of their future triumphs in the newspapers and pulpits, and for striking tableaux of them in the illustrated periodicals. Now, now especially, when so many of their regiments are mustered out of service, so many “hundred days’ men” counting the hours until their days have expired, and while the new half-million draft is yet barren of soldiers–it is now that all the efforts of our military power should be used with an energy if possible superhuman. Confederate soldiers cannot afford to be fatigued or worn out this fall; neither will they be so, if the hope is but held out of campaigning in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Rich and bounteous are the vales of the Susquehanna and the Muskingum. From the bare, wasted fields of Orange county or Spotsylvania, it will be a noble exchange to camp among the orchards and yellow cornfields of Cumberland Valley, where, like Job, they could “wash their feet with butter.” The very gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim is better than the clusters of Manassa! Whether matters are already brought so far that the Confederate army shall be able this very year to occupy the enemy’s country in force, and take some of their principal cities, is a question to be decided by the Commanding Generals; the pear might not be ripe; the grapes of Ephraim may not yet be ready to drop into our mouths; but one thing may be affirmed with certainty–that until we are able to carry the war with a  vengeance into the Yankee country, we can never be sure that we see the last of their campaigns of invasion. The most trifling success, such as the destruction of our ironclad vessels at Mobile–or even some unhoped for escape from positive disaster, as the news that Sherman’s forces were safe back within the forts of Chattanooga–or that the far end of Grant’s army remained yet unexterminated, fighting it out on the same line, and still pretending to be threatening Richmond–would be quite enough to initiate again all the collapsed hopes of subjugation and universal possession of the South; and Lincoln might be re-elected on the old platform of “pegging away.” In short, the “Peace party” at the North needs help from us to enable them to get rid of the present regime and the war. The only rational and effectual aid we can render them will be carrying fire and sword into their cities and farms. If any one knows a more judicious method of assaulting assisting the Peace party for the pending Presidential campaign, let him divulge it.

TUESDAY
AUGUST 9, 1864
THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN (MA)

FROM GRANT’S ARMY.

The Explosion of the Rebel Mine.

col. steadman of connecticut killed.

The explosion of the rebel mine under one of our forts seems to have taken our men by surprise, but they immediately rallied, formed in line of battle and commenced a vigorous fire in the direction in which they supposed the rebels would advance. The rebels were startled by their warm reception and immediately withdrew with heavy loss. It is the opinion in  some quarters that the purpose of the rebels was not to blow up the fort in front of the 5th corps, but to damage a mine which they supposed was being dug in front of the 18th corps.

During the engagement, Brig. Gen. Steadman, commanding the 2d brigade, 2d division, 18th corps, was mortally wounded by a musket ball and since died. He was formerly colonel of the 11th Connecticut regiment and received the appointment of brigadier for his brave behavior in battle. His commission did not reach headquarters until after his death. His body has been embalmed and is to be sent to his friends in Connecticut.

Doleful Accounts from Deserters.

A party of fifty deserters started to come into our lines Saturday morning, when our gunners, not knowing their intention, opened fire, killing and wounding about twenty. Nine arrived at headquarters during the afternoon, some of them wounded. They represented the Confederacy in a bad way, on account of the state of affairs at Atlanta, and told how their army was frightened on the previous Saturday, when the mine sprung, all leaving their guns and running back some distance, fearing other explosions were going to occur along the line. But they soon regained confidence, and fell back into their former position in time to meet the attack, which they say was more than an hour and a half after the explosion. These men say the reason why soldiers do not exchange newspapers is they are ordered not to do so, but this would be of no effect if they could afford to buy them, the price being forty cents apiece, and they not having been paid off for a long time. There was very little firing on Saturday.

•••••

THE REBEL INVASION.

A Battle Expected in Maryland.

the rebels off for staunton.

WHERE THE BATTLE-GROUND WILL BE.

gen. wright’s movements.

The military authorities at Washington are reported as believing that a pitched battle will take place between the rebel invaders and our forces. Longstreet is expected to command the rebels. It was reported at Washington Saturday night that a battle had already taken place near the old battle-ground of Antietam, but the report was not confirmed. Some think that the battle-ground will be near Antietam or Gettysburg, but the general impression is that the battle will be fought near Middleton, 12 miles north of Frederick, Md. Gen. Hunter has been superseded in his command by Gen. Sheridan, and Gen. Couch is at Washington.

