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by John Beauchamp Jones

JULY 31ST. —Gen. Breckinridge has beaten the Yankees at Baton Rouge, but without result, as we have no co-operating fleet.

July 31, 1862, The New York Herald

Beriah Magoffin, the secession Governor of loyal Kentucky, has just issued his proclamation, calling the State Legislature to meet on the 14th day of August, in consequence of the ominous conditions of things in the Commonwealth, resulting from the late insolent forays of rebel guerillas.

The Governor says: “A civil conflict is impending over us:” that he […..] soldier or a dollar to protect the lives, property or liberties of the people, or to enforce the laws; that appeals are being made to him for protection against marauding bands, but that being left without power, he has no alternative than this appeal to the Legislature, to provide for the defence of the State and to consider the policy to be adopted in regard to the late action of Congress and the President touching slavery, “and to provide the safety of our institutions and the peace and tranquillity of the Commonwealth.” This is very good for Magoffin, and we have very reason to believe that the Legislature will very soon provide the ways and means for the expulsion from Kentucky of these gangs of rebel banditti which, so long as they exist within her borders are a burning shame and reproach to her chivalry and loyalty.

But Kentucky is not the only State suffering from these bands of rebel marauders. From the debris of Beauregard’s late grand rebel Army of the Southwest, Tennessee is extensively infected with these rebel freebooters. Along the southern border of that State they have destroyed or appropriated within the last three weeks millions of property belonging to the government and to loyal citizens, and they are still plundering and burning, and committing all sorts of atrocities upon loyal people, right and left. It also appears that the withdrawal of General Curtis from Arkansas has not only left that State and its Union inhabitants at the mercy of the rebel General Hindman and his local confederates, but that these desperate traitors have been emboldened to detail a marauding guerilla expedition or two for the invasion of Missouri, in co-operation with secession bushwhackers there that had been driven out of the State into their holes and corners by the army of Gen. Curtis.

Unquestionably all these predatory operations of rebel robber bands in Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri are parts of the general programme of Jeff. Davis and his confederates at Richmond. Their Secretary of War has very lately promulgated this fact to the world in an official edict. The object is apparent. It is to divert twenty, thirty or fifty thousand regular Union troops to each of these aforesaid States to the work of suppressing these guerillas, and thus to weaken, to the extent of seventy-five or a hundred thousand men, the forces from which we might otherwise immediately reinforce our two all-important armies in Virginia.

We have no doubt, however, that Gen. Halleck thoroughly understands the game of the rebel leaders, and that he will not be diverted from the great work before him in Virginia by these guerilla tactics of the enemy in the West. The governor of Missouri, a trusty, loyal man, has gone the right way to work in calling out the militia of the State to put down these guerilla brigands there in. We are confident that this movement will speedily re-establish law and order in Missouri, and enable the governor to place twenty or thirty thousand soldiers, armed and equipped, at the service of the President, and for the relief of Arkansas.

The President’s Provisional governor of Tennessee, Andrew Johnson, should, we think, be authorized to call out the militia of that State, and to enforce the requisition by our regular army in that quarter. Thus Tennessee could soon be placed in the possession of a local army sufficient for her own protection against the rebel guerillas with which she is harassed; for we have no doubt that even at this day twenty or thirty thousand first rate Union soldiers may be raised in a month in Tennessee under a levy upon the militia.

With regard to Kentucky, we rely upon her loyal legislature and loyal people. Beriah Magoffin, her Governor, has no power, because the Legislature found him to be in league with secession traitors, and so all power to appropriate money or soldiers was taken away from him or rigidly denied him. In a word, President Lincoln, with General Halleck at his elbow, and in co-operation with the local authorities of Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri, can amply provide, not only for the expulsion of the rebel guerillas of said States, without drawing upon our military forces in any other quarter, but can render those States of great service to the general cause, in their contributions of soldiers for active service in other States; and we hope that this plan of operations, or something like it, will, as fast as possible, be put into execution.

July 31, 1862, The New York Herald

Our Army Correspondence.

HARRISON’S LANDING, July 28, 1862.

Another instalment of our sick and wounded prisoners, taken in the late battles, arrived today from Richmond. Most were brought direct from Savage station, via Richmond, Petersburg and City Point, being conveyed here from the last named place on board the steamers Daniel Webster and Louisiana. Between five and six hundred arrived altogether. All of these, except about forty, were subsequently placed on the Daniel Webster, which this evening set sail down the river to convey those on board, some to Northern Hospitals and some to their homes. Foremost among those boarding the steamers on their arrival here were General McClellan and Dr. Letterman, medical director of the Army of the Potomac. The former, in looks and works, showed a deep sympathy for the brave heroes who have nobly and patriotically endangered heath and life in their country’s service. The brightened looks and hopeful and pleased expression of the men showed soldierly appreciation of the visit of their commanding general.

Our men released from the confederate capital have each their story to tell. It is saddening to listen to them. I have noticed a feature in nearly all theses recitals — a feature all the more beautiful in its manifestations from its rarity — total abnegation of self. Scarcely one speaks to you of his own sufferings; the privations and heroic endurance of his companions are uppermost in thought and utterance. Saddest of all are the stories told of those dying from their wounds; how each day saw them grow weaker; how, as their end approached, the brighter and shining qualities of mind and soul shone out in lustrous and unselfish beauty; how in the ebbing away of their young hearts blood, came welling up words of entreaty to all about them to stand by the Stars ands Stripes, how, came memories of absent friends and dying messages and mementos sent to loved friends at home. These mementos — a watch from one, blouse from another, portemennate here, sword there, pistols, flasks, canteens, belts, pocket knives — are mute messages of the man of war. How much of sorrow they will carry with them into many a household.

