SUNDAY
DECEMBER 4, 1864
THE DAILY PICAYUNE (LA)

Incendiarism in New York.

From the Cairo Democrat we extract the following:

New York, Nov. 26.–The places set fire to last night were the St. Nicholas, St. John’s, Lafarge, Astor House, Lovejoy’s Hotel, Belmont House, and Barnum’s Museum; none of which were much damaged, but caused great consternation with the occupants of the hotels and the audiences at Winter Garden and Barnum’s.

New York, Nov. 26.–The fires last night at the five different hotels were made with phosphorous, and thought for the purpose of robbing in Barnum’s Museum, which was also set on fire. The panic-stricken audience was robbed most thoroughly in the great smoke and confusion that ensued at the hotels. The robbers did not succeed so well. A woman hailing from Baltimore was arrested at the Metropolitan Hotel under circumstances that involved her in serious suspicion. She strongly protests innocence. Other arrests were also made.

It appears that the woman arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the incendiarism last night, arrived in the city but a few days since from Baltimore, and took a room at the St. Nicholas. Last night, just before the fire broke out there, she went to the Lafarge House, stayed a short time, and left just before the fire broke out there. She then went to the Metropolitan, and engaged a room, the fire breaking out very soon afterward. Although closely questioned, she refused to disclose the nature of her business there.

Certain papers found in her room point so strongly to a man stopping at the Lafarge House, who was recently discharged from Fort Lafayette on the ground that he was a British subject, as an accomplice, that he was arrested. He was nervous and excited when taken, and disclaimed any connection with the affair.

The manner in which the fires were produced showed a preconcerted plot in the hotels.

The beds, clothes, trunks, etc., were covered with phosphorous, and matches were also scattered in the beds.

The fires were then set and the rooms locked. As in the July riots the thieves swarmed about the hotel doors ready to rush in and plunder when the fire was underway, but the timely appearance of the police prevented this portion of the programme from being carried out. The panic at the Museum was intense, but fortunately the fire was quickly subdued. The bottle containing the phosphorous was found, and is like those used by the indications elsewhere.

At Winter Garden a terrible panic was created by some one simply crying fire. The entire fire department was aroused, together with the police. Measures were adopted for the safety of life and property for the remainder of the night.

The attempt, which was really well planned, has failed. It has shown what might be done here and elsewhere, and will inspire increased vigilance throughout the North.

This morning an examination of the Astor House took place, to learn if any attempt had been made to fire that building. When on opening room No. 204, an immense volume of smoke poured into the hall. The fire had been smouldering through the night; the bedding was saturated with turpentine; the chairs were placed on the bed, and the bed clothes were thrown over those. The room had been occupied by but one person since the 20th, and his arrest, it is believed, will soon be made. The damage will amount to about six hundred dollars. ->

A person in a lieutenant’s uniform, named Alizon, who occupied one of the rooms fired, was arrested this a.m. Arrangements have been made to-day for protection against a repetition of this incendiarism. Gen. Dix’s order requiring Southerners to register their names, and which has proved almost a dead letter, will be strictly enforced.

•••••

Inauguration of the First Lager Beer Establishment in New Orleans.—Lager beer is a good thing–it is a pleasant, healthful drink. The great German people are a nation of thinkers–and drinkers of lager beer. We have seldom been more courteously treated than on the occasion of the inauguration last night. Lager beer, Rhine wine, song and music flowed freely; and all of the best quality. One gentleman, who had lived here more than thirty years, said he at length felt resigned to living in New Orleans since the inception of this establishment. We were taken all through the brewery and shown the entire process in the manufacture of lager beer, from its incipiency in the form of malt, till it becomes a good thing going down the throat, and giving a miscellaneous delight to all the members. The establishment is quite extensive, and nothing can surpass it in neatness and order. The manufacturer, Mr. G. Merz, has great experience and knowledge in all the details of the business, having learned it in Germany–the original land of lager. There were several hundred persons present, and all was conducted in the best order possible. There are few drunkards seen in wine-growing or lager manufacturing countries, and as men must drink something, we hail the introduction of the establishment as a moral institution–at all events, we thank them for their personal courtesy.

•••••

Removable Horse Shoes.—Le Genie Industriel says that two horse-shoers in Paris, M. Lefevre and M. Guerin, have invented a horse shoe to be attached temporarily by any traveller whose horse should cast a shoe on the road at a distance from any blacksmith’s shop. It is fitted with straps by which it may be readily secured to the foot. The inventors suggest that it will be found convenient for cavalry on the march.–Scientific American.

