SUNDAY
SEPTEMBER 11, 1864
THE DAILY PICAYUNE (LA)

The Fort Gaines Surrender.

We find in the Mobile Tribune of the 4th communication from one of the Fort Gaines prisoners in this city, who defends his commander, Col. Anderson–who he says fought with conspicuous gallantry at Shiloh–for his course. In getting out news we mutilated it very much, and can therefore give only a synopsis of what is left.

In answer to extracts from Mobile papers reflecting on the garrison, the writer says:

The first extract states that the surrender of Fort Gaines was a shameful affair, and in opposition to the orders of Gen. Page.  Both statements are untrue, and the paper which published them was doubtless misled by some ignorant or designing person. Col. Anderson's orders were to do the best he could, and in surrendering Fort Gaines he did it the best he could.  The fort was not in a condition to be defended.  After the fleet had passed into the Bay every one of the ditches could have been enfiladed, and the loss of life would have been fearful.  In one hour from the time that we surrendered we would have been exposed to the most terrific fire ever concentrated on one place from the front, from the rear and on both flanks.  The fort was a mere shell, and the protection afforded the men on the inside, even could one-half of them have crowded into the miserable excuse for a covering which it afforded, they would have been slaughtered like sheep.  The bomb proofs (so-called) were no protection, for a 10-inch shell would have gone through either of them, and the opening on both sides was perfectly exposed to the enemy's fire, so that shot or shell from either portion of the fleet would have gone into them, carrying death and destruction to the crowded occupants.  The casemates were, if anything, worse.  Our hospital was established in the one considered by all the safest, and selected on that account.  On the evening before we surrendered, one of the enemy's monitors came almost to the end of the wharf and fired upon us, and the very first shot she fired penetrated the casemate and killed two of our sick.  The magazines were no better, and had a single shell struck them, or either of them, the whole garrison would have been blown to kingdom come.  That there was the utmost danger of this, I have only to mention to convince you that the bastions where the magazines were protruded eight or ten feet above the sand banks of the glacis, and offered a fair and prominent mark to the guns of vessels so near us.  It is wonderful to me that they were not struck and penetrated by some of the enemy's shot.  Beside this, in the citadel of the fort were situated the officers' quarters, the commissary and quartermaster's storehouses, the guard house and several kitchens, all frail shells.  The commissary storehouse was filled with flour barrels, bacon and other combustible material, which would have burned like tender; and had the whole fleet opened upon us, as was their design, in less than half an hour there would have been a conflagration which would have forced the garrison to flee for their lives.  Remember, too, that, besides all this, there was not sufficient covering, frail and insufficient as it was, to protect one-half the command.  Fort Gaines was utterly untenable, and Col. Anderson would have been the criminal to have held out and caused such needless and useless loss of human life as must have ensued had he held on even two hours longer.  There was nothing we could have accomplished by holding out.  We could render Mobile no assistance; we could render Morgan no assistance; and we could have done no harm or injury to the enemy, for every gun we had that bore upon the fleet was dismounted, except the small smooth bore, at which they would have laughed in derision.->

Fort Gaines was utterly untenable.  Such has been the opinion of all competent engineers who have visited it. It is a well known fact that every chief engineer of the department, and the most of his assistants, as well as every commanding officer of the brigade (Col. Powell, Gen. Higgins, and gen. Page,) have pronounced the outer line of defenses untenable, and recommended their abandonment.  As for Fort Gaines, the gallant Gen. Gardner, who is himself a prisoner now, was sent by Gen. Bragg to occupy the place when he was a colonel, and instructed to put it in proper condition for defense.  He was instructed to ask for whatever he might deem necessary for such a purpose.  Upon his return to headquarters he asked for a steamboat.  The General, with much a surprise, asked him what he wanted with a steamboat. "To move my command from Fort Gaines to prevent its capture," was the prompt reply of the gallant Colonel.  The truth is, Fort Gaines was in a worst condition of the day it was surrendered than it was when Gen. Gardner inspected it.  Whose fault was this, sir?  Certainly not Col. Anderson's, for to my certain knowledge he has repeatedly called upon the engineer core to strengthen its defences, and they doubtless would have complied had they been in possession of the means, but their force was taken away from them, and left them powerless to do anything. Since Col. Anderson was in possession of Gaines, not a particle of work has been done there towards perfecting its defenses, and the only work attempted was the construction of a wharf, on which they were compelled to suspend work for the want of hands, and it is still incomplete. Col. A. has called time and again for additional and more effective guns for the fort, and even now has copies of communications to the authorities urging this point.  But, no; Fort Gaines was left in an indefensible condition, without the slightest expectation on the part of the authorities that a serious demonstration would be made against it--and the consequence is, it has fallen; and since the misfortune has occurred, the blame is thrust upon a brave and honorable man to screen from public view the culpable neglect of those higher in authority.  The command here at least know the truth, and should they ever get home, it will be made known to the people. While Forts Powell and Morgan were the fields of all the labor on the outer defences, Gaines was left to its fate.  With no covering for its garrison, no safety for its magazines, with nothing in or about it to screen its inmates from the iron hail of death which was showered upon it, the grog shop here thinks it should have been held to the last a brick.  Why, Fort Powell, which was infinitely stronger and commanded by as brave and gallant a gentleman as ever drew a sword, succumbed long before Gaines did, and was not subjected to half such an ordeal as was the latter.  The only difference is, that communication with the main land was not cut off, and Col., Williams saved his garrison, while we, unfortunately, were cut off and had to succumb to the fortunes of war.