Gen. Wright’s command comprises the 6th and 19th corps, and since the 26th ult., they have been almost constantly on the march, shifting from point to point, and drawn up in battle time and again. On the 4th inst. they reached the vicinity of Buckeyestown, Md., where they encamped. Notwithstanding the severity of the service, the men are in excellent condition, and anxious to meet sufficient of the enemy to fight a telling battle. ->

pennsylvania troops at hagerstown.
what the rebels did there.

Col. Boyd of the 21st Pennsylvania regiment took possession of Hagerstown Sunday, and people there are rejoicing in the belief that the rebels are on their homeward way and will not return. But there is not enough known of their movements yet to authorize too great exultation.

When the rebels took possession of Hagerstown, they proceeded to institute a thorough search of the stores. As the merchants had not replenished their stocks since the former visit, the rebels got but little, with the exception of a small quantity of shoes and hats. At the grocery stores they filled haversacks with sugar and canteens with molasses. At one or two stores they turned the molasses into the street. Seeing many citizens were frightened and anxious to get away, the rebels told them to remain, and they would not be molested. They did not keep their promise, however, and among other acts of robbery they compelled several gentlemen to take off their boots and hats and give them up. Jared Ford, a Washington printer, who was in Hagerstown at the time, had his hat taken from his head while standing on the street. Rebel sympathizers fared worse than Union men. Jonas Winters, a confectioner, who refused to open his store, had his doors broken in and most of his fixtures destroyed. Rev. Dobney Ball, at one time pastor of the Wesleyan church at Washington, was with this marauding party, but did not take an active part in breaking open the stores, but looked on and countenanced the doings of the rebels, and no doubt shared the plunder. Some trains of cars reported burnt by the rebels when they entered Hagerstown were destroyed by our own troops to prevent them falling into the hands of the rebels, as the cars contained a valuable cargo of freight, including several thousand dollars’ worth of liquor. The rebels had a list of merchants who had goods hid away, furnished by prominent secessionists.

reports from baltimore.
maryland abandoned by the rebels.

The Baltimore American of Monday reports that the entire rebel force evacuated the Maryland side of the Potomac, Sunday, moving off in a great haste. Their rear guard crossed at Shepardstown, at 11 o’clock Sunday morning. The advance of the invaders crossed at Hancock about the same time. Previous to leaving they sent a cavalry force back to Hagerstown, who carried off four prominent Union citizens as hostages for the rebel citizens of that town arrested by order of Gen. Hunter.

what early has done.

The American also reports that Early was moving up the Shenandoah valley all last week, scouring the country for conscripts and grain, and making but slow progress. The movements of the rebels in Maryland are still regarded at Baltimore as merely feints to cover their operations in the valley, and the rebels are now regarded as moving off towards Staunton with long and richly laden trains.

The latest reports received at Baltimore Monday night from the Shenandoah Valley represent the rebel force south of Winchester. It is thought we shall have an engagement with them near that place.

WEDNESDAY
AUGUST 10, 1864
THE BOSTON HERALD

The Attack on Mobile.

The news that Farragut has passed the outer forts defending the entrance to mobile harbor, and was moving up to the city on Friday last, is very gratifying. The rebel ram Tennessee, which has been the bugbear of our blockading fleet off Mobile, is disposed of, as also other powerful vessels of the enemy. Farragut will be remembered as the daring naval commander who ran by the forts at New Orleans and captured that city nearly two years ago. Mobile is probably much better defended, but Farragut went into the harbor with a much more formidable fleet, including eight iron-clads, two of them two-turreted vessels carrying four guns each. The whole fleet is thirty-two ships, carrying two hundred and thirty-one guns, and some of these ships are the same as he had at New Orleans, the largest in the service. His guns are of the heaviest calibre, and much more effective than any in use at New Orleans. His means of offense, therefore, are much greater than in that engagement, in which he was so successful. Mobile is better defended in some respects than New Orleans. It has also a better harbor for manœuvering a fleet in than the channel of the Mississippi. The city lies thirty miles from the sea, at the head of the bay, and this bay will accommodate a fleet of a thousand ships. Vessels of eighteen feet water may float in this harbor. The defences consist of the two outer forts, Morgan and Gaines, built by the United States, strong, casemated structures, one, Fort Morgan, mounting 136 guns. The other has fifty guns. Other works in support of these have been constructed, and the channel is crossed by a row of piles, allowing only a narrow passage, commanded by rebel guns. Strong lines of entrenchments have been thrown up, encircling the city from Dog River around to the Alabama River, and no less than twelve large independent earthworks have been constructed in the rear of the line of entrenchments. On Point Pintos is a nine-gun battery commanding the line of entrenchment and one of the channels approaching the city. At Garrow’s Bend is a five-gun battery, also commanding the obstructions and the main ship channel for a distance of three miles. The remaining earthworks in the vicinity of the city are intended more particularly to repulse a landing of troops on the western shores or a land attack.