•••••

Photography has certainly made great strides towards perfection, yet there are some things which have not yet been achieved, and which are exceedingly desirable. One of these is to produce the natural colors of the body and of its vesture. Possibly the requisite which is most urgent is to make the picture indelible. It must be admitted that the simple photograph, as we now have it, clear, distinct, faithful, intelligent and speaking, almost, will fade after a while. It is greatly to be hoped that some process will be devised to make it permanent. Chemistry could hardly do a greater service to society, than to make the needful discovery. In the meantime the best which can be done is to have the photograph painted in colors, and finished off, as it is artistically done over the way, by Anderson & Turner, on the hallotype system, of which they are, here, the sole proprietors. We have tried it ourselves, as you may see by a look at their collection, and we look there, it seems to us, fresher every day. If we could only feel as well as their art makes us look, we would be content!

MONDAY
DECEMBER 5, 1864
THE MACON DAILY TELEGRAPH (GA)

The Work of Subjugation.

We commend the following article, which we clip from the New York News, to the attentive perusal of any of our people who may be afflicted with weakness in the knees:

Some of our contemporaries do us injustice in stating that we have made our reviews of the progress of the war in disparagement of the Federal Generals. The surveys we make from time to time of the scene of conflict we make as matters of fact, but do so regardless of all personal predilections, in profound respect and sympathy for the anxiety with which our readers follow the fortunes of armies in which their whole hearts are bound up. So completely, indeed, is the statement of the Opposition journals unfounded, that we have been led frequently in our reviews of the conflict to pass high encomium on the dash and genius of Farragut and Sherman.

The state of the conflict is, however, f more moment than any newspaper misrepresentation. Some of our contemporaries, in condemning our plain statement of facts, would have the public believe that the subjugation of the South is making rapid progress. Let us examine into the truth of that allegation. Last Spring the Federal troops lorded it on the Rio Grande and shores of Texas. Those lines of invasion are strangers to their footsteps now. In the beginning of this year’s campaign, Gen. Banks had to go to the head of navigation on the Red River to find the Confederates; he can find them, to-day, within a few days’ march of New Orleans. Steele had to move, last Spring, one hundred and twenty miles to the southward of Little Rock, in order to find Southern soldiers; and at this moment they swarm as thick as locusts all around that city. Despotism in Missouri cut throats six months ago, with no one to make it afraid; and only two weeks ago an army of twenty-eight thousand Confederates sat eating the good things of the land in perfect safety, under its very nose. That great force is even now manœuvering with the view of making a sudden dash, from the luxuriant valley of the Osage, upon either the political or commercial capital of that great State. Texas is gone; Louisiana is gone; Arkansas is gone; and, while all this has happened within six months, we are asked by the Herald and other city journals to believe that the conquest of the South is making rapid progress!

In March, Central Mississippi was under the heels of Sherman’s advance to the Tombigbee; to-day the troops of the Confederacy sweep up, undisturbed, to almost the guns that defend the rear of Vicksburg. Northern Mississippi has passed, within six months, from the domination of troops under Dodge or Hurlbut to that of Confederate horsemen under Chalmers. Western Tennessee, and even the Kentucky part of the peninsula lying between the Tennessee and the Mississippi, know no sway, outside Paducah, Columbus and Memphis, save that of General Forrest. The Memphis and Charleston Railroad has gone back to the Confederates. ->

Corinth has, within six months, changed hands and is now a point of supply for the army of General Hood. Tuscumbia has gone back to its owners, and all of Alabama south of the Tennessee, with the exception of, perhaps, the post at Decatur, has reverted to its rightful State sovereignty. Immense regions that had been held last Spring in Mississippi, in Tennessee, in Alabama, are thus seen to have been wrested from the hands of subjugation and placed under contribution of men, horses and supplies in the interests of successful resistance.

In Georgia, the work of subjugation has met with a peculiar undoing. A line of upward of a hundred miles, won at fearful cost of life and limb, had brought Sherman into a village of Georgia, the “city” of Atlanta. We were told that he had “broken the back bone of the rebellion,” when, suddenly, his triumphant army, pausing in its vain work, is flung back, by a mere exercise of will, a hundred and fifty miles, to begin the struggle once more in the neighborhood of the Tennessee. Hood’s army was at Dalton last April, but it is now a hundred and twenty miles further north. Horsemen of the Confederate army are as thick as leaves in the  woods of Kentucky, and threaten to make that State, which has heretofore been exempt from war, a scene of battle. And thus has invasion gone back from tee hart of Georgia, not only to the Tennessee, in fact, but in prospects, to the Ohio.

Eastern Tennessee was held last Spring as far as the line of Virginia; the Confederate troops find, now, no one to oppose them within even two or three days’ march of Knoxville. In the Valley of Virginia, Hunter, a few months ago, swept every thing before him to the works covering Lynchburg; but to-day Early is tramping down toward the Potomac, with Sheridan falling back before him to Harper’s Ferry. In May last, the Federal army held the country between the Rapidan and the Potomac; to-day the abandonment of the railway between Alexandria and Manassas Gap has placed it under the undisputed command of the Confederates. About five hundred square miles on the banks of the James River constitute accessions of territory by the invasion of Virginia; but, in the Valley and north of the Rapidan, the losses of the last few months amount to four or five thousand square miles.