A little reflection and investigation is all you want to convince you that Col. Anderson obeyed his orders to the letter by doing the best he could.

MONDAY
SEPTEMBER 12, 1864
THE CHARLESTON MERCURY (SC)

Fort Pillow Report and the Black Flag.

The Richmond Sentinel has put forth an excellent review of great length of the report of the Committee of the United States Congress appointed to investigate the Fort Pillow affair. The report is, of course, full of horrors and full of lies. The Sentinel concludes its article as follows:

We have yet to consider this matter, however, in its most discreditable light. Bad as it is it to thus trifle with the sacred obligations of truth, we do not begin to comprehend the wickedness of this Congressional publication until we contemplate the practical results it was designed to produce.  What those results were intended to be, subsequent events have very clearly developed.  A correspondence between Gen. Washburne, of the United States army, commanding at Memphis, and Gens. S. D. Lee and Forrest, now for the first time published, manifests very clearly the purpose for which all that clamor about Fort Pillow has been raised.

The Northern people have never understood the social institutions of the South.  They cannot be made to comprehend, though this war has taught some salutary lessons, the relation of which subsists among us between master and slave.  Their fancy has always been that we were slumbering above a volcano whose surging flames only needed an outlet to burst over our land with desolating fury.  They had been taught to believe that the slave population was always ready to revolt at the slightest indication of a reasonable prospect of success, and in such event our only hope was in the strong arm of the Federal Government.  It was this idea which occasioned such universal incredulity among them of our voluntary secession from the Union, and inspired this very Mr. B. F. Wade, of the congressional Sub-Committee, to assure the people of Brooklyn, the night before Mr. Lincoln's election, that the South could not be kicked into disunion.  In speculating upon the result of the war, it was universally agreed among them, at the outset, that if the occasion required, their triumph could at any time be secured by threatening an appeal to the Negro as their ally.  They claim before themselves an infinite deal of credit for refusing to ask such alliance at once.  As the war progressed and the prospect of its indefinite continuance began to be realized, they turned with eager hope to this resource to ensure its speedy close.

Mr. Lincoln issued his preliminary proclamation announcing that he would, at the expiration of about ninety days, offer the boon of freedom to the entire slave population–unless in the mean time we grounded our arms.  The threat, it was presumed, would be enough; but it failed.  Then came the proclamation; but it was brutum fulmen.¹  It declared the Negro a freeman and pledged what had practically been long conceded to him, the protection of the United States authorities, if he could affect his escape into their military lines, but offered no inducement to him to fight.  It rather elevated him up on a pedestal higher than the white man; for while the white man of the United States was liable to draft and compulsory service in the army–which was pledged to fight for his freedom–he himself enjoy immunity from military duty.  Nor did he manifest any disposition to render any voluntary service in the war upon his master.  He was abundantly content to enjoy his lazy liberty, and in few, if indeed in any instance, did the fugitive who had found a safe retreat in the camp of the enemy return with the assistance of that enemy to wreak vengeance for past wrongs, which his new associates taught him to believe had been visited upon him.  This fact, in itself a vindication triumphant as we could desire of the humanity of our dealings with this unfortunate race, staggered the faith of Abolitionism in its theory.  Something of compulsion was found to be necessary to enforce the effectual cooperation of the Negro.  Then came the idea of flattering his vanity by his elevation to the dignity of a Federal soldier.  At first it was an honor to be sought, a favor to be conceded; but soon, very soon, it became a service, a duty, and onerous duty, to be exacted under the influence of persuasion and threat, of money and force, of liquor and lying, they at last succeeded in enrolling in the ranks of their army an imposing number.  The next problem was to make and fight.  You may lead a horse to the river, but you cannot force and drink, and a similar difficulty seemed to have crossed the path of the Yankee.

While the Negro soldiers were few in number they were found useful to garrison far away points, where the presence of an enemy was little to be apprehended.  When they increased in number they were serviceable to some extent as a movable breastwork, impelled on the point of bayonets in the rear.  But as the number of white soldiers diminished, and the difficulty to supply the waste of war increased, some expedient to make the Negro more available was imperatively demanded.  It was easy enough, if he could be made efficient as a soldier, to enforce him or seduce him into the ranks.  No longer protected from oppression and fraud by the intelligence and influence of his master, he was an easy victim for the recruiting officer or the substitute agent.