Among those with whom I had the longest conversation today is Dr. Churchill, surgeon, Fourteenth New York Volunteers. He states some new facts of interest. While remaining behind to aid in taking care of the wounded at Gaines’ Mills he was taken prisoner. From there he was removed to Savage’s station, where he was given the charge of about five hundred of our wounded. The sufferings of our men here from want of medicines, surgical instruments and proper food and shelter, and the privations and hardships undergone by the surgeons, have been too frequently described to render a repetition necessary. They paid from $14 to $16 a piece for lambs to make soup for the men and some died of actual starvation, notwithstanding all their care, including two surgeons. He remained at Savage’s station three days, when he was ordered to Richmond, having in his care nearly six hundred wounded. The men were put on platform cars, the rain pouring down in torrents, and most not yet having had their wounds dressed. A rebel major told him that ambulances and wagons would be in wait at the Richmond depot to convey them to hospitals. He saw some wagons whose service he succeeded in obtaining; but he saw no ambulances and no hospitals. The men were all removed into some sheds opposite where they had to remain, with the bare ground for their sleeping pace, no blankets, and nothing but a piece of soft bread for each man to eat for the space of twenty-four hours. He remained in care of these men two days, doing the best he could for them and spending all his own money and all he could get to buy food for them. A good deal of money went but a little way, as may be imagined from the scale of prices as heretofore published — tea, $16 a pound: butter, $1 a pound; milk, 50 cents a quart; eggs, a shilling a piece, and everything else in proportion. Some Irish women came with baskets filled with provisions, and were gratuitously distributing them among the men, when rebel officers, seeing it, put a stop to it. At the end of the two days, Dr. Churchill was invited to dinner by a rebel officer at his private residence with promise of a quiet place for a post-prandial nap. He accepted the invitation. The dinner proved to be mythical, the private residence the military prison where Colonel Corcoran and Congressman Ely were so long confined and the place for sleeping the eleventh portion of a small room alive with vermin and permeated by odors the vilest imaginable. His durance vile — for it was virtually vile — happily was of short duration. After three days’ imprisonment he was sent back to Savage’s station, where he remained until yesterday. Dr. Churchill did not see much of Richmond, as may be imagined from the above recital; but from conversations with rebel officers and soldiers he learned a good deal. After the Gaines’ Mills battle they were all very exultant, and said in less than three days they would have General McClellan bagged and all his army. Subsequent battles diminished their confidence, and he noticed that after the Malvern hill fight they had but little to say. The final result — for they confess themselves whipped in the long run — had disgusted large numbers and hosts were daily deserting. It was universally conceded that they could never gather such an army at Richmond again as was there before the fight at Mechanicsville. The Union call for three hundred thousand additional troops has had a greatly dampening effect upon rebel enthusiasm, and it is acknowledge on all hands that what fighting they intend to do must be done before this reinforcement can reach the Union army. He saw a good many of Stonewall Jackson’s men, who are now pushing after Gen. Pope army. They march nights and rest days, and they only carry a blanket with them, depending for subsistence on the country they rebel over.

There have been no deaths at the general hospital during the past forty-eight hours. It is clearly established, not only from this fact, but from the surgeons’ reports sent in daily to headquarters, that the health of the army is improving.

We are having another visitation of very hot weather, the thermometer reaching the upper nineties, which may possibly tell unfavorably; but it is believed that the supplies of fresh vegetables, now dealt daily to the soldiers, as noted in a previous letter, will have more than a counterbalancing effect. A good deal of the prevalent dibility and bowel derangements is attributed to the sameness and unhealthful nature at this season of the year on the food for some time past dealt out to the men. Absence from so many regiments of surgeons, through sickness and being taken prisoners in the recent fights, has had an unfavorable effect. It is true it has been attempted to fill their places through the employment of so-called doctors, but very many employed in this capacity have proved poor sticks. Some of these have been sent away, and many have run away. Each day calls loudly for some radical reformation in the medical management of the army. It is to be hoped that the daily arrival of released surgeons will afford some relief.

Digging wells is quite a feature of camp life now. One can hardly walk through a camp but he comes upon one or more parties delving the bowels of the sacred soil in quest of the aqueous fluid. It is a fruitless task, or promises to be so in many instances. I have seen wells dug forty and sixty feet, and no indications of the much desired water. Here and there have been found exhaustless springs of the precious liquid, and marvellous stories are told of the successful searchers for theses watery fountains. The crotched stick has been the talismanic wand of greatest potency. Following the direction indicated by the segment of witch hazel — the kind of wood said to possess the strongest indicative powers — they have come upon the earth concealed treasure; and as Moses brought with his rod water from the flinty rock, so, by delving with pick and spade, they have caused the water to gush forth in cool and plenteous streams.

The Louisiana is to return tomorrow to City Point of another load of our sick and wounded prisoners, expected to be sent from Richmond.

The army reviews are still in progress. They are now nearly finished.

July 31, 1862, The New York Herald

No military movements are reported in General McClellan army since our last. Our correspondence from the headquarters will put our readers in possession of everything interesting transpiring there. The wounded and sick continue to be sent down the river, and the personal attention to their wants on the part of the Commanding General is unremitting.

Two fugitives from the rebel camp, who arrived at Harrison’s Landing on Monday, stated that the rebels at the fight at Malvern Hill were panic stricken and retreated to Richmond. They could not be relied on. Hence the reasons for not following our troops. Had we had a few more men, they say that General McClellan might have marched into Richmond easily.

A report was prevalent in Washington yesterday, which originated with some contrabands, that the rebels were evacuating Richmond. Large bodies of troops, it is stated, are crossing the James river and moving southward. It is pretty evident, however, that the movement of these troops means something very different from an abandonment of Richmond.

General Pope reached his headquarters at Warrenton, Va., on Tuesday at noon and was received with enthusiasm. The secessionists appeared to be considerably exercised upon his arrival, but it is said are not disposed to take the oath of allegiance. A portion of Gen. Sigel’s advance drove out the rebel cavalry of Robertson from Madison Court House on Saturday without loss. The rebels are making no demonstration along the railroad, near Gordonsville, though from information received there appears to be little doubt that General Ewell has quite as large a force in that vicinity as we have before reported.