Resistance stands firm on the James. At all other points it has advanced–from Shreveport to New Orleans; from Red River to the Missouri; from Central Mississippi to Western Kentucky; from the Chattahoochee to the Tennessee. Invasion has lost hundreds of thousands of square miles in Louisiana, in Arkansas, in Mississippi, in Western Tennessee, in Eastern Tennessee, in Virginia. And yet with all this overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the Herald has the coolness to ask its readers to believe that the work of subjugation goes bravely on!

TUESDAY
DECEMBER 6, 1864
THE SPRINGFIELD DAILY UNION (MA)

Sherman’s March in Georgia.
He is Nearing the Seacoast.

Fortress Monroe, Dec. 4.

A returned prisoner on the General Lyon reports Sherman’s cavalry within six miles of Savannah on the 30th of November. Savannah is being fortified as rapidly as possible. Every Negro and every cart in the city are at work on the fortifications. Four trains loaded with rebel soldiers had arrived on the Gulf Railroad. There was no report of disaster to any portion of Gen. Sherman’s forces. He says the railroad was cut just after the train he came through to Savannah on had passed through. He came from Florence.

The Savannah Republican of the 30th contains no telegraphic news from any quarter. The following are editorial items on the situation:

“Reliable advices received yesterday indicate that Sherman has made little or no progress with the main body of his army during the last day or two. He is still on the railroad, some distance beyond Millen, and apparently replenishing his commissaries for the journey before him. His men and animals must be desperately jaded by this time, and but little prepared for the trials to come. We still believe his intention is to reach the coast if possible by that route which presents the least danger of a fight. There was no enemy between here and Millen yesterday, and although a party of Sherman’s cavalry had been near that latter place, everything remained untouched.

“Another fight is reported between Wheeler and Kirkpatrick, on Monday, with the usual result. The latter was decently thrashed, and driven back in the direction of the infantry.

“It is reliably reported that a force of about 1000 Yankees landed yesterday forenoon from the Yankee fleet at Boyd’s Landing on Broad river in South Carolina, and some eight miles distant from the Savannah or Charleston railroad. A portion of this command approached the railroad later in the day, but subsequently retired.

“Preparations believed to be ample have been made to meet them should they attempt to cut the road, which it was believed they would do last night. We still believe Sherman has no serious thought of entering Savannah with his jaded columns, but will attempt to make his way to the coast by the most practicable route. He will find it difficult to to strike one that has no lion n his path. Our military authorities though, we are glad to see, are acting on the sound principle that the surest plan for keeping him away from the city is to make it impossible for him to get there.

“Pursuant to a resolution of the General Assembly, Gov. Brown before leaving Milledgeville made a proposition to the convicts in the penitentiary of pardon if they would volunteer and prove themselves good soldiers. Nearly all volunteered, but a few of the notoriously bad ones were rejected. The company organized is 100 strong, and the celebrated Dr. Roberts has been elected Captain.

“Gen. Taylor is in Savannah, and has been ordered to take temporary command of all confederate reserves in Alabama and Georgia. It is stated that the Georgia militia have been turned over to the confederate service. Gen. Buckner has been appointed Lieut. General.

“The Macon Telegraph sets down our loss at Griswoldville in killed, wounded and missing as follows: 2d brigade, 160; 3d brigade, 163; 4th brigade, 158; State line, 53; total, 614. The enemy in their recent march destroyed everything on Gen. Cobb’s plantation, with the exception of his Negro cabins. ->

“Milledgeville, Ga., Nov. 25.–To Mr. Collins, Mayor Macon, sir: Our citizens have been utterly despoiled by the Yankee army. Send us bread and meat, or there will be great suffering among us. We have no mules or horses. What you send must be brought by wagon trains. The railroad bridge across the Oconee has been burned. The State House, Executive mansion, and factory are still left us. Send us relief at once.–R. B. DeGraffenreid, Mayor of Milledgeville.”

The Richmond Enquirer of the 1st believes Sherman’s army has reached Millen, and separated into two columns, one marching towards Savannah and the other turned back towards Augusta. The latter movement undoubtedly is a feint to protect his rear. It is too late to menace Augusta, and Sherman’s main body is too far south. He will do one of the two things, either go straight to Beaufort or to Savannah, and attack Charleston by land, or he will join Grant in an attack on Richmond. He has met with very little resistance in his march through Georgia.

The Augusta Register of the 27th says, “the enemy’s raiding parties had approached very near, if not quite to Savannah, on the 26th. We do not regard this as indicating the presence of the main body. Such parties are sent out merely as feelers of our strength.”

The Richmond Sentinel of the 3d says, “Gen. Hardee had attacked and drawn the enemy some distance, who left their dead and wounded on the field.” This evidently has reference to the Grahamsville, S. C. fight already reported.