The brilliant idea suggested itself.  The philosopher's stone was discovered!  It can been always said that a rat, if cornered, would fight–ergo, a Negro, if inspired with the idea that there was no hope of mercy in his submission, or escape in his flight, would make a fine soldier.  The only requisite, therefore, was to create this impression.  It must be made desperate by the idea that over him the black flag was always flying.  Teach him that no quarter has been shown to his color in the past, that none is to be hoped for in the future, paint before his imagination in vivid colors the horrors of some battle field, where men of his race, in vain hope of mercy, had grounded their arms or sought safety in flight, hand as his eyes open wide and his lips protrude in terror and amazement, let his ears drink in the recital of the scenes of faithlessness and bloodshed with which the infuriated Southerners illustrated that dark and bloody ground.->

Teach him his lesson well–let him hear the same story iterated and reiterated from all the whites around him. The Negro is almost as sensational as the Yankee–create a sensation. He has strong religious sensibilities and weal religious intelligence–instill into him, as a matter of religious obligation, the duty of avenging his slaughtered brethren.  He is very impressible by parade and ceremony–marshal in column, and impress a sacred oath to remember and be avenged. It will make him a useful soldier and a terrific scourge. The sentiment of desperation will occasion prodigies of valor on the field of battle. The sentiment of vengeance will occasion prodigies of crime in the undefended homesteads of the South. It matters not if age and infancy, if maid and matron, fall before his wrath–if female purity be made to pander to his lust. What of it? His victims will be among the mothers and wives, the sisters and daughters, the decrepit parents and the infant children of the rebel soldiery. It will be a fire in their rear, more terrible in its anticipations, more intolerable in its realization, than the fiercest blaze of battle in their front.

It may, it must, produce a frenzied feeling of hate between the races, tempting the whites of the South to lay heavier burdens and impose more cruel weights upon the slaves under their control, until they, too, shall be provoked to rise against their oppressors. And who shall say that this may not be the appointed means for the liberation of the slaves and the re-establishment of the Union, cleansed by a purification of fire from the sin of slavery.

Thus reasons abolitionism, and abolitionism reigns at Washington and in the Federal armies. Well it knows the precedent of San Domingo. It has paraded it in speech and song, in sermon and lecture, in the press and from the stump, until every minute detail of its infernal horrors are familiar as household words. Yet each and every of them all, it cherishes the hope, are in reserve for us and ours.

This is the now accepted theory for the development of the slumbering energies of the Negro, and these the practical results, for the furtherance of which this Congressional work of fraud ad falsehood has been undertaken.

We have already quoted from the Congressional report the evidence of General Hurlbut, to the effect that his Negro troops had sworn to give no quarter, and the endorsement of their action by himself and the committee. General Washburne, his successor, admits that he knew of this oath, and knowing of it, had twice sent them out without instructions to regard the rules of civilized war. He disclaims the responsibility of having instructed them to show no quarter; declares that he will, if assurances are not given that they will not, on capture, be remanded to the custody of the masters from whom they had escaped. Such assurances never will be given. He practically admits that their purpose, sworn in Memphis, was repeated on the march, and that they entered into the battle of Tishomingo Creek with that resolve. Had they succeeded, who can imagine the scenes of bold and death? But “man proposes and God disposes.”

Perhaps the intimation of Generals Lee and Forrest, that if such a policy is persisted in, it will be uniform on our part towards black and white, may arrest the progress of events. If not, we have done all that it becomes an honorable and Christian people to do to avert the fearful issue; and with a reliance unwavering in the protection of a just and beneficent Deity, we can only say let it come. As a matter of mere policy it has been always very questionable whether the black flag would not secure us our independence much more speedily and at much less cost of valuable life. It cannot be much worse for our people than the existing state of things. The disclosure of the fell purposes of the enemy, revealed in the progress of General Sturgess until checked by disastrous defeat, will abundantly reconcile our people to the stern necessity, if it be forced upon us.

•••••

Important to Salt Purchasers.–We are authentically informed that there are no less than twenty three salt manufacturers in Charleston and vicinity, within the conscript age, who are detailed to make salt on the special condition that they would sell the article to consumers at the works at nine dollars a bushel, or delivered at any of the railroad depots in good shipping order, at twelve dollars. Now, the question arises, with these twenty three salt boilers bound to these conditions, how is it that salt is to-day from twenty to twenty five dollars a bushel in our market? The question is easily solved, but we do not propose to do it just now. We would, however, say to our farmers, planters and country customers generally, that if they club together for any particular District, and appoint a responsible agent here, they can have their salt at the prices to which the salt boilers have bound themselves to supply consumers, else the boiler refusing to supply at these prices will not have his detail renewed. We may advert to this matter again, and furnish the names of the salt boilers so detailed.

TUESDAY
SEPTEMBER 13, 1864
THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN (MA)

General News Summary.

According to confederate interpretation, “C.S.” means “Cousin Sal,” as “U.S.” stands for “Uncle Sam.”

The rebel prisoners at Elmira, N. Y., cheered lustily when they heard that McClellan had been nominated at Chicago.

Hundreds of females in men’s’ attire are working in the British coal mines, and the morals of both sexes suffer in consequence.

A retired sportsman in Paris has opened a store for the sale of dead game to the French cockneys who go out to shoot but can hit nothing.

The superintendent of the New York home for street boys took forty-five of the boys that have been cared for there to Minnesota last week to secure them homes among the farmers there.