It was rumored in Norfolk that the rebel gunboat ‘New Merrimac’ and a ram, just finished in Richmond, intend to run through our fleet in the James river, and attack the Minnesota and other vessels at Norfolk, and make an attempt to take the city. This would be a bold effort; and, if there be any truth in the rumor, our naval authorities on the river should be on the look out.

A special despatch from Vicksburg, on the 23d recounts the gallant but unsuccessful attempt to capture the rebel ram Arkansas. It appears that, according to agreement between Commodores Davis and Farragut, the fleet from below was to engage the lower batteries, and the fleet above would engage the upper ones, while the gunboats Essex and Queen were in the meantime to attack the Arkansas and tow her out. In consequence of a misunderstanding, only a few shells were fired from the mortars below, and had no other effect than to divert the fire from the Essex, which attempted to run into the Arkansas and jam her against the levee, but the latter swung round and the Essex grazed her side. As she passed she gave the rebel craft three eleven-inch shot from her bow guns. Upon finding herself unsupported she dropped down the river. The Queen, coming to her aid, ran into the Arkansas, making her tremble from stem to stern. Recovering herself, the Queen ran on her again, but so forcibly as to strain her own works badly. Both boats then returned up the river.

It is to be regretted that after such a gallant affair a misconception of orders should have marred success.

The guerillas in the West are becoming bold and troublesome. We learn from Louisville that the Kentucky wandering bands, under Morgan, took possession of Russellville on Thursday, after a collision with the Home Guard, wounding a captain of Kentucky volunteers and killing two lieutenants. To counteract this disaster, it appears that on the following day a large party of guerillas from Boone county attacked Mount Sterling, and were repulsed by the Home Guard defending that place. During the retreat the guerillas were met by a party of the Eighth Kentucky Volunteers, under command of Major Bracht, who drove them back towards the town, where they were again attacked by the Home Guard. The result was a complete stampede of the guerillas, who lost all their horses, eight killed and forty-eight taken prisoners. The number wounded is not known. The loss on our side was three wounded. This class of marauders, which seems now to comprise the remaining portion of the rebel armies in the Southwest, have also shown themselves in Missouri, having crossed the river from Arkansas in large gangs, and are now encamped beyond the State line in the counties of Howell and Rexas. Our troops stationed at Houston, Texas county, however, are said to be numerous enough to repress any advance of the guerillas.

We learn by a despatch from Nashville, that a rebel mail from Chattanooga has been captured by our army. The letters contained valuable information. Beauregard has resigned, and gone to the springs in Alabama. Bragg is at Vicksburg, with twenty thousand men, but is scarce of horses. An artillery company from Georgia could not be supplied with either guns or horses. The rebel letters seized were from Tupello, Miss., fifty miles south of Corinth. The writers are anticipating the early reoccupation of Tennessee by rebel troops, and every rebel warlike indication favors the supposition. The rebels are reported to have evacuated Lebanon, with the intention to mass their troops at a given point for a sudden dash on Nashville.

The guerillas along the Mississippi banks are equally active. Despatches from Rolla, Mo., state that at Stillville, on Sunday night, at least fifteen hundred mounted and armed men had crossed the State road from Potosi to Jefferson, within ten miles of that place. About fifteen hundred have organized and put out from Salem and vicinity within the last three days. Within that time they have passed across the railroad in great numbers between Rolla and Merrimac. They take horses, clothing and ammunition, and supplies of every kind they require wherever they find it.

The steamer Platte Valley, to Cairo, brings the news of the capture of the despatch boat Sallie Wood by the rebels, one hundred and fifty miles above Vicksburg. The rebels had a masked battery, and succeeded in hitting her steam pipe, disabling her. They took quite a number of prisoners and destroyed the boat. The Queen of the West was also fired into on her way up. Two or three were killed and several wounded.

Thus at all points in the West wandering bands of rebels are annoying our troops and obstructing the river navigation.

Our news from the South today will well repay perusal. The admission of the rebel press of the savage vandalism of their soldiery is a fair set-off to the charges that they have been making against Yankees in this respect.

The Australasian, which arrived at this port yesterday, brings us three days later news from Europe. The American question had reached fever heat from the publication of a bogus telegram in the London Times (another Arrowsmith humbug) announcing the surrender, unconditionally, of General McClellan’s army to General Lee, and a good deal more of the same kind. The next day, however, dispelled the illusion, and matters wore a different aspect. An important discussion took place in Parliament on Mr. Lindsay’s motion to offer mediation and recognize the Southern confederacy. After a lengthened discussion, which we give in another column, Mr. Lindsay motion was withdrawn. Lord Palmerston made a remarkable speech on the occasion, appealing to the House to leave the matter in the hands of the government. The effect of the Times canard upon the cotton market was a fall of two cents per pound, but on the evening of the 19th, when the Australasian sailed, the market had recovered, when the news by the Arabia put an end to the hoax.

The Paris correspondent of the London Herald again asserts that the Emperor Napoleon is about to offer the mediation of France to America, and says that the drift of public opinion is in favor of such a course.

The Paris Pays says the departure of General Forcy for Mexico appears to be postponed.

The Patrie says the United States government has offered to purchase the province of Sonora for $6,000,000.

July 31, 1862, The Charleston Mercury

This is a matter which at the present time is of great importance to the people of the South, and it may be interesting to know something with reference to the preparations in progress for obtaining the fall supply. The principal salt works in the South, those of Southwestern Virginia, are now turning out about 3000 bushels per day, and the company owning the works are improving their facilities for increasing the amount. The States of Georgia and North Carolina are putting up works at the Virginia wells, in order to supply their people. Those of Georgia are nearly completed, and will soon commence operations. The salines are very rich, and are believed to be inexhaustible. About 200 sacks of salt, purchased by the City Council of Petersburg, Va. from the Washington Salt Works, arrived in that city Saturday, and has been distributed to the citizens at six cents per pound.

