SUNDAY
MARCH 12, 1865
THE DAILY PICAYUNE (LA)

A Huge Sell.
[From the Adrian (Mich.) Watchtower.]

Sundry of the inhabitants of this goodly city were terribly sold yesterday afternoon by a very adroit sharper. About the middle of the afternoon a sharp operator made his appearance on the corner of Maumee and Main streets, in a handsome sleigh drawn by a fine team, owned at one of our liveries, and began haranguing the crowd which soon assembled on the worthlessness of money, offering as he had more than he wanted, to trade ten dollars for nine, five or four, and so on, which offers were accepted by some of the crowd. He then proposed to dispose of some rings he had, and after selling them, he returned eh purchasers their money. This was carrying on business in a manner that was very acceptable to the crowd, and his customers soon became numerous. After indulging the crowd for some time in this manner, occasionally scattering handfuls of shinplasters among them, causing great scrambling, he told the people in attendance that he was going further up the street, and warned them not to follow him, as at his next stopping place he intended to make bona fide sales. But the crowd did not heed his advice, but followed eagerly, thinking him crazy, and nearly all anxious to take advantage of his supposed eccentricities. Stopping again, the popular salesman produced some lockets, or things which looked like lockets, which he proposed to sell for five dollars each. Many of the crowd, supposing it only a new phase of the fellow’s madness, eagerly purchased lockets, awaiting the return of their money. But, alas, it failed to come, and, bowing politely to the crowd, the fellow drove off, assuring them that he had engaged in a fair business transaction, that he had a license to sell, and that if they did not believe him they could have him arrested. The eager pursuers looked vaguely at the bogus trash they held in their hands, slow to believe that they had been so horribly sold. But as the painful conviction forced itself upon their minds, they quickly pocketed their lockets and retired. One of the strangest things in connection with the sell is the fact that, though between twenty and thirty of the crowd bought lockets, it is almost impossible to find one who will acknowledge the corn.¹

•••••

Mysterious Suicide of a Frenchman.–Rene Gartien, a Frenchman, committed suicide this morning, at his boarding house, No. 219 West 48th street, under peculiar circumstances. It appears that about 9 o’clock this morning, some police officers called at the house on official business. Gartien seemed much alarmed at this, and suddenly went up to his room and locked the door. In a few moments afterwards, the inmates of the house were startled to by the report of a pistol in the room. The police were notified of this, and Sergt. Murphy, of the 22d Precinct, went to the house, and on bursting the door of the room, he found Gartien stretched lifeless on the bed, with a pistol shot wound through his forehead. A pistol with one barrel discharged was found on the bed beside him. He had just expired. In his room was found a trunk containing $2000 in gold coin, and a mass of correspondence, some of which leads to the supposition that he was in correspondence with the rebel agents in Paris. Some of these documents, it is said, had been intercepted and opened before reaching the hands of the deceased, which, it is supposed, had been done by Government detectives. The fear of detection, it is thought, prompted the deceased to commit suicide.–N. Y. Express.

The Printer’s Style.–The following mild and perfectly proper and intelligible directions of the foreman of a newspaper composition room to one of his hands will give an idea of this:

“Jim, put Gen. Beauregard on the galley, and then finish the murder of the Negro you commenced yesterday. Set up the ruins of Guyandotte; distribute the small-pox; you need not finish that mutiny; put the mumps in the paper. Pitch that pi into hell, and then go to the devil and he will tell you how to dispose of the dead matter.”–N. Y. Evening Post.

•••••

Rich Colored Men.–Ciprian Risand is worth over a million of dollars, and is the richest colored man in the United States. The colored men in New York have many rich men, among them Peter Vandyke, Robert Watson, J. M. Gloucester and Md. Crosby, who own about three million of dollars in property, real estate, and otherwise. In Philadelphia there are, out of four thousand families, nearly three hundred living in their own houses. Among the rich men are Vidall, Frossar, White, and Stephen Smith, the latter said to be worth over $500,000.–New York Herald.

•••••

A Change.–The Boston Traveler says:

Those persons who think that the President is to be during his second term the same kind of man that he was in the first term, will probably find themselves mistaken. Times have changed, and the man has changed with them. In how much danger Richmond is we know not, but we do know that Washington is out of danger; and now that the President need no longer fear being driven from the capital, he thinks he can be independent, and act as captain of his own ship. Re-elected in the most signally triumphant style, and standing at the head of the nation because a majority of 460,000 of his countrymen have placed him there, and supported by the brilliant victories of Sherman, Thomas, and Sheridan, he is a very different man from what he was down to last autumn. He is so strong that he can play Jackson’s part with effect; and we rather think he means to play it. The higher the head the greater probability of his hitting it. He is cast for a new character, and he would be more or less than human–and he is neither–were he not to feel the difference that there is in his position. What he will do we do not predict, but we are confident that he will not be what he was from 1861 to 1865. It will not surprise us to see him become the most individualized of all our Presidents, and personally impress his character on the country, after his own peculiar fashion.”