Philip Tiernan of Cincinnati and Dudley Kavanagh of New York, the famous billiard players, will play for the champion cue of the United States and $1000 at New York on the 15th. No betting will be allowed, and ladies are expected to attend.

A substitute at Lockport, N. Y., was shot dead by the guard the other day, while attempting to pass without permission. He made several attempts to apply chloroform to the guard’s face but failed, and then tried to rush out and was shot.

A very ingenious attempt was lately made to blow up a government warehouse at St. Louis, which contained $1,000,000 worth of government property, but the watchman heard the explosion, and the flames were soon extinguished. The machine was a common valise, in the bottom of which was a marine clock. There were no hands on the clock, but an iron lever was ingeniously fixed on instead of hands, and tied to this was a thread attached to the hair-spring of a gun-lock, this communicating with a fuse or secured train of powder, the latter connecting with two bottles, one of powder, and the other containing turpentine. The thread was made of sufficient length to permit the clock to run to a fixed hour, when the gradual turning of the lever, moved by the running of the clock, pulled the trigger and fired the lock, which burst the cap that set off the fuse, that exploded the powder, that fired the turpentine and scattered conflagration around generally.

A letter from Nebraska, describing the Indian war, says: “At Pawnee Ranch, seventeen men and one woman and child were slaughtered, and many houses were burned. It looked more like the work of guerrillas than that of Indians. The chief of the band was killed. Joseph Marcum, a brave fellow,, was at Liberty Farms, just in from Idaho; he saw buildings burning, and went out to scout. The Sioux, some forty in number, saw him, and sent out three of their party to cut him off. When he saw them they were close upon him. He ran the gantlet, discharging his revolver, and lying on the side of his horse when they fired at him. His arm was exposed by holding on to the horn of his saddle, and he received a rifle ball through it above his elbow, but escaped. The Indian who shot him was killed. One man was pierced with thirty arrows while at work in his field.”

Though deserters from the rebel armies will not be received into our armies as substitutes, it is understood that another regiment is being organized from this material for post and guard duty in the West.

By order of the secretary of war, all sick and wounded soldiers will be discharged upon the expiration of their terms of service, but will be entitled to medical treatment in hospitals and the usual rations so long as it may be considered proper for them to remain under hospital treatment.

•••••

The personal popularity of Gen. McClellan with the soldiers–the chief inducement which led the democrats, months ago, to fix upon him as their “coming man”–is likely to avail them very little in the end. McClellan was unquestionably popular with the old army of the Potomac which he commanded; but comparatively few of that army now remain, and with the majority has gone the vaunted “devotion for the hero of Antietam.” The whole course of the party, especially their persistent opposition to soldiers’ voting, has taught the soldiers that the democrats as a mass are not overly friendly to them, notwithstanding their mawkish assertion to the contrary in the Chicago platform. There is no doubt that an immense majority of the soldiers’ votes cast at the presidential election, as well as the large number of others which they will influence, will be given for Mr. Lincoln.

•••••

It was stated, some days ago, that a commissioner from Georgia had arrived at Washington to negotiate for the return of that state to the Union. We have reason to believe that there is truth in the report, and that the commissioner is authorized to speak for Gov. Brown, Vice President Stephens and Mr. Toombs, and that they propose to bring Georgia back into the Union on the basis of gradual emancipation. Georgia has always been uneasy and complaining under confederate rule; she is now just beginning to feel the cost of the war, and to dread still greater immediate cost, for her planters are rich in accumulated stores of cotton, which are exposed to seizure by our troops. Besides, she can now secede from the confederacy and return to the Union without danger, Gen. Sherman with his hundred thousand and more Union soldiers standing ready to defend her in the rightful exercise of her “state sovereignty.” How soon we shall see so auspicious an event it is impossible to tell, but it must come at no distant day.

•••••

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WEDNESDAY
SEPTEMBER 14, 1864
THE HARTFORD DAILY COURANT (CT)

From the 10th Connecticut.

Picket Trenches before Petersburg, Va.
September 8th, 1864.

Dear Courant–My last letter to you from the regiment was written on the field after the battle of White’s Tavern, on the north bank of the James. We had then been three days fighting and marching, and had other hard work in immediate anticipation.

On Thursday, the 18th ult., the day after my letter to you, we were attacked in our strong position, and had the satisfaction of seeing the enemy commit the folly of assaulting earthworks and retire defeated. Our boys really enjoyed the fight. They had been so often called to attack the rebels in their chosen position, that they found a deal of satisfaction in awaiting and repelling an assault in a secure entrenchment. Three men of our regiment, privates Ringrose, Lloyd and Barrett, of Co. I, were slightly wounded, but not by the rebels. One of our own batteries in the rea threw its shell directly into our line–as had often been the case before–and injured these men, besides killing and wounding a number in regiments near us.

During the night following this engagement, our entire army withdrew from its advanced position, arrangements having been already made for that purpose. As usual, the Tenth Connecticut was the last regiment to leave the works, covering the rear of two army corps, and establishing a new picket line when another halt was made. Once more–on the night of Saturday, the 20th ult.–the army withdrew to a new position, and once more the Tenth Connecticut covered the rear. Both corps recrossed the James. When all had passed over but our hard-worked regiment, our pickets were drawn in, in the gray of the early Sabbath morning, and then we also retired over the pontoon bridge, which was removed so soon as we had crossed it. Passing down Jones’ Neck to beyond Four Mile Creek, we again crossed the river on the pontoon which led to General Foster’s entrenched position, and were once more in the camp we had left the week before.