July 31, 1862, The Charleston Mercury

The inhabitants will well remember those ancient, rust-eaten, revolutionary relics which have for years adorned our street corners, and served as supports to that curious crowd of Sunday idlers whose weekly insanity is marked by an extraordinary love of fine clothes and a dogged determination to loiter around alley-ways, and lean against the posts with an aimless yet resolute constancy that no chance or change can overcome.

What will be the astonishment of our venerable friends, and what the dismay of these hebdomadal loungers, to find that the old, familiar landmarks have been ruthlessly torn up and removed from their long abiding places, to subserve the purposes of city defence, after a fashion that need not be mentioned.

July 31, 1862, The New York Herald

Our Army Correspondence.

HARRISON’S LANDING, July 29, 1862.

Quiet still reigns supreme, and not the slightest thing occurs to mar the monotony of camp life. At this particular place (the landing) the arrival and departure of boats vary the scene somewhat; but in the camps the regular and steady habits of the soldier are the only rule observed.

On Sunday the transports Daniel Webster and Elm City were sent up the river to Aiken’s Landing, under a flag of truce, to bring back a number of released wounded Union prisoners. These two vessels returned yesterday morning, having about 700 of these poor fellows aboard. The appearance of the unfortunate prisoners was anything but pleasant. Suffering from want of proper nourishment and medicaments, their frames are wasted to mere skeletons. A number of these poor fellows have not had a change of clothing since their capture, and it was an affecting sight to see the gratitude displayed towards the Sanitary commissioners when new and clean garments were provided for the sufferes. The majority of the returned prisoners were wounded in the last seven battles, and owing to want of accommodations in Richmond, were paroled and sent home. At about ten o’clock yesterday morning Major General McClellan proceeded to the vessels having the wounded prisoners on board. He was accompanied by several of his staff and the generous hearted and true philanthropist, Clement B. Barclay, Esq., whose charitable and self-sacrificing deeds are already known. Mr. Barclay informs me that the beloved Commander-in-Chief of this army walked about among the poor fellows suffering from their wounds, and not only spoke very kindly to them, but ministered to their wants. When they were informed that their visitor was General McClellan, some of them fairly cried, and regretted that their wounds compelled them to remain inactive for a time, but promised to return and fight under the able chieftain as soon as convalescent and absolved from parole. All the spectators of the scene above mentioned were greatly moved by the tenderness and intense feeling displayed by the stern Commander-in-Chief. Invincible on the battle field, his heart was susceptible of the finest feelings and tenderest emotions in behalf of his brave and hardy troops.

Such noble conduct towards his army made Napoleon Bonaparte the idol of his followers, and only adds more to General McClellan to his troops, who is all but worshipped by them already.

Mr. Barclay has had the finest steamboats attached to the Quartermaster’s Department placed at his disposal by Assistant Quartermaster [….. ] Sawtelle, the efficient officer of that department, under Colonel Ingalls.

Yesterday morning the Nantasket Captain Alfred L. Rouell, hauled alongside of the dock and discharged a large lot of lemons, oranges and other delicacies, designed to alleviate the sufferings of the sick and wounded soldiers. His freight will be distributed to the various hospitals, irrespective of State organization, which distinction Mr. Barclay has long since ignored and in his labor of love he knows no difference between Eastern and Western troops, Pennsylvania or other State troops.

A number of gentlemen arrive here, delegated by State authorities to take care of the men hailing from their particular States and, notwithstanding, his mission is praiseworthy, still it has a clannish appearance, while Mr. Barclay spends his own money, sacrifices his health and distributes his bounty to all sick and disabled, no matter what portion of the Union States they hail from.

The mystery of the burning of the schooner on Friday night last has not as yet been solved. The crew thereof are still confined in the guard house, while the captain is reported a prisoner among the rebels. The weather is extremely hot.

July 31, 1862, The Charleston Mercury

The presses of the United States still rely upon the superior physical power of the North to subject the Southern States. In their view, our conquest is a simple affair of arithmetic. As eighteen is greater than eight, therefore eighteen millions of people must subdue eight. They ignore all moral influences. They ignore God. Material, sensual and brutal, they regard a struggle for liberty and independence as an affair of mechanics, in which a longer lever or a stronger pulley will lift the load. So corrupted are they by the prosperity they wrung from the South, that they seem to have forgotten history — their own history, and the history of the people they are striving to subdue. FREDERICK, the Great, with but five millions of inhabitants in Prussia, in a seven years’ war, vanquished Austria, Russia and France combined — each of them being five times as great numerically as Prussia. In the revolution of 1776 we were but two millions and a half of people, against the most powerful nation, by land and sea, at that time in Europe. Since this war began we have vanquished the Northern armies in every pitched battle, although they have had their own time for their preparations. Yet they still argue that, because they are numerically greater than we are, they must subdue us.

BONAPARTE very truly observed that the morale of an army is three-fourths of its strength. An army is not the mere bones, flesh and blood which compose it. It consists of men — with all the passions, feelings, and motives which actuate men. Men may enter an army simply to obtain bread, which is the case with one-half of the present army of the United States; and when brought into battle they will fight, perhaps, under circumstances, very bravely. Men may enter an army on a speculation of robbery. They want the country they invade either as a source of future gain, or of present occupancy. A large portion of the United States army really believed, when they invaded the South, that they were only going down to select fat farms; another portion came to coerce us as their future tributaries. But there is one thing all robbers prefer to robbery, there is a reasonable limit to all adventures. But what are these motives for conquering us, compared with those which must actuate the people of the Confederate States in defending themselves? The land invaded is their land. The property to be appropriated is their property. The homes to be desecrated, or given to the flames, are their homes. The butchery and murder to be perpetrated is of them and their children. Country, property, home, all we love or live for, is put up at every battle as the price of victory. Is it at all surprising that, in such a contest, the Southern people should be invincible? Why should any men in the South survive one day the subjugation of the South to Yankee domination? Death is a thousand times preferable to the doom which awaits him and his. Our ruthless and bloody foes have left us in no doubt as to their designs. They have written them upon their Statute Books; they have proclaimed them to the world. The deeds of BUTLER and MITCHELL are but faint glimmering shadows of the horrible and unspeakable atrocities they meditate for our torture and humiliation, should they succeed in subjugating us. How can the motives of the robber or mercenary arm him with the same intrepidity and desperation in battle, which, under such circumstances, must nerve the arm of the Southern man?