The Richmond Examiner of the 3d says, news from Georgia is encouraging, and if Sherman gets through now, which is doubtful, he will lose half his army.

•••••

The Richmond Enquirer on the New York Incendiaries.

Baltimore, Dec. 5.

The Richmond Enquirer of Saturday last has an editorial on the late fires in New York, concluding thus: “We are very glad to see all Southern refugees required to register themselves. If Gen. Dix will hang them, he will do service to our cause. A set of cowardly sneaks who deserted their country are not above burning hotels. We hope Gen. Dix will hang every mother’s son of them.”

•••••

Armory Matters.—Extra precautions are now taken to prevent fires; the guard has been much increased, admission to the tower and arsenals, access to piles of lumber and coal and store houses generally on the part of people without any particular business, stopped. Admission to the grounds after sundown is henceforth restricted, save to those who desire to go to houses occupied by residents on the grounds, and in that case, unless known, they will be waited on by a watchman. Too much care cannot now be exercised to prevent fires in the works, and to provide further means to check one, if possibly occurring, a new steamer has been asked for. The shutting up of the tower will be of small inconvenience to the visiting public at this season of the year.

WEDNESDAY
DECEMBER 7, 1864
THE HARTFORD DAILY COURANT (CT)

New Uses for Paper.

The war has familiarized us with talk of iron-clads and tin-clads, but who ever dreamed that paper would be used for the platings of war vessels or the material of guns? Yet recent experiments in Europe indicate that neither us improbable. From trials at Battersea it was ascertained that rockets made of paper tubes were as strong as those made of metal. Paper boards of one inch thickness were tested by ball, and found to be superior in power of resistance to ten inches of solid oak. The bullet which made a small round hole in the paper, perforating so far as to raise a projection in the rear, would have passed through oak, making an ugly fracture. So far as the process of manufacture has transpired to the public, in consists in placing upon each other sheets of paper, dampened with a solution composed mainly of zopissa, till the required thickness is attained, and exposing the boards till they become hardened. Zopissa is a gumlike substance found to a considerable extent in Egypt.¹ It imparts great hardness to any surface upon which it is placed, and has entered extensively into the compositions employed for preserving the stone walls of public buildings in England.

The uses to which this paper may be put promise to be multiform. The boards are said to be well suited for the platings of ships, being lighter in weight than oak, and easily fixed to the frame work. They do not require sheathing, are non-absorbent, incombustible, and will not sustain on their surface any form of animal or vegetable life, and in addition to these recommendations, are cheaper than oak and iron.

The inventor has used it successfully in the construction of light field pieces. It is also suitable for carpets, which can be made from it in every variety of pattern and color. Experiments are in progress to show its fitness for house-building. Excellent leather for boots and shoes are made with it. In fact, there seem to be few uses to which it is not applicable.

•••••

[Miscellaneous.]

Joshua Hobart, of Providence, completed his task of wheeling a barrel of oysters from Providence to Boston, on the 3d inst. His load weighed 300 pounds, and he was six days on the route. He sold his oysters at a dollar apiece, and thus made a speculation out of his foolish bet.

The Augusta Sentinel says: “It is rumored that our cavalry are busy in destroying barns, cribs, and anything that may be of use to Sherman in front of his main army on the Ocmulgee river.” So it seems that it is not alone Sherman or the Yankees who sweep the country of supplies.

In the trial of copperhead conspirators at Indianapolis, a daughter of Rev. Richard Curran Williams testified that he said he would as soon have her marry a Negro as an abolitionist, and that he drove her out of the house and then choked her because she persisted in marrying a Union man or republican.

A Toronto, C. W., dispatch of Monday says: “The excitement in regard to the Fenian Brotherhood is revived, and becoming more and more intensified. Last night an Orange Lodge was broken open and all its property destroyed by the Fenians. Some fine portraits of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, were disgracefully mutilated, and the excitement to-day is running high, and fears of violence are entertained.”

A Washington special of Monday says: “Another fraud on the internal revenue law of considerable magnitude has been discovered in the sixth district of New York. The proprietors of one of the most popular patent medicines have been selling great quantities for some time, but without affixing the proper proprietary stamp, and their establishment, one of the most extensive in the country, with all the fixtures and a large quantity of medicine, was seized yesterday, and has become liable to confiscation if the case is made out.”

Report of the Secretary of the Navy.

New York, Dec. 6.–Secretary Welles’ report shows the following facts:

The Navy on the 1st ins. Consisted of six hundred and seventy-one (671) vessels, having a tonnage of 510,396, and carrying 4,610 guns. This is an increase of 83 vessels and 167 guns since December, 1863. The vessels constructed for the Navy since March 4, 1861, number 203, carrying 1,631 guns, not counting those which have been constructed within the same period and lost in battle or by shipwreck.