It was with a pleasant home feeling that we re-entered our old tents, and even the accustomed picket and fatigue work seemed like rest or recreation to our jaded, over-fought solders, after their toilsome and bloody seven days campaign abroad. The very Johnnies at our front showed familiar faces and were almost as comrades instead of foes. They apparently had much the same feeling toward our boys. They greeted them cordially across the lines, giving them welcome back to the often contested ground. “We’s glad you’uns is back agin,” they said. “Now things will go reg’lar. Them tother fellers,” (the colored troops who had occupied in our absence,) “shoot all the time. When you’uns fight you fight, and when you don’t you don’t.”

Our home feeling was not of long continuance. On Wednesday, the 24th ult., we received orders for a  change of camp. On the evening of the 26th we commenced our march, crossed the James, passed over the entire Bermuda Hundred front to the Appomattox, over the pontoon there, and up to the Petersburg line. On Saturday, the 27th, we found ourselves under the artillery fire of the enemy at the right of the entrance to the famous mine. The Morris Island experience of our regiment gave confidence to the boys, so that they had little anxiety as to the flying shot or bursting shell. Private John Fitch, of Co. H, acting orderly for our brigade commander, was struck and severely wounded by a fragment of a shell while standing by Colonels Plaisted and Otis, they narrowly escaping injury.

On Sabbath evening, 28th ult., we were again moved, marched during the entire night, and having a place assigned us at daylight in the advanced trenches, with a portion of our regiment in the picket pits at the left of Cemetery Hill, where is the crater of the exploded battery. This position we occupied for two days. We were frequently shelled, and the enemy’s musketry fire at the right of our line was almost incessant day and night, yet we had but one man injured in all the time, and he not severely wounded. Our boys were soon on very sociable terms with the Johnnies. Papers were exchanged, and so were various articles of rations. Some deserters came in and gave themselves up. So far as we were concerned, all of would gladly have remained in the trenches without asking to go to the rear during the remainder of the campaign. But on Wednesday, the 31st ult., we were relieved by the 11th Maine, and retired a half mile or so to a new camping ground.

We found our place at the rear more dangerous than that at the front. We were within shelling range of the enemy’s batteries, and the bullets of sharpshooters along their front passed through or struck in our camp with annoying frequency. One of our men was wounded before we had our tents pitched. At night two more were bit while quietly asleep. Yet two others were wounded on the day following, several of these receiving severe injuries. On Friday we were again off to the trenches for a three days’ tour. There, as before, we deemed ourselves comparatively safe, and dreaded a return to the rear. On Monday morning we were once more in our tents. On Tuesday one of our men was killed while on fatigue work not far from camp. And thus we live or die at Petersburg.

The rule now is, one day on picket, two days in the trenches, one day in camp, one day on fatigue. This gives us one day in five for rest, but that in a place of considerable peril. It is not pleasant to feel never safe. Bullets are whistling past us during most of the time. Rebel shells explode above us or tear up the ground in our camp on their bounding way at any time when the enemy chooses to open fire. When we lie down at night it is with the understanding that we may be shot before we rise. Passing from one tent to another at any hour of daylight is a move of danger. We expect some to be killed or wounded in our camp, or in camps nearest us, with each passing day, and we are aware that our turn ma come next. Ye our camp is not a gloomy place. Our men do not growl. They are not discouraged. They are by no means disposed to seek peace unless by the rebel abandonment of rebellion. They wish the war was fairly over. They wish their Connecticut fellows would come to help fight it through. But in any event they trust in God and do their duty regardless of consequences.

•••••

Recognition of Rebeldom if McClellan is Elected.

We have it from a reliable source that arrangements have already been made between Belmont, on the part of McClellan, the “young Napoleon,” and the Rothschilds, on the part of Napoleon III of France, that in the event if the election of McClellan, a “cessation of hostilities” will take place and France will recognize the Confederacy, the argument being that the defeat of Mr. Lincoln would be a defeat of the war party of the country, and a declaration to the world that the South should be an independent nation. To this end the understanding is that Napoleon III, through the Rothschilds, will furnish the means to carry on the McClellan campaign.–Washington Republican.