But whilst ignoring all moral influences, our savage foes also ignore God. It is true, that we sometimes see proclamations from their authorities, setting apart certain days for thanksgiving and praise to God, for some successful murder of our people. There can be no more striking repudiation of the Deity that denial of His attributes. How can a God of justice and holiness accept the robbers and murders of an unoffending innocent people? But in their presses they make no reference to God whatever in their meditated slaughter of us. Victory is a simple affair — of so many more men against so many fewer men. God, with thee, does not reign; but Mammon and Moloch. Material, beastly, infidel and bloody as they are — we will scourge them from our land, and make them the hissing scorn and detestation of the world.

July 31, 1862, The Charleston Mercury

HOME, July 27.

To the Editor of the Mercury: Will you not urge upon our Southern people the necessity of putting up fruits and vegetables, and drying herbs to send on to our hospitals bow, reserving some for winter use? Every one should now, and as long as the materials last, be making pickles, catsup, drying apples, peaches, figs and any other fruit they may have. Among the vegetables okra is easily dried, and lima beans will keep all winter, put away after they have fully dried on the vines, (a little sassafras will keep the insects away), and tomatos can be put up in bottles. Let each one think for a moment how acceptable all this will be to our soldiers, from whom vegetables are debarred by the prices asked for them, and none will hesitate.

Let no one think ‘It is but little I can do;’ but each one go to work in earnest, and much can be accomplished. I will give you an easy way of putting up tomatos: Wash and cut up the tomatos; when sufficiently cooked run them through a seive or cullender, add salt and a few pods of red pepper, cook until the consistency of syrup, then bottle and seal. I sent these to camp all winter, and in the ‘Boxes from Home’ nothing was more acceptable.

Now, Mr. Editor, do write a piece that will set our people to work. All they need is that they should be reminded of what is both a pleasure and duty — working for our soldiers!

ANNIE.

by John Beauchamp Jones

July 30TH.—Both Gen. Jackson and Gen. Stuart were in the department to-day. Their commands have preceded them, and must be near Orange C. H. by this time. These war-worn heroes (neither of them over forty years of age) attracted much attention. Everybody wished to see them; and if they had lingered a few minutes longer in the hall, a crowd would have collected, cheering to the echo. This they avoided, transacting their business in the shortest possible space of time, and then escaping observation. They have yet much work to do.

July 30, 1862, The New York Herald

The fate of this rebellion hangs upon the present campaign in Virginia. Jeff. Davis and his confederates have concentrated around Richmond the flower of their forces from all our rebellious States, making, all told, a formidable army, very little if anything below the imposing figure of three hundred thousand men. The rebel leaders have mustered this army chiefly through a sweeping conscription act, under which every able bodied white man within their control, between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five, is declared to belong to the army. Their aggregate armed forces thus brought into the field are fully up to six hundred thousand men; but the elite of all these forces is concentrated in the great rebel army of Virginia.

The fact is pretty well established that, in the late sanguinary battles near Richmond, the rebel forces engaged were twice or thrice in numbers the forces of General McClellan; and, according to our latest reports, reinforcements to General Lee were pouring in by every train from the South, so that we cannot be very wide of the mark in putting down the rebel forces in Virginia, between the line of the James river and the line of the Rappahannock, at three hundred thousand men. We know, too, from the experience of some twelve of fifteen bloody battles, that this is an army of courageous and disciplined fighting men, and that even with our superior arms and warlike equipments we cannot safely undertake to overcome one hundred thousand of these rebels with fifty thousand Union soldiers. Accordingly, we cannot positively assure our readers that we have the campaign in Virginia under our absolute control, until we are officially assured that the forces of McClellan and Pope are well up to the aggregate of three hundred thousand men. We are ignorant of the present forces of both McClelland and Pope. We know that they have been considerably strengthened within the last two or three weeks; but we apprehend that if the calculations and proceedings of the War Office are based upon a Virginia rebel army of less than a quarter of a million of men, Mr. Secretary Stanton is laboring under a grievous mistake.

In the next place, it is very evident from all our advices from Richmond, that the rebel leaders there are not disposed to wait until it shall suit our convenience to resume hostilities, but that, on the contrary, they are busily engaged in their preparations for some dashing and daring enterprise. Stonewall Jackson is reported one day, with an army of forty or fifty thousand men, at or near Gordonsville, and the next day the news is that he in on the south side of the James river, threatening Suffolk with seventy thousand men. These conflicting reports are intended to embarrass Generals Halleck, McClellan and Pope; but we dare say that they understand the true value of all such tricks of strategy. Napoleon Bonaparte made it his first business to ascertain the whereabouts, the forces and the movements of the enemy from reliable witnesses, and we hope that his teachings in this matter will hereafter be more closely followed by all our generals in Virginia than they have been heretofore. The raids of Jackson down the valley of Virginia, and his final escape in time to lead in the overwhelming assault upon the right wing of our army on the Chickahominy could never have happened with anything like proper activity and vigilance on the part of our officers concerned in watching his movements, and in defeating his designs.