MONDAY
MARCH 13, 1865
THE MACON DAILY TELEGRAPH (GA)

Virginia and Lee.

We have already published a meagre report of the proceedings, says the Mobile Advertiser & Register, alluding to the monster assemblage of Virginia freemen, and we advert to it now for the purpose of calling special attention to the brief report of the opening address of Mr. Hunter. Unsatisfactory as the report is, it contains matter to stir the heart of every Southern citizen whose blood is thicker than water. He tells us what was revealed in his interview with Lincoln and Seward, of the fate to which these men mean to doom us–that we are to lay down our arms as “rebels,” and be treated as “rebels” guilty of this war and its blood, and to receive such grace as he, Lincoln, may see fit to accord. We are to give up our leaders to the scaffold. Lee, Johnston ad Forrest, men of the South, are to be given up by you, to Lincoln’s hangman, as the price of peace to you and your children. Your President must be hung, like a dog, on the gallows, surrounded by your leading Senators and Governors, and your military heroes, to expiate the crimes of this “wicked rebellion.” Who votes for it? Who is for buying peace and slavery at the price? Who, but a hind in heart and a dog in forehead?² Virginia has answered the question and we are reliably assured by a gentleman of the army, just from Richmond, has already rushed 20,000 of her armed sons to the standard of General Lee. This great chieftain is calm and confident under the storm of war that is gathering by his foes, in the vain hope of overwhelming him.

Governor Smith, a few days ago, wrote to ask his opinion of the situation, and to know what the Chief Magistrate of Virginia could do to strengthen his hands for the defence of her independence. General Lee replied that there was no occasion for alarm. He had defended Richmond successfully against greater odds than now threatened it–that thanks to the patriotism of the Virginia people and the energy of her Governor, he as strong enough to hold his lines against Grant,  and launch against Sherman a stronger army than that with which he fought the battle of Sharpsburg. That such a letter was written we have the most positive testimony. Our informant represents the people and the troops in Virginia as in a glow of warlike enthusiasm, in painful contrast with the poverty of spirit he has discovered since he came farther South. Is there no clangor of brazen trumpet stirring enough to thrill the marble hearts of certain people amongst us? No roar of artillery or thunder clap from Heaven deep enough to startle them into a sense of the danger, the duty, the glory of the hour? The true men are awaking, and the sound of their voices is coming to see us from every section. If eh despondent, the croaking, the whipped, will not help them, they must carry the patriotic burthen themselves. But they have at least the right to demand of the white men who are ready to become white slaves, that they hold their peace and throw no obstacles in the path of duty and honor.

•••••

A Child’s Patriotism.–A little girl in New Orleans, some eleven years old and withal very pretty, refused to go into a children’s ball because it was given by a lady of known Yankee proclivities. “I don’t want to dance under the Yankee flag,” she said. “Are you then such a good Confederate?” remarked a friend. “Oh, yes.” “Well, what would you give to see the Confederates come back?” “I,” said the little beauty, evidently seeking what sacrifice would be adequate to the fulfillment of her great wish, “I would let all my front teeth be pulled out!” When we said that the child was remarkable for the beauty of her teeth, her proposed sacrifice assumed a magnitude unsurpassed by any of the many sacrifices that have been made for the cause of our country.

A Bold Attempt.–On Wednesday night, about eight o’clock, three Negroes, with a one-horse dray, drove up in front of the old store of McGough & Co., when two of them proceeded to the back part of the building, and after forcing an entrance through the back door, leisurely began to load their dray with tobacco, flour, etc., and when detected had in the wagon one box of tobacco, three sacks of flour, and several other articles. Two of the Negroes were captured, and one made his escape, but was fired upon four times with a pistol in doing so. Very little respect seems to have been entertained for our policemen or the present police system. A few minutes after the reports of the pistol, the provost guard was turned out en masse, but did not succeed in doing any good. The fact is, our police force should be largely increased, and their efficiency stimulated and encouraged. Thieves seem to be determined to carry the day, and unless something is done to thwart their purposes, they will certainly succeed. Let our authorities put themselves to work, and see if means cannot be devised whereby this system of thieving may be checked.–Columbus Enquirer, 10th.

•••••

From the Carolina Front.

Augusta, March 11.–The greatest enthusiasm is apparent in the streets of the city to-day. Thousands of soldiers from the Armies of Virginia and Tennessee have congregated here during the past ten days. By order of Gen. Fry, Gen. Johnston’s appeal to his soldiers and Gen. Lee’s amnesty orders have been printed and scattered broadcast over the country where newspapers do not reach in the department. The effect is visible already in the hundreds who are arriving at the camp of direction daily. Their shouts of enthusiasm are heard at all hours, as the crowded trains pass through the city.