THURSDAY
SEPTEMBER 15, 1864
THE PITTSFIELD SUN (MA)

Why Indians Respect Telegraphs.—Notwithstanding the Indian outbreak, the overland telegraph line, which runs right through the scene of trouble, remains uncut. A dispatch from Denver City, dated the 18th, alluding to this fact, infers from it that the Indians are not led by white men. The inference is correct, and will be borne out by all the facts of the case, we doubt not, when they become known. The first move of the rebels or other white man (if such they were) instigating the atrocities of the Indians or co-operating with them, would be to clip the telegraph wires. A single break in the line would throw the U. States troops off their scent, prevent their concentration and effective action, and give the savages a longer lease of pillage and murder. The Indians know that the telegraph “talks;” that it is the mysterious servitor of the white man; and they must be aware that it reports their numbers and deeds of blood to military posts hundreds of miles away, and that its voice is calling for swift punishment upon them. All this they must know, for the builders and superintendents of the line have always impressed upon the Indians the belief that the telegraph tells everything that is going on. The Indians do not touch the line, because they have a superstitious dread of its unknown power. The origin of their mingled reverence and fear of the telegraph is stated to us as follows, by a gentleman who knows the facts:

When Mr. Creighton was constructing the overland line, he met with no serious opposition from the Indians, though it was expected that at any moment they would wantonly cut the poles of tear down the wires. He determined to make a striking appeal to that superstitious element which makes up nine-tenths of the aboriginal character. When the line was completed between Forts Kearney and Laramie–about 500 miles apart–he contrived upon the same day to have the chief of the Arapahoes present at Fort Kearney Station, and the chief of the Sioux at Fort Laramie. These tribes were among the most powerful on the plains, and the chiefs well acquainted with each other, and on the best terms of friendship. An exchange of signals between the operators a the two stations showed that each had a chief at his elbow. R. Creighton who was at Fort Kearney, then asked the Arapaho chief if he would like to talk with his friend of the Sioux at ort Laramie. The Indian smiled grimly at the superintendent, taking the question as a joke. Finally the superintendent succeeded in convincing the chief that the proposition was a serious one, and that his Sioux ally was at that moment anxiously waiting to hear from him. Arapaho, after many doubts and misgivings, put a question. Sioux answered. The conversation, once begun, flew fast enough back and forth between these old companions in arms. Both the chiefs were awe-struck. Like true Indians, neither of them asked for an explanation of the wonder, but accepted in good faith the solemn statement of Mr. Creighton and the Fort Laramie operator, that the telegraph was the instrument of the Manitou, “the Great Spirit,” his organ of speech, his voice upon the earth. To wind up the demonstration, each chief was told that the other wished to see him at a point midway between the forts. The invitation was obeyed as if it had been a direct order from the Manitou. ->

The chiefs started off on horses furnished by the superintendent, and after a journey of 250 miles, met. Here they “compared notes,” and found there was no mistake about the “pow-wow” that they had held a week before, 500 miles apart. This clinched the impression that Mr. Creighton had sought to make. The marvellous story of the telegraph was soon told among all the tribes; and, from that time to this, posts and wires, stations, instruments, batteries and everything pertaining thereunto–but operators–were sacred in their eyes. Even the operators would be repeated, it is believed, if they stood on their dignity with the pole of a battery in each hand. Being but human, they run away. On their return, they always find Indians’ “trail” in and about the station, but everything undisturbed.

It is hoped that, in the progress of civilization, the Indians will not find out the secret of the telegraph. When they do, they will make sad havoc all along the overland route before they can be put down.–N. Y. Jour. of Com.

•••••

In Idaho nothing goes as a circulating medium but gold dust. Every man carries his little buckskin pouch, and, nomatter what his purchase is, he pays for it in the precious legal tender of the realm, which is weighed on scales kept for the purpose, whether the article bought be a cigar, a drink of whiskey or something of more utility or value.

•••••

The bathing at the English watering places is rather shocking to delicate tastes; but neither the Englishman or woman is at all squeamish. The only bathing dress of the female Bull is her chemise, and of the male the smallest of drawers. The London Times is trying to inveigle the bathers into the adoption of the French and American bathing costumes, but reforms are slow in Britain.

•••••

The Times thinks the Tammany Hall picture of Gen. McClellan appears “like the outline of an enraptured chip-munk.” We were not aware that the Presidential candidates were to be placed before the people on the merits of their personal appearance; but if that is to be an “issue,” the Lincoln party may as well give up the contest and save their money.–N. Y. World.

•••••

Sherman has taken Atlanta. Thank God. Now, if Lincoln will permit Grant to take Richmond, we will see that McClellan, the hero, moves down upon Washington. With Hood in the hands of Sherman, Lee and Davis in the hands of Grant, and the widow maker in the hands of McClellan as agent for the people, peace will soon smile on this Abolition-cursed land again. Nine cheers for Sherman; nine more for Little Mac, the second George!–La Crosse Democrat.

FRIDAY
SEPTEMBER 16, 1864
THE CALEDONIAN (VT)

Treatment of Prisoners.

Four representatives of the Union soldiers now prisoners of war to the rebels and concentrated at Anderson, Georgia, have just proceeded to Washington to state their condition to the Government, and see if some measures cannot be instituted for their speedy exchange. In their memorial, our soldiers state:

“Col. Hill, Provost Marshal General, Confederate States Army, at Atlanta, stated to one of the undersigned that there were thirty-five thousand prisoner at Andersonville, and by all accounts from the United States soldier who have been confined there, the number is not overstated by him. These thirty-five thousand are confined in a field of some thirty acres, enclosed by a board fence, heavily guarded. About one-third have various kinds of indifferent shelter, but upwards of thirty thousand are wholly without shelter, or even shade, of any kind, and are exposed to the storms and rains which are of daily occurrence; the cold dews of the night and the more terrible effects of the sun striking with almost tropical fierceness upon their unprotected heads. This mass of men jostle and crowd each other up and down the limits of their enclosure, in storm or sun, and others lie down upon the pitiless earth at night, with no other covering than the clothing upon their backs, few of them even having a blanket.