With all our Virginia armies, under the superintending eye of General Halleck, we have reason to believe that the War Department will suffer no more panics from these rebel forays in the rear or in front of Washington. We have no doubt that General Halleck has made ample arrangements for seasonable and accurate information of the movements of the enemy, and for strengthening McClellan or Pope as the occasion may require. But, while the government and our army are thus prepared to meet any desperate assault of the enemy, we want to see the army of McClellan and the army of Pope each strong enough to take the initiative and able to cope with any force which the rebels can bring to bear against them or either of them. To this end, in behalf of the universal wish of our loyal States, we again call upon the President to call out the militia if he cannot otherwise immediately reinforce each of our two Virginia armies to the extent of fifty thousand men.

The whole game and issues of this rebellion lie in the all important battle field of Virginia; and between Richmond and Washington, and between this day, perhaps, and the 1st of October or September, or — who can tell? At all events, the sooner our armies are reinforced the sooner will we be ready to resume the march upon Richmond. And if we intend to do any decisive work in this campaign we must prepare to do it before the middle of November; for after that date the common roads of Virginia are impassable till late in the spring. Now is the time for action, and this is the day of salvation.

July 30, 1862, The New York Herald

Our Fredericksburg Correspondence.

FREDERICKSBURG, July 28, 1862.

On Friday last General Gibbon, with the Twenty-third and Thirteenth New York regiments, Second Wisconsin, Campbell battery, Fourth artillery (regular), two companies of the Third Indiana cavalry, under Captain Lemon, and a company of Second regiment sharpshooters, under Lieutenant Colonel Potter, left Fredericksburg with the purpose of reconnoitering the enemy position at Gordonsville and determining the number of rebels threatening General Pope. Accompanied by your correspondent, the expedition began its march about three o’clock P.M., and bivouacked for the night twelve miles from camp. Starting again at sunrise next morning, we advanced until within five miles of Orange Court House, and, having learned that the enemy was in the vicinity in considerable force, planted the battery, arranged the regiments in position for an attack, and after barricading the approaches to our halting place encamped for the night, their infantry sleeping by their arms, and the cannoniers at their shotted guns. Daylight on Sunday morning found us on the march, expecting momentarily to hear the shots of the rebel pickets. Three miles from the Court House their pickets were driven in, and coming out from the woods into the open country preparations were made for an engagement. Beyond the clearing, which is not over half a mile across, the road again enters the woods at which point the enemy made a stand as if determined to give us battle. Pushing on immediately in the rear of our cavalry, the General and staff advanced up to within a short distance of the woods, when, the balls beginning to whistle briskly over our heads, an aid was sent back with instructions to deploy the sharpshooters and a company of the Second Wisconsin to the right and left, as skirmishers, to plant a section of the battery in the road, and bring up the Wisconsin regiment to its support, the other regiments remaining in the woods at some distance to the rear. Off at the left cavalry and infantry were visible, moving towards our front, and for a short time the prospect of a fight was exceedingly brilliant. Pushing back the enemy, our skirmishers advanced into the woods, now and then firing upon the retreating forces, which our cavalry followed down the road and finally after the rebel to within half a mile of the Court House. Having arrested several of the citizens, who separately gave similar accounts relative to the position and force of the enemy, who was represented to be close at hand, the General concluded to withdraw and fall back to our encampment of the previous night, bringing with him an individual who had given information concerning our advance to the rebels, and several contrabands, well posted with regard to the situation. From these sources it was learned that General Robertson was at Orange Court House with two regiments and a battalion of cavalry; that Ewell’s brigade was but three miles distant, and that Jackson, with fifteen thousand men, was but little further off, ready to come down upon us with an overwhelming force at an hour’s notice. From all that could be gained from our informant, it seems that the rebels believed us to be a party from Banks’ command from near Warrenton, and had not the slightest idea of our having come from Fredericksburg. A large number of rebel troops had been pouring up into the valley, and Jackson was lying in wait for an anticipated advance of General Pope, via Madison Court House. With the object of the expedition accomplished, further demonstrations became unnecessary, and General Gibbon determined to return. Before starting, however, he narrowly escaped capture. The enemy had closely followed on our retreat and when we halted were immediately upon our heels. From Fredericksburg to Gordonsville the road runs almost entirely through dense woods, with an occasional clearing of few acres, and many of these without fences or cultivation. In one of the little openings the General and staff were resting, the column having passed on to the distance of nearly a mile. The cavalry were scattered about, grazing the horses, and the rear guard, composed of the sharpshooters and a company of the Second Wisconsin, not having breakfasted, were quietly taking a lunch upon the grass. Suddenly a shot was heard from our picket in the rear, and before we could spring into the saddle the rebel cavalry were within fifty yards, charging furiously down upon us. A well directed volley from the sharpshooters, checked them, our cavalry rallied in a trice, and before the dust had disappeared or we had fully realized our danger the enemy had vanished. Had the rebel known who the parties were whom they probably mistook for stragglers, there is no doubt but that we should have all gone to grace the apartments of some pretentious tobacco warehouse; but the volley from the infantry evidently took them by surprise, and doubtless regarding this affair as a “Yankee trick” they resorted to their favorite system of strategy, and skedaddled. One prisoner was taken, who reported that several were wounded in the repulse, and that in the skirmish of the morning five were killed and a number wounded, including one officer. A few miles this side of the clearing a field piece was marked, and the infantry placed in the woods along the road, with the object of drawing the enemy into ambush, but without success, the rebels having by some means become informed of the troops, as they pushed boldly on again as soon as the gun was limbered up, and the infantry came out from their concealment. After following us several miles the enemy left us and returned to the Court House, giving our troops no further annoyance, the column reaching Fredericksburg yesterday afternoon, without the loss of a man. Troops never marched better, or behaved more gallantly in anticipation of a battle, the Second Wisconsin and sharpshooters particularly meriting admiration by their close order along the whole line of march, and their eagerness for a fight. While out in the field, momentarily expecting a cavalry charge, the men manoeuvered as coolly as on dress parade, and were never more disappointed than when the order was given to return. The Thirtieth New York regiment also deserve great credit for their expedition upon the march, having been delayed until two o’clock Saturday afternoon erecting barricades near the spot where we encamped Friday night, and joining us Saturday night, marching in the afternoon as far as we had gone since early in the morning. The gallantry of Captain Lemon and his Indiana cavalry excited the admiration of the General and staff, and was the subject of encomium from every officer, they having driven the enemy for several miles, with a perfect knowledge of his superior strength. The Sixth Wisconsin went out as reserves on Saturday, returning with the column, there being no occasion for their services, except to guard the plank road leading to Culpepper. A rebel mail captured by our cavalry contained Richmond papers of the 23d, and a number of badly written and worse directed letters, none of which gave any information of interest.