The enemy has been progressing very timidly since he left Chester. Rumors of a battle having been fought between our forces and the left wing of Sherman’s army, near Florence, have not been authenticated. The Yankees occupy about sixty miles in width as they move. Our troops are operating on the north side, skirmishing heavily daily and exhausting Sherman’s main strength and forces by a series of annoyances, and avoiding battle as much as possible.

Yankee accounts of the fall of Wilmington are very much magnified. Our actual loss did not exceed two hundred men.

Negro enlistments progress rapidly in Charleston and Savannah. A large number of Yankee recruiting officers and commissaries are operating in the neighborhood of Savannah, and as far as the Altamaha river.

A special to the Constitutionalist from Richmond says the Negro soldiers bill was laid on the table by one majority in the Senate on the 24th ult.

TUESDAY
MARCH 14, 1865
PROVIDENCE EVENING PRESS (RI) 

NEWS FROM NEWBERN.
The Enemy Receiving Reinforcements.
A BATTLE IMMINENT.
Sherman’s Movements a Mystery to the Enemy.

Newbern, N. C., March 11, 9 a.m.–The enemy are elated with the capture of two or three small guns and a line of skirmishers on our front. They made several charges yesterday of the most reckless character, in which they were repulsed each time with heavy loss.

Our forces are well entrenched, and are now within three miles of Kinston, to which point the railroad is now completed.

The enemy continue to receive reinforcements, and evidently intend to make a stubborn resistance at Kinston.

Gen. Couch’s division from Wilmington communicated with Gen. Cox, from Beaver Dam, a point he had just reached, which is eight miles from Cox’s Headquarters. Gen. Couch joins Gen. Cox’s forces this morning, which indicates a battle to-day. The enemy show signs of weakness and will doubtless fall back to the other side of the Neuse river and make a stand in Kinston. The enemy are reported 15,000 to 25,000 strong. A rebel ram is stationed at Kinston to protect the bridge across the Neuse, which is quite an extensive structure.

It is reported by deserters that Gen. R. E. Lee and Major Gen. Breckinridge, from Richmond, visited Kinston and gave instructions.

Maj. Gen. Schofield remains in the field with Maj. Gen. Cox, giving every movement his personal attention. The enemy are much alarmed and mystified in regard to Sherman’s movements. We expect to hear from him in a day or two. Maj. Gen. Cox issued orders congratulating the troops on the heroic manner in which they met the enemy, and successfully sustaining themselves thus far.

•••••

The loyal white Unionists of Charleston are dividing the Union men into the first, second and third classes. Gov. Aiken was elected a first-class Unionist. These men have queer ideas of the union as it is, however. A correspondent says they are quite willing that the traitor who delivered the cutter Aiken in Charleston, or the butchers Poucher and Fitch, who mangled our colored soldiers, and who are also there, shall, by taking the oath, lord it over the brave Robert Small, who delivered up a steamer to us, or over the brave and exultant loyalists who received up with tumultuous delight, and are flocking to our standard by the hundreds.

•••••

No Use Rapping.–Upon the Salisbury road, just outside of the town, there is a cemetery, the broad gate of which is seldom closed. Just at the entrance is a receiving tomb with high front and iron door. So much for the “scene.” Time 1864. Neighbor L***, so called for the want of a better name, had been out of town and was on his way home. During his absence he had indulged somewhat in those libations which inebriate.

Approaching the cemetery, he, supposing the tomb to be a tavern, drove up his team, and hitching his horse to the gate, walked leisurely to the door and commenced knocking. The length of time which he continued knocking deponent saith not; he only knows that a gentleman driving by the scene halted, and inquired of the man in search of the landlord under difficulties, what he was about.

“Tryin’ to wake these folks here–can’t rouse ’em–should think they were all dead!”

“Why, this is a cemetery, sir; and you are rapping at the door of a tomb.”

“Am I?” said the man, who took the information very coolly, “then I guess it’s no use rapping any longer,” and off he went.

Signs of Dissolution.–The N. Y. Tribune very truly remarks that “if the Slaveholders’ Rebellion is not in a very advanced stage of decomposition, then all signs fail and history is a huge, consistent imposture.”

Among the recent indications we note the dissatisfaction with those who opposed the Negro-arming bill, and the intense feeling of the latter in opposing it. Senator Wigfall called the Virginia Legislature a one-horse concern, and demanded Jeff Davis’s resignation, and the Sentinel in reply says that “his speech was violent, unpatriotic and censurable in the highest degree; devoted to the advocacy of extreme fancies and to the abuse of those who stand infinitely higher than he in the public confidence.”