Officers and men now on duty number: Officers, 6,000; men, 45,000. There are six squadrons on duty: In the West Gulf, Admiral Farragut; East Gulf, Stribling; South Atlantic, Dahlgren; North Atlantic, Porter; Mississippi, Lee; and Pacific, Pearson; besides the Potomac Flotilla. The West India Squadron, as an organization, has been discontinued.

The consumption of coal in the Navy last year was 500,000 tons.

The blockade extends along a coast 3,549 miles, a  greater length than the whole coast of Europe from Cape Trafalgar to Cape North.

The iron-clad fleet has been increased to 71 vessels. They carry 275 guns–all heavy metal.

The number of prizes captured during the year was 324; eighty-eight of these were steamers. The gross proceeds from sales of condemned prizes reach $14,396,250, and the expense $1,237,153. The balance of $13,190,841 was divided equally between the captors as prize money and the government as a naval pension fund.

There are 1,609 persons on the naval pension roll. They received $189,659 per year. The pension fund on the 1st of January next will amount to $7,000,000, yielding an annual income of $420,000, sufficient for the payment of the entire pension roll.

The Navy Department has cost $280,647,261 in four years. Of this aggregate, $85,733,292 were expended last year. The available resources for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1865, are $139,289,059. The balance on hand at the beginning of the present fiscal year was $30,032,244.

Mr. Welles enlarges upon the satisfactory condition of the Navy; commends its officers for sustaining discipline and efficiency; and adverts with emphasis to the extraordinary growth of the service since the first year of the war.

•••••

Report of the Secretary of the Treasury.

The Secretary of the Treasury estimates the receipts for the fiscal year at $396,000,000, of which $300,000,000 are from internal duties, and the expenditures at $1,168,256,605, of which there is for the war department, $531,753,191; for the navy department, $112,219,666; for interest on public debt, $127,000,000; and the balance of former unexpended appropriations, $350,000,000. This latter amount is likely to remain unexpended at the close of the year, reducing the total to $818,256,005. Deducting therefrom the estimated receipts, $422,256,005 remains to be provided for by loans. The debt at the close of the fiscal year is estimated at $2,645,320,682.

THURSDAY
DECEMBER 8, 1864
THE NEW HAMPSHIRE SENTINEL

Gen. Sherman’s Expedition.

The following are Gen. Sherman’s directions for conducting his new campaign:

Headquarters, Military Division of the Mississippi, in the field,
Kingston, Ga., Nov. 9, 1864.

I. For the purpose of military operations this army is divided into two wings, viz: The right wing, Maj. Gen. O. O. Howard commanding the Fifteenth and Seventeenth corps; the left wing, Maj. Gen. H. W. Slocum commanding the Fourteenth and Twentieth corps.

II. The habitual order of march will be, whenever practicable, by four roads, as nearly parallel as possible, and converging at points hereafter to be indicated in orders. The cavalry, Brig. Gen. Kilpatrick commanding, will receive special orders from the Commander-in-Chief.

III. There will be no general trains of supplies, but each corps will have its ammunition and provision train, distributed habitually as follows: Behind each regiment should follow one wagon and one ambulance, behind each brigade should follow a due proportion of ammunition wagons, provision wagons and ambulances. In case of danger each army corps should change this order of march by having his advance and rear brigade unencumbered by wheels. The separate columns will start habitually at seven a.m., and make about fifteen miles per day, unless otherwise fixed in orders.

IV. The army will forage literally on the country during the march. To this end each brigade commander will organize a sufficient foraging party, under the command of one or more discreet officers, who will gather near the route travelled corn or forage of any kind, vegetables, corn meal or whatever is needed by the command; aiming at all times to keep in the wagon trains a t least ten days’ provisions for the command and three days’ forage. Soldiers must not enter the dwellings of the inhabitants or commit any trespass; during the halt or camp they may be permitted to gather turnips, potatoes and other vegetables, and drive in stock in front of their camps. To regular foraging parties must be entrusted the gathering of provision and forage at any distance from the road travelled.

V. To army corps commanders is entrusted the power to destroy mills, houses, cotton gins, &c., and for them this general principle is laid down: In districts and neighborhoods where the army is unmolested, no destruction of such property should be permitted; but should guerrillas or bushwhackers molest our march, or should the inhabitants burn bridges, obstruct roads, or otherwise manifest local hostility, then army corps commanders should order and enforce a devastation more or less relentless, according to the measure of such hostility.

VI. As for horses, mules, wagons, &c., belonging to the inhabitants, the cavalry and artillery may appropriate freely and without limit–discriminating, however, between the rich, who are usually hostile, and the poor or industrious, usually neutral or friendly. Foraging parties may also take mules or horses to replace the jaded animals of their trains or to serve as pack mules for the regiments or brigades. In all foraging of whatever kind, the parties engaged will refrain from abusive or threatening language, and may, when an officer in command thinks proper, give written certificates of the facts, but no receipts; and they will endeavor to leave with each family a reasonable portion for their maintenance. ->

VII. Negroes who are able bodied and can be of service to the several columns may be taken along; but each army commander will bear it in mind that the question of supplies is a very important one, and that his first duty is to see to those who bear arms.