Forage wherever found was secured by the proper officers, and a number of sheep were killed near our bivouac, for which the usual receipts were given. The citizens are remarkably hostile, though very careful not to implicate themselves to any dangerous degree, and, refusing our money seized the worthless shinplasters printed in Philadelphia with avidity in payment of such articles of food as the soldiers bought. These shinplasters are an improvement on the confederate bills, being executed with better finish and upon superior paper, and are invariably preferred by the unsophisticated rebels to their own productions. Scarcely a white man remains in the entire county, and the families already begin to realize the pinching of want, many of them not having provisions enough to last through the fall, and with no money for obtaining more, have indeed a dreary prospect before them.

Last week Lieutenants Richardson and Crawford, Acting Brigade Quartermaster and commissary, seized two hundred and fifty barrels of flour, secreted upon an island in the Rappahannock, above Fredericksburg. Several fraudulent sales had been made of the flour in order to get in into the hands of foreigners, from whom it was thought we would not dare to take it; but the order of General Pope recognizes no other law than that of military necessity and an enterprising rebel, in spite of his imagined sharpness, lost his flour.

Mr. Peter Goolrick, who represented himself as being a British consul at this port, and who was arrested some time since, has been released, and is again flourising about town, though shorn of his borrowed plumes. When we arrived first in Fredericksburg he displayed the British flag; but, suspicion becoming aroused, his house was searched, resulting in the discovery of quite an amount of camp and garrison equipage, several trunks belonging to rebel officers, arms, &c., together with an oath of allegiance to the confederacy, and a paper urging the appointment of his son as captain in the rebel army.

General Hatch, who commanded the cavalry expedition in the vicinity of Gordonsville recently has been ordered to report here for duty, and will take command of General Augur’s old brigade. Nothing could have afforded the brigade greater pleasure, as he is well known and quite popular among the officers, while his seniority of rank places his brigade first on the list. Great indignation is manifested at the action of Congress in dispensing with the regimental bands. Music is the greatest alleviation of the soldier’s hardships, and the inspiring notes of our bands have done more towards keeping up the spirit and ambition of the regiments than any other means that could have been employed. A single week’s observation in one of our divisions would convince any man of the utility of theses band. Regiments without them are almost invariably inferior to those more fortunate, both in drill and discipline, the men seeming to lack that spirit requisite for every emergency which, disguise it as you may, can only be fully developed by the cheering strains of our national airs. Heaven knows our men have hardship enough to contend with: they expect it, and are prepared to endure it; but when Congressmen, in a fit of retrenchment, strike at their chief and only alleviation, while they themselves grow lazier upon their fat salaries, it is not to be wondered at that discharges are frequent or recruiting slow.

Notwithstanding the repeated explanations concerning the Harris cavalry, the papers persist in confounding the Harris Light Cavalry with the Ira Harris Cavalry.

Theses regiments are two distinct organizations, the former being stationed here and the latter with General McClellan. We frequently see notices of some brilliant exploit performed by the Ira Harris Cavalry upon the Rappahannock; while that regiment has its laurels in this region yet to win. The Harris Light Cavalry has been engaged in nearly every encounter with the enemy in this department, having led the advance upon Falmouth, destroyed Beaver Dam Station, and routed Stuart’s cavalry near Hanover Junction, while performing arduous duty at the same time in scouring the country for guerillas and rebel scouring parties; and now, when new recruits are so much needed, the misrepresentations concerning the regiment seem particularly unfortunate.

July 30, 1862, The New York Herald

The news from General McClellan’s army today is not important. The movement of the rebel troops towards the junction of the James and Appomattox rivers, which was reported yesterday, proves to be true, and the statement made to the Union prisoners that they were going to reinforce Jackson is most probably only a disguise to cover the concentration of a large force between Richmond and the Appomattox.

General McClellan spent all day Monday in visiting the hospitals and comforting the sick and wounded soldiers.

Dr. Williams, who has just arrived at headquarters, after a lengthy imprisonment at Salisbury, North Carolina, reports that rebel troops to the amount of one thousand a day passed through that city for Richmond since the seven days’ battle. They came principally from James Island, South Carolina, and from eastern Georgia. Information comes from the same source that the enemy had one hundred and seventy-three thousand men engaged in the late battles before Richmond. It is evident from the statement of Dr. Williams and his companion, Dr. Stone (a Bull run prisoner), that the rebels are concentrating an immense force at Richmond, and are hurrying up men to that point from Tennessee, and nearly all the Southern States.

A slight skirmishing is reported to be going on at Orange Court House, but the results are not important. The forces of the rebel General Ewell, to the amount of some twenty-five or thirty thousand, are said to be scattered along from Orange Court House to Stannardsville, and through Gordonsville. Orange Court House is eight miles northeast from Gordonsville, and Stannardsville is ten miles from the same place to the northwest.

Our correspondence from Fredericksburg will be found highly interesting and full of details relative the movements of General Jackson and the late reconnoissance of General Gibbon.

General Pope and staff left Washington yesterday for his headquarters in the field with his army. He will probably soon have sharp work with Stonewall Jackson.