The Sentinel also contains a severe editorial denouncing certain States that “are threatening to desert the rebel cause.”

•••••

A Trap for Bounty Jumpers.–Col. Baker, the government detective, has successfully sprung a trap upon New York bounty jumpers, who have heretofore enlisted and deserted with impunity. The affair is thus described in the New York Herald of Sunday:

Boldly cutting loose from all former plans, the Colonel determined to adopt newer and bolder tactics, so he opened a recruiting office in Odd Fellows’ Hall, Hoboken, about a week ago. The stars and stripes flew from every part of the building, and large posters informed brokers, jumpers, and every one else, that fabulous bounties were paid at the United States rendezvous. It was freely circulated that large bounties were paid, and that it was the easiest thing in the world to get off with a pocketful of greenbacks. Some of them were enlisted and let off.

Bargains were made with brokers, who were to bring none but those who had jumped the bounty and were well posted in the business. Thus everything worked to a charm. Yesterday there was an immense rush to enlist. The men could not be mustered in fast enough. The medical examination caused little delay. The door was blocked by nearly all the bounty jumpers in the city. The design of Col. Baker was to get in as many as possible before closing the day’s work, for if the day passed without the re-appearance of the enlisted men, no more would be enlisted. The trick would be discovered.

Towards evening, when the business was at its height, the brokers held a consultation. They demanded of the recruiting agents where these men were tat were enlisted in the morning. Excuses were given and the work went on. At length they deliberated again, their suspicions having bee now keenly aroused. They determined to suspend operation, concluding this to be more of Baker’s work, and shut down. It was now too late. Col. Baker had soldiers secretly conveyed from Governor’s Island. They were already among the jumpers enlisted, and these, to the number of seven hundred, were secured. Besides these were seventeen brokers taken. The surprise of the bounty jumpers when they were placed among regulars for safe keeping, as they were ushered into the large room of the depot, is described as most extraordinary. It was only equalled by the dismay of the brokers when they were taken. All hands were soon placed in irons, and marched down to Governor’s Island.

WEDNESDAY
MARCH 15, 1865
THE CONSTITUTION (CT)

War News.

By an arrival at Key West we are told that an expedition comprising all the available troops at the key, under Gen. Morton, aided by four gun boats, had just started to take possession of St. Mark’s, one of the very few little ports now of possible access for blockade runners. The result of the venture was not known when the steamer bringing this much about it sailed.

We have news from Hilton Head to the 6th. The United States steamer Harvest Moon, Admiral Dahlgren’s temporary flagship, was blown up by a torpedo on the 2d while coming out of Georgetown. The Admiral escaped injury. No lives were lost.

Everything is progressing smoothly in Charleston. Traders are beginning to open their stores, and the city is rapidly assuming a business aspect. On the Northeast Railroad, the cars are running as far as Goose Creek. Gen. Potter has advanced to the Santee River without meeting opposition.

Richmond papers of Friday, 10th inst., contain the important intelligence that on the 8th Gen. Bragg attacked a Union force four miles in front of Kinston, N. C., and drove them back three miles to another line, where, apparently, they maintained their position. Gen. Bragg admits that the ground was “obstinately disputed,” but claims that his own loss was small, while he asserts that we lost heavily in killed and wounded besides 590 men taken prisoners. The news of this battle was received in Richmond just in season to shed a dim light over the “darkness visible” of the day appointed for humiliation and prayer throughout the South. This news is important as showing the exact position of the rebel Generals Hoke and Hill, with commands who are commended by Bragg for “exhibiting their accustomed gallantry.” So it is evident that these Generals are not in Sherman’s immediate front. Union accounts will probably show that the rebel General exaggerated the importance and extent of the whole affair.

Reports were current in the Army of the Potomac on Friday last that an extensive mutiny had broken out in the rebel army, and that extreme measures were required to quell it. It was also rumored that a force of Union cavalry had appeared on the north side of Richmond, and was having an engagement.

Gen. Sheridan updates a dispatch at Columbia, Va., on the 10th inst., in which he says he sent one division of cavalry to Scottsville on the James which had gone as far south as Duguidsville, only 15 miles from Lynchburg, and had also destroyed the bridges on the Rivanna river. This division made an almost complete destruction of the great canal running from Lynchburg, and which Sheridan called “the Feeder of Richmond.” Locks, bridges, canal banks were destroyed, and finally the James river was turned into the canal. Twelve canal boats loaded with supplies for Richmond were captured. Another  division went down the railroad to Amherst C. H., 15 miles from Lynchburg, destroying the railroad in like manner. The two divisions would have crossed the James, but the rebels had burned the bridges.

Loss and Gain.