In the harbor the enemy had six vessels of war, but one of them has surrendered, one has been captured and another beached, leaving no formidable obstacle to Farragut’s approach to the city except the land batteries. A land force, it is said, under Gen. Granger, will co-operate so far as to hold the city if captured. The effect of this assault upon Mobile, if confirmed, will be to assist Sherman at Atlanta. He rebels can send no men to Hood from the defences at Mobile while that city is threatened. The capture of Mobile would compel Hood to beat a quick retreat from Atlanta, for a force could be put immediately upon his rear. But Farragut’s assault may be only a feint for Sherman’s benefit, as was the case when he made the raid into Alabama.

The Philadelphia Press truly says that “Farragut’s victory will rank among the most important of the war. Already our gallant armies have planted their standards on the soil of every State in the rebel Confederacy. The navy will then have good reason to proudly compare with the army its achievements, which have resulted in the capture of all but two of the ports through which rebellion derives its blockade-run supplies from foreign friends. ->

Then the whole rebel coast from Wilmington to Galveston will be in our possession, and the blockade will be confined to those two cities only, hermetically sealing them against all entrance. Farragut will be free to ascend the Alabama and Tombigbee, reducing Alabama’s capital, cutting Hood’s communication with the Confederacy, and confining him between two walls of fire–Sherman’s grand army on the one side, and our battle-scarred frigates and monitors on the other. The move is, indeed, of great importance. Let the whole nation pray for its success.

•••••

End of the Rebel Invasion.
PENNSYLVANIA CANNOT NOW BE INVADED.

New York, August 9.–The World’s Washington dispatch say the rebel movement on the Upper Potomac is a feint to cover the sending of reinforcements to Hood–supposed to be not less than 30,000 veterans–from Lee’s army. Much apprehension is felt in the matter.

The invasion panic has subsided. It is now believed that the rebels, on learning how large a force was in their front, gave up the idea of fighting, and retreated into Virginia. With the changes in commanders and the present disposition of our forces, it is impossible for the rebels to get into Pennsylvania without a battle with odds on our side. We have a heavy cavalry force on the Upper Potomac, and instead of a rebel invasion of Pennsylvania we are more likely to hear of a federal force marching down the Shenandoah Valley.

•••••

The English Light Draught Monitors are a failure–not that they will not float, which is the fault of our new class of light draught monitors, but their guns shake them to pieces. Neither have they an improvement like our monitors for working the guns in a confined space, and their guns cannot be brought to bear on any object not in the easiest possible position. These defects are graver than those of our best monitors. Their experiments, therefore, have not advanced them so far on the road of naval improvements as ours have us.

•••••

Arrest of a Massachusetts Recruiting Agent in Illinois.–A Cairo dispatch of the 5th inst. says: “An agent of Massachusetts for obtaining recruits from Southern Illinois has been brought to grief. Large numbers of Negroes have been sent down East from this city recently, and the attention of the authorities was called to this fact. On Monday they arrested the agent, with several recruits bound for Boston. The agent of New York, who had been busy among our Negroes, made himself scarce when his Yankee friend was gobbled.”

•••••

The receipts from internal revenue now average about $1,000,000 per day. The government receipts from all sources amount to about $2,000,000 per day.

THURSDAY
AUGUST 11, 1864
THE PITTSFIELD SUN (MA)

The War News.