VIII. The organization at once of a good pioneer battalion for each corps, composed, if possible, of Negroes, should be attended to. This battalion should follow the advanced guard, should repair roads and double them if possible, so that the columns will not be delayed after reaching bad places. Also army commanders should study the habit of giving the artillery and wagons the road, and marching their troops on one side; and also instruct their troops to assist the wagons at steep hills or bad crossings of streams.

IX. Captain O. M. Poe, Chief Engineer, will assign to each wing of the army a pontoon train, fully equipped and organized, and the commanders thereof will see to its properly being protected at all times.

By order of,

Maj. Gen. W. T. Sherman.

•••••

Attempt of Our Prisoners to Escape.—The Richmond Enquirer of the 18th ult., gives an account of an unsuccessful attempt of 13,000 Union prisoners at Salisbury, N. C., to escape on the 24th. It says their plan was to overpower the guards, secure all the arms they could, and march through Western North Carolina into Tennessee. They overpowered the interior guard, killing two of them. They then attacked the parapet guard, and two of these were killed, when artillery was opened on the prisoners and several discharges of grape and canister fired among them. They then called for quarter. Forty of the prisoners were killed and many wounded. The Enquirer says: “But for the coolness, and, it may be added, the consideration of the officers commanding the garrison, the punishment inflicted upon these misguided captives would have been far more serious, if indeed it had not amounted to the annihilation of the entire body.”

•••••

A rebel plot to burn Memphis was recently detected ad thwarted by Gen. Washburne, who is in command there. The incendiaries were caught in the act of firing the buildings, who, it is said, were to receive as their reward from the rebel authorities ten per cent of the value of the property destroyed. The incendiaries are under arrest, and after trial and conviction by military court martial, will probably be hanged. Among the parties arrested is Dr. McMillan, proprietor of the Charleston House at Memphis.

•••••

Roger A. Pryor, the sprig of Virginia chivalry who capture we mentioned last week, was taken by Capt. Dudley of the 11th N. H. Vols. He was taken while advancing towards our picket lines, waving a newspaper with a view to an exchange. He was taken in retaliation for the capture of Capt. Burridge of the 36th Mass. under similar circumstances. Pryor was once a rebel general, now reduced to the ranks.

FRIDAY
DECEMBER 9, 1864
BOSTON EVENING TRANSCRIPT (MA)

Further Rebel Speculations upon Gen. Sherman’s Destination, &c.

Washington, 9th.–Information from City Point today says Southern newspapers, dates not given, report that Sherman has abandoned the shortest route for Augusta, and appears to be drifting towards Savannah. He was delaying for the purpose of gathering supplies, while his territorial range was not too contracted by the operations of Wheeler.

The Augusta Constitutionalist thinks Sherman will not for a moment hesitate as to the point to be attacked on the road to it, saying that the enemy broke camp at Louisville early on the morning of the 2d inst.

They abandoned the shortest route to Augusta and moved by a new route in the direction of Savannah.

The same paper lays out the following campaign for Sherman, as being the most naturally feasible:

With his forage and provision trains full, he will pass his entire army to Millen, then, throwing his cavalry in the rear, he will put the wagon trains between two wings of his army and march in compact column steadily, but cautiously, on Savannah.

The Ogeechee and its few crossings and terrible swamps on his right, and Savannah river and its equally swampy banks on the left, both his flanks will be most securely covered.

Thus situated he has to march over 80 miles to the city. Travelling at the rate averaged since leaving Atlanta, he will reach there by the 9th, provided he should not be checked by the way. Oconee bridge has not been burned, although desperate attempts have been made to accomplish this.

The Richmond Enquirer of the 7th reports no new movement made in the direction of Grahamsville. Federal troops engaged consisted of 4 white and 4 black regiments. About 1300 killed and wounded were found on the field.

•••••

What the War Has Done.—The war has visited the South with many a sore grievance. It has curtailed the supply of good whiskey and Havana segars. It has stripped the carpet from their floors, and substituted cotton for linen tablecloths. It has deprived them of ice for their juleps, and often for their social parties. It has made nails scarce and screws dear. It has enhanced the price of scissors, and made a rarity of the pocket penknife. It has caused Yankee notions of all kinds to be more highly prized, though their makers are fearfully detested. It has substituted homespun for broadcloth, and tawdry calicoes for handsome silks. It has reduced many a luxurious table to corn bread and salt pork, and compelled not a few highborn ladies to cook their own food, and milk their own cows, while soft masculine hands have grown hard over the plough handle or clasping the musket. But these things can be borne. They are far more tolerable than association with the hated Yankees.–Washington Chronicle.