The Yankees have in the long run the advantage in captured artillery during the war. At the commencement and during the second year, the rebels boasted of their captures in heavy ordnance. This, with what was taken in the forts and navy yards, captured through deceit and fraud, swelled the amount to good round numbers. Since the 15th of December last, our boys have relieved the south of the care of eight hundred an forty-five pieces; add to this their loss by the blowing up of iron-clads, and the number will amount to nearly a thousand pieces. The number taken before this period was not far from nineteen hundred. This has been done by fair and valorous fighting. Our men have stormed battle walls and faced death in a thousand ways to accomplish it. Compare this with the treacherous surrender of the Norfolk Navy Yard with a thousand pieces of ordnance. There was no valor shown there–simply robbery. Our noble Lieut. General can congratulate himself that a large portion of this advantage has been accomplished through his exertions. He took the lead, and his brave generals have followed it up. This is not all. The guns taken from us at the first were from old patterns. Those which have come into our possession have been of the best English make, not omitting the famous Whitworth and Armstrong gun, bearing the stamp of the British (neutral) government upon it. The south to-day is weaker than at the start. They have not been able to accumulate To cover this defect they are compelled to contract their lines. Neither “blessings in disguise” or southern chivalry can overcome it.

•••••

Then and Now.–Four years ago Jeff Davis said in his message that Virginia alone could sustain the war for twenty years, and that Richmond would never be evacuated. As time has progressed, so have some men’s opinions changed. Judging from extracts in Richmond journals, those “twenty years” will be very short unless something “turns up.” The “blessings in disguise” which have been showered upon them lately, have proved too much. The recent message of Gov. Brown of Georgia doesn’t sound well. The “F. F. V.’s” think that those who urged on the war should now see it through. Virginia has been the battle field, and demands support from the other sister states. These “sisters” cannot see the point, while Sherman is marching his army through their territory. “State rights” is the point at issue, and demands immediate attention. Meanwhile, the Confederacy may go–no matter where, and the Richmond editors howl until they are tired. Twenty years’ war is not what is most desired at the present time in the south.

THURSDAY
MARCH 16, 1865
THE SALEM REGISTER (MA)

The News from the army is most encouraging. Advices direct from Sherman assure the Government that he had done finely and all was going well. His dispatch to General Grant is dated at Laurel Hill, North Carolina, March 8th–last week, Wednesday. When last previously reported, Sherman was said to be at Cheraw, S. C., about twenty miles south of the Northeastern State line. Chesterfield, one of the towns mentioned in the Wade Hampton correspondence, is about fifteen miles west of Cheraw. Laurel Hill is about twenty miles from the line, is on the road to Fayetteville, N. C., and within fifty miles of it. The latter place is on the Cape Fear River, which is navigable at this point for large boats. The city contains some four or five thousand inhabitants.

The Herald’s Washington dispatch says no doubt is entertained there that Sherman has reached Fayetteville, N. C., without an engagement of any kind except cavalry skirmishes, He will be joined at Fayetteville by Schofield and re-supplied. The direct communication with Sherman, notwithstanding the boastings of the Richmond press, shows they cannot stop his progress.

Bragg’s alleged great achievements at Kinston diminish very materially now that we have Union accounts. In the continued skirmishes and engagements there our forces suffered the least and held their ground firmly, repulsing several desperate assaults, while the enemy finally retired across the river. Among the regiments engaged, the Massachusetts 17th, 23d and 27th are mentioned–a portion of the latter being out-flanked, outnumbered and captured after heroic resistance.

Sheridan’s new ride will render his name doubly famous. He has inflicted much damage on the enemy’s communications and created a great panic in the Rebel capital.

The Massachusetts 40th regiment is reported as having taken an honorable part in the very successful tobacco expedition to Fredericksburg, last week.

•••••

[OFFICIAL.]
Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Executive Department,
Boston, March 11, 1865.

The President of the United States, by his Proclamation issued this day, has given notice that all men now in desertion from the Military or Naval service, who shall on or before the “10th day of May, 1865, return to service or report themselves to a Provost Marshal, shall be pardoned on condition that they return to their regiments and companies or to such other organizations as they may be assigned to, and serve the remainder of their original terms of enlistment, and in addition thereto a period equal to the time lost in desertion.”

After that day deserters who have not returned and reported will by law forfeit their rights to citizenship, and to become citizens, and will be forever incapable of holding office or exercising any of the rights of citizenship in the United States–besides being liable to arrest and military punishment.

I avail myself of the earliest opportunity after the Proclamation of the President, in this public manner, to advise all persons liable to the charge of desertion to accept at once the President’s offer of pardon; to report themselves immediately to the nearest Provost Marshal; to return to duty and obedience; to retrieve their reputation, protect themselves against punishment hereafter, and save from certain forfeiture their precious rights as American citizens. I appeal to the neighbors and friends of such deserters–especially to the mothers and wives who have heretofore invoked so often my advice and interposition–earnestly counselling them, both as a magistrate and as a man, to influence and persuade the absent to return and seek the shelter, pardon, honor and happiness which now await them under the Union Flag.