Dispatches from the Army of the Potomac dated Saturday morning announce that the two armies still occupied their relative positions. There had been the usual picket firing on the centre of our line. A rebel battery on the north side of the James River, which very much annoyed our troops, was on Friday morning silenced by our gunboats after a lively engagement. On Friday evening the enemy attempted to explode a mine in front of the 5th corps, but as they got only their train dug to within forty yards of our works, they did not succeed in doing much damage.

It is reported that heavy firing was heard in the direction of Cumberland, Md., on Friday last. A deserter from the lines of the enemy states that the forces of Generals Johnson, McCausland and Jackson will be joined by the troops of Generals Early and Imboden, and after capturing Cumberland proceed direct to Pittsburgh and Wheeling. If they should succeed in this bold plan, they will march on Cincinnati and cross into Kentucky. The force of the Confederates is said to be between twenty-five and thirty thousand men.

A Baltimore dispatch dated Sunday evening states that a force of the enemy under Gen. Early has been reinforced by the troops under Gen. Longstreet, and that they had crossed the Potomac on Saturday, beyond Hancock, and were going in the direction of Wheeling, Va.

A dispatch from St. Louis gives details of the Indian troubles on the western frontier. It is reported that rebel emissaries incited the savages to commit these depredations. Cols. Price and Scott of the 11th and 15th Kansas militia, at the request of General Curtis, mustered five hundred men and succeeded in saving the frontier settlements from attack. The Indians are now scattering, a portion going south, and others in different directions. Gen. Curtis is vigorously pursuing the retreating foe.

All appears quiet both in front of Petersburg and on the Upper Potomac. At the former place there is little activity to be expected on the part of our forces, and on the Upper Potomac we have the assurance that the rebels have recrossed the river, and, it is said are now conveying their plunder from the Shenandoah valley into their depots at Staunton and Gordonsville. The invasion of Maryland is at an end for the present. It is not probable that even Early will dare invade either that State or Pennsylvania, now that there is an active general in the field who commands all the departments as does General Sheridan, and who has resolution enough to manœuvre his men to the discomfiture of the enemy. He has men enough in his command now to defeat any attempt on the part of the rebels to successfully invade Maryland with less than fifty thousand men. The Richmond papers acknowledge that General Joseph E. Johnston has been assigned to the command of the forces in Western Virginia. This is Johnston’s old fighting ground, and, if he has an army strong enough, he will doubtless remove the theatre of war to the Shenandoah valley at least, if he does not throw his columns into Maryland. It is suspected, however, that, instead of sending troops into Western Virginia, the rebels have reinforced Hood very heavily with a view to save Atlanta and overwhelm General Sherman. ->

Fears are entertained in military circles that such is the fact, and that General Sherman’s situation is far more critical than many are willing to acknowledge. With General Grant’s army within two days’ journey of Washington, and the body of troops that now defend the State of Maryland and the national capital situated where they are, the rebels will scarcely venture to make so hazardous an experiment as to invade Maryland and threaten Washington. It is more reasonable to suppose, therefore, that they will send all the men that can be spared to Hood.

The news from Mobile is cheering. A rebel official dispatch announces that Admiral Farragut has passed Fort Gaines; has had an engagement with the rebel fleet in Mobile bay; has captured two of the enemy’s vessels and made Admiral Buchanan a prisoner; has beached a third rebel gunboat, and was engaging Fort Powell, which is near Dog river bar. The only loss he is reported to have sustained is the sinking of the Tecumseh, a monitor, by Fort Morgan. The admiral doubtless has the co-operation of the troops which were sent him by General Canby, and we may expect, when we receive the Union accounts of the battle, to learn of even more decisive successes than the rebels acknowledge in their official report.

Gen. Sheridan makes an official announcement that Gen. Averill has defeated the enemy at Moorefield, Va., and captured 500 of his men and all of his artillery.

•••••

The Ascending Cost of the War.—The expense of carrying on the war (says the Albany Argus) is rapidly increasing with every day of its progress. During the first year of the struggle, the Government bought pork at ten and eleven dollars a barrel–it now pays forty-five dollars. The price of hay, of forage, of wagons and harness, of horses and mules, and in fact almost everything, has risen in the same proportion. If the war was expensive in the beginning, say three millions of dollars a day, what is it now, when these fabulous prices are paid? The depreciation of the currency and the consumption of able-bodied men in the war, are the cause of this wonderful increase of prices. As the increase goes on, doubtless our expenses are being swollen after the fashion of geometrical progression. How long can we go on with a war whose expenses, originally enormous, are thus being doubled and trebled?