“Upon entering the prison every man is deliberately stripped of money and other property; and as no clothing or blankets are ever supplied to their prisoners by the rebel authorities, the condition of the apparel of the soldiers just from an active campaign can be easily imagined. Thousands are without pants or coats, and hundreds without even a little pair of drawers to cover their nakedness.

“To these men, as indeed to all prisoners, there is issued three-quarters of a pound of bread or meal, and one-eighth of a pound of meat per day. This s the entire ration, and upon it the prisoner must live or die. The meal is often unsifted and sour, and the meat such as in the North is consigned to the soap-maker. Such are the rations upon which Union soldiers are fed by the rebel authorities, and by which they are barely holding on to life. But to starvation and exposure to sun and storm, add the sickness which prevails to a most alarming and terrible extent. On an average, one hundred die daily. It is impossible that any Union soldier should know all the facts pertaining to this terrible mortality, as they are not paraded by the rebel authorities. Such statement as the following speaks eloquent testimony: ‘Of twelve of us who were captured, six died; four are in the hospital, and I never expect to see them again. There are but two of us left.’ In 1862, at Montgomery, Alabama, under far more favorable circumstances, the prisoners being protected by sheds, from one hundred and fifty to two hundred grew sick from diarrhea and chills, out of seven hundred. The same per centage would give seven thousand sick at Andersonville. It needs no comment, no efforts at word-painting, to make such a picture stand out boldly in most horrible colors.

“Nor is this all. Among the ill-fated of the many who have suffered amputation in consequence of injuries received before capture, sent from rebel hospitals before their wounds were healed, there are eloquent witnesses of the barbarities of which they are victims. If to these facts is added this, that nothing more demoralizes soldiers and develops the evil passions of man than starvation, the terrible condition of the Union prisoners at Andersonville can be readily imagined. They are fast losing hope, and becoming utterly reckless of life. Numbers. Crazed by their sufferings, wander about in a state of idiocy; others deliberately cross the ‘dead line,’ and are remorselessly shot down.”

Leach’s Perpetual Motion.

Our readers will recollect some notice taken in these columns about a year since f a small machine exhibited through the country, which its inventor claimed to contain the principle of self-motion, or perpetual movement. The machine was a metallic wheel with a system of cords and falling balls suspended to the arms of the wheel, which was supported on a thick base of wood. It turns out the whole affair is a very ingenious deception. The base or platform contains a system of clock-work, with a spring running up to the axis through one of the standards supporting the wheel. When wound up it would run some twelve hours.

The inventor of this wonderful perpetual motion is said to have made quite a sum by humbugging persons and then imparting the secret. Of course parties who have invested are anxious to get their money back by sale or exhibition, and have had a motive in keeping his secret.

We hear of two very respectable and highly moral gentlemen of Sherbrooke who have  small interest in the affair. The exposure of the cheat was made by an honest German pedlar, who proposes to bring the matter before the court.–Stanstead Journal.

•••••

Good Advice from a Woman.–“You write that you are going to Washington, so I know you’ll see ‘Old Abe.’ Now, don’t you find any fault with him. I know your impatient disposition–I know you think he ought to have done a great deal more than he has done. But, remember, that he has an untried way, difficulties all about him, conservatives advising one thing, radicals another, and all deceiving him. So, don’t you find any fault with him, but bid him ‘God speed,’ Tell him that all good men and women, everywhere, are with him–that they pray for him, and bless him for what he has done, and will yet do. One word from a man he knows has nothing to ask for, may cheer him–cheer him more than you know–and don’t you fail to say it. As you love truth, and God, say it, for it is true, and you ought to say it.”

That was a year ago, but what that young woman then said might as well–might better–be said now by every man and woman in the country.–Edmund Kirke.

•••••

The innate ferocity and want of faith of the rebels is shown in the unblushing story of the Richmond Sentinel that three hundred of our men who, relying upon a “tacit truce,” were airing themselves in front of their works, were brutally massacred by an unexpected volley of musketry. The excuse given for this chivalrous act was the bombardment of Petersburg, a rebel depot of supplies. “Delicious piece of retaliation,” this act of perfidy is called the the ferocious Richmond Examiner.

SATURDAY
SEPTEMBER 17, 1864
THE ÆGIS AND TRANSCRIPT (MA)

General Sherman’s Official Report of the Capture of Atlanta.

Louisville, Sept. 8.–In answer to the request that Major General Sherman would give us details of late operations before Atlanta, in order to satisfy cavils of those who in absence of particulars were denying that those operations were on the whole a federal success, we have received the following:

Atlanta, Sept. 7.–On the 25th of August, pursuant to a plan of which the war department had been fully advised, I left the 20th corps at Chattahoochee Bridge and with the balance of the army I drew off from the siege, and using some considerable artifice to mislead the enemy, I moved rapidly south, and reached West point railroad, near Fairsborn, on the 27th, and broke up 11 miles of it.