John H. Andrew.

Capture of Kinston!
Sherman at Fayetteville.

Advices from Washington last evening were to the effect that the Navy Department had received a dispatch from Fortress Monroe announcing the arrival there of the Monitor Lehigh from Newbern, bringing the intelligence of the capture of Kinston by Gen. Schofield’s forces, and the falling back of the rebels to Goldsboro. There was great rejoicing at Washington.

Steamer Champion, from Wilmington, at Fortress Monroe, reports that, on the morning of the 11th, scouts from Sherman’s army reached Wilmington with the news that Sherman and his army had reached Fayetteville, N. C., and were encamped in the immediate vicinity, quietly resting preparatory to another march northward.

The Boston Herald’s Washington dispatch says a direct appeal from Richmond, through the clergymen of that city, was made to President Lincoln, on Tuesday, for food for the women and children in the rebel capital, tobacco and cotton to be furnished in exchange.

•••••

Foreign Salt.–It is important for fishermen to take notice that the collectors now require a certificate that foreign salt used in curing fish has paid the duty in full to the United States government, before they will pay the bounty. Fishermen have often been in the habit of going to the Provinces and taking in their salt there, and then going on their voyage, at the end of which they would draw the bounty for using foreign salt, when after all they had imported their salt free of duty. Hereafter they will lose their bounty in these cases, and be in danger moreover of having their vessels seized for smuggling salt. A considerable portion of the fleet is already supposed to have incurred this liability and more will do so, unless they take notice of the strict requirements of the law as now enforced.–Daily Advertiser.

It should also be remembered that, as the Government never was in such a strait for money as now, so it becomes stricter and more exacting in its instructions to disbursing officers, and therefore it behooves those who intend to claim fishing bounties next season, knowing the jealousy entertained of the whole system at Washington, to see to it that nothing is omitted in the outfit and management of their vessels, which the most unfavorable construction of the law can make necessary.

•••••

War Items and Incidents.

Col. Baker, the U. S. detective officer, is reported to have captured between 500 and 600 bounty jumpers and brokers by means of a fictitious recruiting office in Brooklyn. They have been sent thence to Gen. Grant, with the special request that he will put them in the front rank in the next battle. They comprise some well known desperate characters.

Movements indicating preparation for the abandonment of Richmond have been in progress for some time. The heavy machinery for manufacturing iron has been removed, also the machinery of their percussion cap manufactory, and all the carpenters in the city were at work, filling large government orders for packing boxes.

Richmond papers how that the rebel Congress, which was to adjourn last Saturday, have, at the request of Jeff Davis, postponed the adjournment, he informing them he expected to have something of importance to lay before them.

FRIDAY
MARCH 17, 1865
THE BOSTON HERALD

IMPORTANT OFFICIAL NEWS!
LETTER FROM  SHERMAN!
Only One Paper Issued in Richmond Yesterday.

City Point, March 16, 1865.

Hon. C. A. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War:

I am just in receipt of a letter from General Sherman, of the 12th, from Fayetteville. He describes his army as in fine health and spirits, having met with no serious opposition. Hardee keeps in his front at a respectful distance. At Columbia he destroyed immense arsenals and railroad establishments, and forty-three cannon. At Cheraw he found much machinery and war material, including twenty-five cannon and thirty-six hundred barrels of gunpowder. In Fayetteville he found twenty pieces of artillery and much other material. He says nothing about Kilpatrick’s defeat by Hampton; but the officer who brought this letter says that before daylight on the 10th Hampton got two brigades in the rear of Kilpatrick’s headquarters, and surprised and captured all the staff but two officers. Kilpatrick escaped, formed his men, and drove the enemy with great loss, recapturing about all that he had lost. Hampton lost eighty-six, left dead on the field.

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General.

Another telegram from Gen. Grant’s headquarters reports that the Daily Dispatch is the only paper issued to=day in Richmond. It says: “The Dispatch is published this morning on half a sheet only, because of the fact that all the employees, printers, reporters and clerks, are members of military organizations, and were called out yesterday morning by the Governor to perform special service for a short time.

“But for the kindness of a few friends who are exempt from service, and who volunteered their aid, the half leaf presented would of necessity have been withheld. In a few days at farthest, our forces will return to their posts, when we hope to resume and continue uninterrupted our full sized sheet.”

•••••

Latest by Telegraph to Queenstown.