•••••

Reclaiming his Own.—Gen. Johnston of the rebel army was a resident of Frederick, Maryland, before the war, and his house there was “confiscated” by the Government and sold to a “loyal” Yankee. When the Confederates took possession of Frederick during their recent “raid,” the Washington Union says Gen. Johnston went to his house, introduced himself to the new owner, and demanded the rent for fourteen months at the rate of $100 a month, giving him thirty minutes to pay it. The money was paid. Gen. J. then gave him two hours to remove his goods, which was done. Gen. J. then set fire to the house and it was soon totally destroyed.

FRIDAY
AUGUST 12, 1864
THE REPUBLICAN FARMER (CT)

Grant Reviewed.

A correspondent of a prominent N. Y. daily writes the following review of Grant’s campaign to the Chambersburg, Pa., Valley Spirit. We need offer no comment, as the article explains itself, and every one who has been with the Potomac army this summer will endorse it.

The way in which our brave soldiers have been sacrificed without any advantage accruing to our arms will fully warrant an important change in the army.

Who does not like to crow? Or swell like a pouter pigeon, or assume the Jove-like airs of the peacock?  I like to hear the people crow; it makes them feel good, and I experience extremely pleasurable sensations when I crow myself.

It is very interesting to read in the newspapers, detailed accounts of Union victories, whether they ever happen or not; in fact people are very anxious to have Union victories--they will read nothing else, and for the last three months, the public appetite has been gorged with its favorite food.  We have had a regular successions of brilliant victories, but strange to say, have won no battles.  Who in all the country will believe this?  Very few, and yet 'tis true.

I had been with the army of the Potomac, every moment, from the time it moved from Brandy Station on the fourth day of May last, on the trans-Rapidan campaign, until it crossed the James and invested Petersburg, and to take the position I occupied as a data I ought to know "whereof I speak."

Since General Grant took command of the Army of the Potomac there has been no victory won.  He has fought bravely and well, and the universal acclaim of all loyal people is due him; still he does not command a victorious army.

Ever since the war was inaugurated we have been anxious, not only to deceive ourselves, but to allow others to deceive us.  We have been deluded by rumors, exaggerations, and hyperboles, until we scarcely know whether our pedal extremities are towards the nadir or the zenith.

On the first day of May the fight commenced near the Yellow Tavern in the Wilderness--it was a terrible fight, and either side can enumerate its losses by the thousand.  The tide of battle fluctuated--neither could gain an advantage.  The enemy succeeded in breaking Sedgwick's line, (forming our right near the gold mine and mill) and we succeeded in driving him with our left near Todd's Tavern.  Thus the battle raged, but Grant eventually held his own and Lee ultimately held his own; and there we stood as we commenced, minus twenty thousand men and three Generals.

Finding it impossible to go through the enemy, Grant determined to go around him.  Accordingly Grant run Lee a foot race to Spotsylvania C. H. via Chancellorsville, for heavy stakes.

Lee's wind was too long and his bottom proved too sound for Grant, since he beat him by at least two lengths, and formed a line of battle at Piney Branch Church, some six miles this side of the Court House.  Twelve thousand wounded men were left in the enemy's hands for want of transportation, besides the large numbers known to be lying on the battle field, covered by the enemy's guns.

At Spotsylvania C. H.  came another severe "tug of war" which lasted seven days.  Still Johnny reb held his own, and so Grant, who was fully resolved to enter Richmond "on that line," was compelled to go around again.

Foot race from Spotsylvania C. H. to Hanover C. H. –distance sixty miles–beaten again. Lee takes a position on the south bank of the North Anna in an advance of us–another desperate tug of war, lasting several days.  Lee would not let us pass; so we had to go around him again.