When moving last my right approached the Macon railroad, near Jonesboro, and my left near Rough and Ready. The enemy attacked the right wing of the army and was completely beaten.

On the 31st, and during the combat, I pushed left of the centre rapidly to the railroad above, between Rough and Ready and Jonesboro.

On the 1st of September we broke up about 8 miles of the Macon railroad, and turned on the enemy at Jonesboro, assaulted his lines and carried them, capturing Brig. Gen. Gorman and about 2000 prisoners, with 8 guns and much plunder. Night alone prevented the capture of all of Hardee’s corps, which escaped south that night.

That same night, Hood in Atlanta, finding all his railroads broken and in our possession, blew up his ammunition trains and 7 locomotives and 80 cars, and evacuated Atlanta, which on the next day, Sept. 2d, was occupied by the corps left for that purpose, Gen. Slocum commanding, we following the retreating rebel army to near Lovejoy’s station, 30 miles south of Atlanta, where, finding them strongly entrenched, concluded it would not pay to assault as we already had the great object of the campaign, viz: Atlanta. Accordingly the army orderly and leisurely retired to Atlanta, and it is now encamped 8 miles south of the city, and to-morrow will move to camps appointed. I am writing at Atlanta, so do not be uneasy in regard to our situation. We have a the result of this quick, and as I think, well-executed movement, over three thousand prisoners, and have buried over 400 rebel dead and got as many wounded, which they could not remove. The rebels lost, besides the important city of Atlanta and stores, at least 500 dead, 2500 wounded, and 3000 prisoners, whereas our aggregate loss does not foot up 1500. If this is not success, I don’t know what is.

W. T. Sherman, Maj. Gen.

•••••

Army Stores.–None except those who have been connected with a quartermaster’s department in the army can have but a limited idea of the vast amount of clothing, equipage and military stores dealt out to the Union armies. Capt. H. B. Blood, Assistant Quartermaster in charge of the clothing, equipage and quartermaster’s stores of the armies operating against Richmond, being on a few days’ furlough, made us a brief call on Monday last, and among many interesting matters, showed us his last report ending June 30th, 1864, from which we were permitted to make the following extract of stores issued during the months of April, May and June: 18,042 pairs of boots; 114,188 pairs of bootees; 22,254 rubber blankets; 58,605 sack coats; 65,423 pairs of drawers; 249,931 pairs of stockings; 87,334 pairs of trousers; 62,931 haversacks; 3248 shelter tents. Among the entrenching tools issued, we find 17,250 axes; 12,425 spades and shovels, and 6674 picks.->

Capt. Blood is a son of Mr. John Blood of Charlton. He has been connected with the quartermaster’s department of the Potomac army since April 1862, and is the right man at the right place. His report is made up with a system easy to comprehend and in detail an interesting document. He says that the department to which he belongs is a perfect self-operating machine, always at the point where needed in time to meet the wants of our brave men in the field with full stores.–Palladium.

•••••

A Swift Blockade Runner.–The Limerick Reporter of the 16th ult., says:

The Limerick docks were visited on Saturday by a considerable number of persons who went to see a newly arrived paddle steamer, named the Condor, built by Randolph & Co., of Glasgow, chartered by our enterprising and respected fellow-citizen, Peter Taft, Esq., for the conveyance of clothes manufactured at his Boherbuoy factory, and said to be intended for the American Confederate service. This vessel, which is of light draught and elegant construction, is of low rakish build, very long, narrow in the beam, and furnished with three low funnels, and two short masts. She shows no guns. Her horse power, though nominally only 180, can be worked three times that amount–and from her rig and build she appears just the craft for running the blockade, 25 knots an hour having been made on her trial trip. She left at two o’clock, showing the English colors, for a destination, of course, not specified, but probably for Nassau.

•••••

From Havana

New York, Sept. 9.–Dates from Havana of the 26th are received which report the recapture of Victoria from the French by Cortinas confirmed. The French were put to flight with heavy loss. Cortinas announced to the soldiers that he would soon lead them against Tampico and would be reinforced by Huastican.

Capt. Mendoga ambushed a party of imperialists, killing 66, capturing 27, also 115 rifles and 73 horses. The yellow fever is making considerable havoc in Havana.

The steamer Francis, lately from Philadelphia, has been sold for 20,000 pounds. She is to be fitted up for blockade running.

Capt. Bickford and mate, and others of the bark C. B. Hamilton, have died at Havana of yellow fever.

•••••

Headquarters, Army of the Potomac,
Sept. 8th, Evening

The past two days have been ominously quiet. Hours have passed without a single gun being heard. The rebels were reported massing on our left with the intention of attacking us if they found the lines penetrable, but they have evidently given up the enterprise which they have found very costly. At the centre of the line, pickets have been very friendly of late, but within a day or two strict orders have been given against any intercourse. The battery on the Jerusalem road opened on a working party of rebels this afternoon about 5 o’clock. Quite an interchange of iron compliments took place, but without much harm to either party.

¹ brutum fulmen is Latin for “an empty noise; an empty threat.”