Liverpool, March 4, Evening.–The Times says the fall of Charleston is a victory which will recompense the Federals for many labors, and encourage them to pursue with a renewed vigor the conquest of the South. It believes, although the South is now virtually shut out from the world, that it will continue to show unabated obstinacy in defence.

The Daily News represents itself by editorially detailing the operations of Gen. Sherman in a strain of eulogy.

The Morning Post argues that Charleston was evacuated as a strategic necessity, and says Sherman’s movements have been characterized by foresight and accurate calculations, the result of which places him in the foremost rank of the Generals of the present day.

The fall of Charleston caused considerable sensation. The Times says its influence in favor of the Federals can scarcely be exaggerated.

•••••

Speculations in Regard to Jeff Davis’s Communication to the Rebel Congress.

New York, March 16.–The Richmond Dispatch of the 13th says various definitions are given of the cause for Jeff Davis asking Congress to hold on a few days longer. One was that he wished Congress to define more explicitly the powers, &c., of General Lee as General-in-Chief. Another was that Napoleon had promised intervention if the rebel Government would cede to France Louisiana and oppose the Monroe Doctrine.

Comments of the English Press on the Fall of Charleston.

Halifax, March 16.–The news per the Australasia of the fall of Charleston caused much sensation. The immediate effect was an advance of 2 per cent in the United States bonds, and a decline of 4 per cent in the Confederate loan.

The London Times says: “The influence of the success at Charleston can hardly be exaggerated, and its moral effects cannot but be most powerful on the conduct of the war. It is seen that the population of the Southern States are not able to oppose the march of the Federal armies. The advance from Savannah to Charleston seems to have been as easy as the march from Atlanta to Savannah.”

The London Star regards the fall the fall of Charleston as premonitory of the utter overthrow of the rebellion.

The Army and Navy Chronicle says: “The evacuation of Charleston and Columbia and the concentration of their garrisons will strengthen the hands of Beauregard, Hardee and Hill, but the Confederates are placed in a position of exceeding danger, from which it will require greater genius than ever Lee and Davis have as yet exhibited to extricate them. The purpose of Grant becomes obvious as the campaign proceeds. He holds Lee fast, and thus paralyzes the strongest arm and neutralizes the greatest force of the Confederacy.”

The rebel ram Stonewall continues at Ferrol, watched by Federal cruisers. It is stated that the existence of an alleged leak is not authentically established, for she continued to take on board a large quantity of coal.

In the House of Commons on the 2d, Mr. Shaw Lefevre asked whether the attention of the Government had been directed to the minute of instructions alleged to have been issued by the Confederate Government with reference to the seizure and disposal by Confederate cruisers of neutral vessels without adjudication by a Prize Court, and whether such instructions met the approval of the Government, and if not, what measure would be taken to prevent their being carried out.

Mr. Layard replied that the attention of the Government had been given to the instructions, and they were entirely disapproved. It would not, however, be consistent with the interest of the public service to state what steps had been taken regarding the same.

The Liverpool Post in an editorial contending against a probable war between England and America, says–in a note from a member of the Government, received in Liverpool on the 2d, occurs the following passage–“I hear the city is uneasy about America. We have, however, more pacific and satisfactory declarations from the United States Government than has for a long time been the case.” The Post thinks the new Minister to Washington goes out to reciprocate the words of amity recently transmitted across the Atlantic.

•••••

The Rebels Refuse to Exchange Richmond Papers.–Washington, March 16.­–There is no news by the mail boat from the Army of the Potomac. The rebels refuse to exchange Richmond papers with our pickets, and desertions from their lines are not so numerous.

SATURDAY
MARCH 18, 1865
COLUMBIAN WEEKLY REGISTER (CT)

Fortunes of a Bounty Broker.

The New York Post gives the following description of one of Colonel Baker’s victims:

The man is a resident of Brooklyn, where his father, through strict attention to business for years past, has secured a comfortable income, which the son has shared, though not himself industrious, spending most of his time with the “fancy” of the town. Some months since, however, he struck a prolific vein by connecting himself with the recruiting business of New York. He obtained a liberal per centage on each man enlisted, and as the number of these recruits increased largely, the broker soon found himself in possession of wealth. Eventually he became a prominent object of the envy of his associates; the public eye was fixed upon him, and honest en shook their heads. He exhibited his wealth frequently and in many ways; few persons drove a finer team than his, while at the opera and promenade he appeared in expensive dress in company with a female relative whose diamonds were second to none. Upon his family connections he lavished his means. Among his gifts were hundred dollar hats and a pretty skating cap worth seventy-five dollars. Not long since, negotiations were opened for the selection of a country seat for his accommodation, but in the meantime an elegant mansion “on the Heights” was purchased for the item of thirty thousand dollars, and a pew at a first-class premium was secured in a conspicuous part of one of the most popular Brooklyn churches.