Foot race for Richmond via Hanovertown on the Pamunkey.  Lee gets ahead again and stops us that Winston's Bridge, on the Chickahominy, and in that vicinity.  Grant had proven himself an artful dodger, since he had dodged himself with in twelve miles of Richmond. ->

Finding that Lee continued obstinate in regard to his passing over the Chickahominy, and that his army showed a deficit of seventy thousand, General Grant, with the froide politesse of a soldier and a gentleman went around him yet once again.  Accordingly another foot race was run for Mechanicsville.  Lee, anticipating the movement, threw obstructions in his path that came very near tripping him.  Again we have to record a succession of severe battles, and humiliating as it is to admit, it must be said that in neither of them were our armies victorious, for at Cold harbor the enemy stood his ground with a desperation nothing could excel.  Some idea of the fearful carnage can be obtained from the fact that the Second Army Corps lost ten thousand men in less than two hours, and an assault on a rebel salient.

Not being able to advance any further in that direction, Gen. Grant marched his army to the James River via Long Bridge, on the Chickahominy, from thence to Petersburg, where he is still engaged with Lee.  Whether he is arranging terms for another foot race, I am unable to state.

If no person can say that Grant is not a brave man and a fine strategist, but to give him the credit of winning one unequivocal victory in the present campaign is rather more than a we can conscientiously admit.  The prestige of victories elsewhere will not win battles in the Potomac army, and Lee fights a different kind of a battle than the half armed guerrilla bands of Tennessee.

The press has given Grant and Meade credit for any amount of battles this summer, and every editor in the country doubtless imagined that he was telling the public the truth.  Dispatches from the Army of the Potomac are not at all reliable, since the Provost-Marshal-General of the army reviews all the prominent papers, and places under arrest the correspondents who hint at the truth.

Witness Mr. Cropsey of the Philadelphia Inquirer; he merely iterated an opinion endorsed by the whole army, when he was arrested, and without even an informal trial, was "ungrammatically placarded" by Gen. Meade's order, and paraded about the Headquarters of the several Corps, to the great disgust of the corps commanders, be it is said to their honor.

Let every one who reads dispatches from the Army of the Potomac remember that their authors wrote them under the surveillance of the military authorities and deduce his conclusion accordingly.  War correspondents must cater for commanding generals, or leave the lines under arrest.–E Pluribus Onion.

•••••

News Summary.

Upwards of $250,000 have been deposited with the Massachusetts State Treasurer by individuals, and town and city authorities, for the procurement of volunteers in the insurgent States. About $20,000 of this amount have been furnished by persons desiring “representative recruits.”

There were 1,025 cabin and 14,509 steerage passengers landed at New York by the Commissioners of Emigration during the month of July. The passage ships were 19 steamers and 18 sailing vessels.

They have hung a contractor out in Indiana. He had contracted so much that it was thought advisable to stretch him a little.

The precise time when the people want a war to stop can always be ascertained. It is when they will not volunteer to carry it on. This is a polite hint to their servants in the administration of the government to stop hostilities and make peace. This hint our people long since gave to Mr. Lincoln. Why does he not heed it?

SATURDAY
AUGUST 13, 1864
THE NEWPORT MERCURY (RI)

The News from Mobile.—Richmond papers of the 6th print an official dispatch from Gen. Maury, announcing the fact that Admiral Farragut had begun his attack on Mobile. The dispatch says: “Seventeen of the enemy’s vessels (fourteen ships and three iron-clads) passed Fort Morgan this morning. The Tecumseh, a monitor, was sunk by Fort Morgan. The Tennessee surrendered after a desperate engagement with the enemy’s fleet. Admiral Buchanan lost a leg, and is a prisoner. The Selma was captured. The Gaines was beached near the hospital. The Morgan is safe, and will try to run up to-night. The enemy’s fleet has approached the city. A monitor has been engaging Fort Powell all day.” The departure of Admiral Farragut from the Mississippi a few weeks since, with a formidable armada and a co-operating force of troops, prepared us for this announcement from rebel sources, that active operations have commenced against Mobile. The impression has generally prevailed that this movement would partake more of the character of a demonstration, in order to distract Hood’s attention, than of a real attack; but the official dispatch from Maury indicates that Farragut has undertaken the work in dead earnest. Having passed the rebel forts, he was pushing straight for the city on the morning of the 5th.

The brave Farragut appears from the rebel accounts to have dashed through the main channel in the same fearless manner in which he passed the forts below New Orleans, and afterwards the Port Hudson batteries, and on Friday morning last had “approached the city.” An iron-clad was in the meanwhile detached to engage Fort Powell, situated on Dauphine Island, close to Grant’s Pass.