•••••

The President’s Latest, Shortest and Best Speech.—On Thursday of last week, two ladies from Tennessee came before the President asking the release of their husbands held as prisoners of war at Johnson's Island. They were put off till Friday, when they came again; and were again put off to Saturday. At each of the interviews one of the ladies urged that her husband was a religious man. On Saturday the President ordered the release of the prisoners, and then said to this lady:

“You say your husband is a religious man; tell him when you meet him, that I say I am not much of a judge of religion, but that, in my opinion, the religion that sets men to rebel and fight against their government, because, as they think, that government does not sufficiently help some men to eat their bread on the sweat of other men's faces, is not the sort of religion upon which people can get to heaven!”

Rebel Operations on James River. Fortress Monroe, 7th.–During the capture of the tug Lizzie Freeman, off the mouth of Warwick river by the rebel navy party, the mate, Mr. William Spiel, was severely wounded in the shoulder, and one colored soldier, acting as guard on the barge Zimmerman, which the tug had in tow, was shot down in cold blood, and two others dangerously wounded, although not offering any resistance. The passengers and crew of the tugs and of the sutler’s schooner were robbed of all their clothing and valuables and confined in the hold of the barge, with the hatches shut, for several hours. The steamer Matilda, passing the spot the next morning, relieved them from their unpleasant situation and conveyed them to Norfolk.

The steamer Wyoming arrived last evening and reports having seen two schooners and a steamer bearing off Day’s Point, the scene of the occurrence of the night before last, and about 50 camp fires on shore. It was supposed the rebels had made another capture and destroyed the Pawtuxent with her tow of three schooners which left here for City Point. No additional facts have been received, and the Wyoming’s report is hardly credible.

•••••

How the Veteran Makes Himself Comfortable.—An army letter has the following description of the manner in which a veteran soldier makes himself comfortable in camp:

“It is a trite remark that a man never knows how much he can do without until he tries it, but it is more to my present purpose to say that he never knows with how little he can make himself comfortable until he makes the experiment. Nobody possesses this invaluable knowledge so much as a veteran. Put a recruit into a forest of pine trees, with his shelter tent, and if he have nobody but recruits about him, ten to one you will find him under his shelter tent three weeks from that time.

“Not so with the veteran. If he be camped in the pine forest, give him an old axe, a boot-leg, a mud-puddle, a board or two, and a handful of nails, and he builds him a house, and a house, too, comfortable and commodious, and not wanting in architectural beauty. First he fells his trees, then cuts and notches his logs, and lays them together to the required height. His roof he puts on, giving it a great slope, and thatching it with the green of the pine trees.

“He has been careful to leave window spaces, and tacking pieces of his shelter tent over these, he has provided light, but he keeps out the nipping air of winter. Then with his board he makes the door, and the boot-leg supplying the hinges, it soon swings into its place. Then he fills the spaces between the logs with soft earth from his mud-puddle, and his house is done, except the chimney, and the forest and the mud-puddle soon provide that, for his chimney is nothing but a pile of sticks, plentifully plastered without and within with mud. Then with his old axe he manufactures out of pine logs a full assortment of furniture–bedstead, chairs, table, wardrobe, and generally adds a mantel. Then, with a bright fire upon his hearth, he is prepared to laugh at winter, and generally does.”

SATURDAY
DECEMBER 10, 1864
THE BOSTON HERALD

The Battle of Honey Hill.

The Hilton Head correspondent of the New York Herald, who accompanied Gen. Foster’s expedition to co-operate with Gen. Sherman, furnishes a full account of the battle at Honey Hill (three miles from Grahamsville, on the Charleston and Savannah Railroad), on the 30th ult., fought against a rebel force under Gen. Gustavus Smith. The Union forces left Hilton Head early on the morning of the 29th ult. on transports, and proceeded up Broad river to Boyd’s Point, where they landed. A naval force accompanied them, and both Admiral Dahlgren and General Foster were with the expedition. After landing, the troops were pushed out for several miles in various directions, driving the enemy before them at every point. The day was thus consumed in reconnoitering and skirmishing. Early on the morning of the 30th they were attacked by a body of rebels who moved out from their earthworks at Honey Hill. These were immediately driven in, and determined and severe fighting commenced between our men on the open ground and the enemy in his entrenchments, and lasted for several hours. We make the following extracts from the account of the battle:

The Thirty-second United-States colored troops were ordered to charge the rebel fort as soon as we had got in position at the head of the road. They attempted, but got stuck in the marsh, which they found impassable at the point of their assault; and a galling fire of grape, canister, and musketry, being opened on them, they were forced to retire.

The Thirty-fifth United-States colored troops also essayed an assault, but could not get near enough to produce any effect upon it. These regiments, however, only fell back to the line of battle, where they remained throughout the entire fight.