A sudden change, however, has come upon this prosperous individual. For several days his face has been missed in his accustomed places. On Sabbath last, the pew in church was vacant, and it is not only whispered, but pretty well ascertained that he is in the Old Capitol prison at Washington.

•••••

The Great West.

A trip of four thousand miles through the heart of the West awakens a kindling thought of the greatness of the Republic. The West is the Empire, a fact unacknowledged at the East, because the East does not know the West. But an impartial traveler soon perceives that the East is not the Country. New York and New England are but the thumb and forefinger; the West is the rest of the hand.

A Western visit in summer is best for seeing the people. And are they not the heartiest, friendliest, most hospitable of the human race? What a “Scotch welcome” may be, we know not; but if better than a Western welcome, it is better than a plain man deserves. Jostle a Westerner in the street, and at once you are acquaintances; meet him the next day, and you are old friends. A shake of the hand in the West has more grip in it than between New York and Bangor. Child of the East, the West is the the chief crown of the parent. The universal New England element westward, is not only the best part of the West, but the best part of New England; for only the courageous, the energetic, and the conquering have had the will to quit Eastern homes for Western prairies. Thus the early Pilgrims to New England have their truest sons in the later Pilgrims from New England. A Yankee, therefore, does not come to his fullest stature in Yankeeland; the grown Yankee is the Westerner. At the East he is a geranium in a pot, thrifty and prime; at the West, a geranium in a garden, where he grows rank, exuberant and generous.³ New countries greaten men’s souls. ->

Does the West seek a heraldic sign? Let it choose a shock of corn. O bounteous land of small houses and big barns! So fertile is the great Valley that, as Jerrold said of Australia, “Only tickle the earth with a hoe, and she laughs with a harvest!” Though beaten down from their full height by snows, cornstalks are yet standing in January, so high that one riding among them on a tall horse, and rising in the stirrups, cannot touch the tops! The prairies–common-place and sublime–are the gardens of the world! May they ever make farmers rich, and cattle fat!–N. Y. Evangelist.

•••••

Marriage Extraordinary.

A gentleman from the neighborhood of Hancock County, Kentucky, has just given us the following account of a most singular guerrilla outrage. The notorious guerrilla Coulter, who is reported to have been killed in Nelson County, Kentucky about two weeks ago, is the hero of our story.

Coulter entered the village of Rawesville and, going to the Clerk’s office, compelled the Deputy Clerk of the County Court to issue a marriage license, authorizing a minster of the gospel legally qualified to unite him (Coulter) in the bonds of matrimony with Mrs. F., the beautiful young wife of a discharged Union soldier (her husband being in Louisville, afraid to return to the guerrilla-infested neighborhood in which his dwelling is located.) The clerk, in his own justification, entered on his book, “compelled by force of arms to issue this license.”

Having obtained the license, Coulter next sought a clergyman, who, with threats of death, he compelled to go with him to the house and perform the ceremony. Having lived with the doubly-married woman about three or four days, the desperado gave her five hundred dollars in gold, and set off again in search of adventure. Whether the lady was constrained by force, by gold, or by romantic affection, to submit to the double marriage, our informant has not learned. It may be added, as favorable to the best construction which can be placed on the conduct of the bride, that when last seen in eh neighborhood, she was on board of a steamer which was bound for Louisville.–Jeffersonville National Democrat.

•••••

Robbery and Recovery of Money.–Some weeks since, it was announced that an officer named Johnston, on General Shepley’s staff, at Norfolk, had suddenly disappeared, after drawing from the bank a large sum of money.⁴ His mother, Mrs. Johnston, who lives in Third street, South Boston, received from him some thirteen thousand dollars in 10-40 bonds, which she hid between the beds in her room, and confided the fact to a relative. A search was made of the premises on Saturday last by detective officers which resulted in the recovery of $10,500 in 10-40 U. S. bonds, and a receipt for $2,500 in similar bonds, purporting to have been given by Messrs. Burnett, Drake and Co. They had been stolen a second time. It becoming known to other members of the family that the “old lady” had received a large amount of funds for safe keeping for the benefit of her son’s wife, they managed to steal the $13,000 from between the bed and the mattress on which the mother slept. Mrs. Webber, Mrs. Johnston’s niece, and Mrs. E. C. Johnston, were arrested and committed to the Tombs for examination.–Boston Courier.

¹ To “acknowledge the corn” is an expression from the early 1840s meaning “to confess, or acknowledge a charge or imputation.”

² Yes, that’s what it says. I have no idea . . .

³ The meaning of rank in this sentence is not the modern common one, “having an offensively strong odor,” but the older sense of “growing with excessive luxuriance; vigorous and tall of growth.”.

⁴ See the Columbian Weekly Register of 4 March 1865 for the beginning of this story