The enemy have relied almost entirely upon Forts Morgan and Gaines, with the co-operation of the rebel rams and iron-clads under Admiral Buchanan, for the defense of the city. But Farragut has successfully run the gantlet of the former, sunk and put to flight the latter, and now rides in Mobile Bay with seventeen ships-of-war. Like New Orleans, Mobile is a low, flat place, with no surrounding hills upon which to erect batteries, and if our fleet has been able to overcome the remaining obstructions stretched across the upper end of the bay, it must by this time have shared the same fate as the Crescent City.

Should Farragut accomplish no more than already announced, the co-operation afforded to Sherman will prove invaluable. An attack on Mobile is nothing more or less than opening a fire on Hood’s rear, and the alarm and dismay which must necessarily ensue will interfere very materially with his plans. During the last month, Mobile, in common with all the other points not immediately menaced, were stripped of their garrisons in order to stay the victorious march of Sherman. These must now be returned and Atlanta given up, or Mobile, Montgomery, Selma and other important places in Alabama and Mississippi be exposed to capture.

But we trust that, having made such an auspicious beginning, Farragut has already successfully accomplished the object of the expedition, and now holds the second commercial city in the South.

This accomplished, the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers will be open to us, and the States of Mississippi and Alabama thereby lopped off from the Confederacy.

The fearless Farragut has once more demonstrated that forts can be successfully pass by ships-of-war. Three times has he run the gantlet of the most formidable works, losing only one vessel on each occasion.¹ ->

Had he been placed in command at Charleston, Fort Sumter would long since have been floating the starry banner, the rebel rams in Davy Jones’ locker, and the hot bed of rebellion in our possession.

Additional intelligence which we receive through rebel sources from Mobile is of the most cheering character. Fort Powell, commanding Grant’s Pass, and mounting twelve heavy guns, has been blown up and abandoned by the enemy, and the flag of the free floats in triumph over Fort Gaines.

Some of the results achieved are: An armada comprising eleven ships of war, carrying fifty guns, blown into “one long port hole” or captured; two heavy fortresses, mounting fully sixty guns, commanding the approaches to Mobile, reduced; an admiral–the only one in the rebel navy–and over one thousand soldiers and sailors taken prisoners; a six months supply of food for an entire regiment obtained; a strong foothold from whence to operate against Fort Morgan and Mobile city, secured and, last but by no means least, a formidable diversion created in behalf of Sherman. This is certainly glory enough for one week.

•••••

Admiral Buchanan, who has lost his leg, his liberty and his ship, was among the older officers in service in the navy when the war broke out. He was in grave doubt whether to cast in his lot with the traitors or not. After his resignation had been accepted he sought to withdraw it, but was not allowed to do so. It will be remembered that he commanded the Merrimac in her famous encounter with the Monitor, and was then wounded. He has been for many months employed in preparing his fleet in the waters of Alabama, and had gathered a really formidable naval force. Profiting by all the experience the rebels have had in building iron-plated rams, he constructed the Tennessee, and made her, as was supposed, the swiftest and best iron-clad which has been built in the south. We know that the Tennessee was regarded by our officers off Mobile as a very ugly customer. But like the Arkansas, and the Louisiana, and the Vicksburg, and the Atlanta, and the Merrimac, and all the other floating monsters on which the rebels have expended their money, and time, and ingenuity, she has finished her career in the rebel service.

•••••

“The Man with the Glass Eye.”—It is stated that one of the deserters recently shot in the army, enlisted and was discharged or deserted twelve different times. He had lost one of his eyes, and falling into the hands of a substitute broker in Boston, the latter furnished him with a very neat glass eye, and enlisted him, and he was sent to the army. There he soon lost his eye again, or rather, removed it into his pocket and obtained his discharge. This process he several times repeated, and when unable to get his discharge, deserted. Unfortunately, thirteen proved an unlucky number for him, and, the trick being discovered, he was tried and sentenced to be shot.

¹ Farragut lost the Varuna at Head of Passes, the Mississippi at Port Hudson, and the Tecumseh at Mobile–the last more probably to a rebel submarine rather than by artillery fire or a mine.