The Fifty-fifth Massachusetts (colored) went into the fight on the right of the brigade, commanded by Col. Hartwell. I did not note the time, but it was in the heat of the action, when the brigade had got separated by sending detachments to different weak points, and all that was left of it on the spot where it was first located was a mere detachment. The fire became very hot ,but still the regiment did not waver–the line merely quivered. Capt. Goraud, of Gen. Foster's staff, whose gallantry was conspicuous all day, rode up just as Col. Hartwell was wounded in the hand, and advised him to retire; but the colonel declined, and was anxious to charge the works.

Capt. Goraud declined to give the order, but rather favored the movement, the bullets all this time flying like hail. Col. Hartwell gave the order, the colors came to the extreme front, when the colonel shouted, “Follow your colors!” and then led the way himself, and marched off obliquely, in column by division. Col. Hartwell was mounted, and so was Capt. Crane, his Adjutant General. Just as they reached the marsh in front of the turn in the road, and within a short distance of the rebel works, brave Col. Hartwell’s horse, while struggling through the mud, was literally blown to pieces by a discharge of canister.

The Colonel was wounded at the same time, and attempted to jump from his horse; but the animal fell on him, pressing him into the mud. At this time he was riding at the side of the column and the men pressed on past. But as they neared the fort they met a murderous fire of grape, canister and bullets at short range. As the numbers of the advance were thinned, the few who survived began to waver, and finally the regiment retreated.

In retiring, Lieutenant Ellsworth, with a few men, extracted the Colonel from his perilous position after much delay and by cutting the saddle from his horse. In carrying him away he was again wounded in the side, and advised Lieut. Ellsworth to leave him behind; but the Lieutenant and a few men brought him from the field without further injury, and he will probably survive. He is now in the hospital at Beaufort, doing well. ->

The Fifty-fourth Massachusetts, heroes of all the hard fights that have occurred in the department since their arrival here, were too much scattered in this battle to do full justice to themselves. Only two companies went into the fight at first, under Lieutenant Colonel Hooper. They were posted on the left. Subsequently they were joined by four more companies, who were left on duty in the rear.

The Twenty-fifth Ohio, soon after the commencement of the engagement, were sent to the right, where they swung round, and fought on a line nearly perpendicular to our main front. A portion of the Fifty-fifth Massachusetts were with them. One or two charges were essayed, but were unsuccessful; but the front was maintained there throughout the afternoon. The Twenty-fifth had the largest loss of all the regiments.

The colored troops fought well throughout the day. There as probably a greater proportion of stragglers among them than the white troops, but not a single regiment broke as a regiment. The Fifty-fifth, Thirty-second, One Hundred and second, Fifty-fourth and Thirty-fifth were all at the front, and kept in line more coolly than one would suppose. There was no shrinking among any troops, white or black, and every regiment in the fight deserves praise.

Counter charges were made at various times during the fight by the enemy, but our infantry and artillery mowed them down, and they did not at any time get very near our lines. Whenever a charge of our men was repulsed, the rebels would flock out of their works, whooping like Indians; but Ames’ guns and the terrible volleys of our infantry would send them back.

The Naval Brigade behaved splendidly. When the order came to them to go to the front and take position on the right, they seemed as pleased as if invited to an extra ration of grog. A hundred or two brawny hands were thrust into blue shirts for tobacco, and a hundred cheeks protruded with the battle’s supply, and then they went ahead, led by the sturdy Commander Preble, his grey hair fluttering in the breeze. When a straggler was encountered, Jack showed him no mercy. “What ye doing, ‘way off here, ye lubber?” would be his salutation; and then, if he didn’t ‘bout face, blows and even kicks were the penalty.

“Starboard a little!” shouted a captain of a gun, apprehending collision in double-quicking past a colored regiment. When they got into action, they worked on their knees, and the sand was full of the snake-like tracks they made. When the pieces were discharged they were under and all about them, and when one was fatally shot his nearest comrade usually informed him that he was “gone up.” There was not a skulker from the brigade during the day–not a man shirked his duty. I cannot say much for their marching or the precision of the naval infantry movements; but I never saw so much coolness, or so much esprit d’corps before. One sailor, badly wounded, was laid by the side of a colored soldier shot through the leg, and the sailor imperiously directed him to “shut up.” Not complying, he was informed that his nose would be “mashed” if his “mug” remained longer open; and the next groan that came was the signal for a blow from a fist like a sledge.

General Foster, finding the enemy’s position at Honey Hill too strong to be easily taken, and not of sufficient importance, considering the object of the expedition, to warrant a continuance of the engagement, withdrew to a strong position on the Savannah road, from which he will be able to conduct future operations.

¹ Zopissa is actually a mixture of wax with tar or pitch scraped from the sides of wooden ships, and is not limited to Egypt.