The news from the Southwest recounts a skirmish which took place at Bolivar, Tennessee, between a body of Union troops stationed there and a force of rebels; but no particulars are given; the evacuation of Grand Junction, below Corinth, by our troops, its occupation by the rebels, as well as of a portion of the railroad between Memphis and Corinth. This intelligence comes from Cairo, and we have further despatches from Jefferson City, Missouri, dated the 28th, which says that Col. Gentar, of the Ninth Missouri regiment, reinforced by Lieut. Col. Shaffer and Major Clopper, of Morrill’s horse, and Major Caldwell, of the Third Iowa cavalry, 650 strong, were attacked at Moore Mills, seven miles east of Fulton, the day before, by Generals Porter and Cobb, 900 strong, and after fighting till after four o’clock in the afternoon the rebels were completely routed, with a loss of from 75 to 100 killed and wounded and one taken prisoner. Colonel Guitar reports a loss of 45 killed and wounded. He captured guns, ammunition, baggage, &c., in profusion. The officers and men behaved splendidly. General Cobb is reported killed. Colonel Guitar resumed the pursuit, and will follow them over the river.

Our news from the South continues, as usual, full of interest. The comments of the rebel press on the condition of our army show how little they really know about the matter. They describe, for instance, a fearful massacre of our troops at Roanoke Island by the contraband negroes, and the evacuation of that place by the Union army. They deny that General McClellan has received any reinforcements since the battle at Malvern Hills. The whereabouts of General Beauregard is said by the Richmond Examiner to be Bladen Springs, South Alabama, where, in company with his family, he is recuperating his health after the severe labors of the Western campaign.

The rebel government, through its Secretary of War, has recognized guerilla warfare, and accepted the services of the bands of marauders who infest the border States and Virginia.

An Augusta (Ga.) paper states, positively, that several prominent general officers were drunk during the late battles on the peninsula, and that many of the men were sacrificed in consequence.

July 30, 1862, The New York Herald

Our Warrenton Correspondence.

HEADQUARTERS, GENERAL POPE’S ARMY.

WARRENTON, Va., July 28, 1862.

TO THE FIELD AT LAST.

In the field at last. After two weeks’ delay in Washington, waiting for the arrival of General Halleck and the various red tape formulas which have hampered and hindered our operations, we can begin to see beginning of the end.

A SABBATH MORNING IN CAMP.

This is the Sabbath, and a more gloomy and dismal one I have never known. Though the sun shines bright as ever, and the weather is as cool and delightful as the most enthusiastic lover of beauteous nature could desire, still there seems to be hanging over all a pall-like sombre entirely unsuited to a scene of such pleasing loveliness. It is like an oriental palace draped in mourning or more like a bride attired in the habiliments of woe. We have no churchgoing bells, no pastoral voices proclaiming the Word, no choral anthems, no songs of the Sabbath schools; we see no people winding their way along the beautifully shaded streets churchward; no bowing in baptism beneath the clear waters; no devotion manifested for the Supreme God who has so lavishly canopied this part of His temple, and so beautifully upholstered with the richest green of nature this part of his foot stool. The churches here are filled, not with worshippers, but with the sick and wounded soldiers of our army. The streets are full, not of churchgoers, but of great army wagons, and mounted men and files of soldiers, hurrying hither and thither. The air is vocal, not with the songs of birds and god-fearing worshippers, but with the clatter of feet, the rumbling of wheels, the shrieking of fifes, the rattling of drums and the cursing of soldiers. But these are to be expected concomitants of war, and as we witness them how much we are inclined to believe that could they have been foreseen how few would have been found, even in this hotbed of disloyalty, who would have consented to the mad scheme which has precipitated these woes upon us. But `tis the school of experience, and `tis to be hoped that the scholars will learn a lesson during the term which will be sufficient to preclude them from ever opening the book of history at the same chapter.

WARRENTON.

I have never seen a description of this place and do not think a just one has ever been published. Therefore let me describe it.

Warrenton, the new […..] of operations (pardon me for the use of the term: I had forgotten that General Pope’s recent No. 1 annihilated such an idea), is a town of about fifteen hundred inhabitants, the seat of justice of Farquier county, Virginia, well built and handsomely laid out on high rolling ground, commanding a splendid view of the surrounding country, about fifty-five miles south of west from Washington, via Orange and Alexandria and Warrenton Branch railroads. Some six miles southwest of the town, on the Hedgeman river, a branch of the Rappahannock, are located the famous White Sulphur Springs, or, as they are better known hereabouts, the “Warrenton Sulphur Springs,” a place of great resort by the middle classes of the Southern pleasure and health seekers. To the north and west of the town rise a succession of hills, glorying in such sobriquets as “Piney Mound,” “Baldwin Ridge,” “Pig Nut,” “Water Mound.” &c., the outposts and pickets of the famous Blue Ridge. As to the quality of the farming land in the vicinity I can say but little. Certain it is, there does not seem to be much grain growing; but the scarcity of cereal crops may be, and probably is, owing to the repeated migrations of the two armies over the country.

POPULAR SENTIMENT.

The society here may be called rebel in the fullest sense of the term. I have been unable as yet to see or hear of a single person, a freeholder, who does not wholly and totally abjure everything smacking of Unionism; and I opine that if the recent order from General Pope be carried out there will be a general skedaddle for Jeff. Davisdom. The people are quiet, however, making no demonstrations outwardly and generally treat our soldiers with respect, and at the same time not attempting to cover up their secession proclivities. This morning I had an accidental but interesting (to me) conversation with a rebel lady of more than ordinary intelligence and accomplishments, from whom I learned much as to the state of feeling here; and, by the way, the knowledge gleaned from this source told me that the rebels hereabout felt no disposition to annoy the Union troops, that all were disposed to treat our soldiers with kindness, and that in return our troops, with a few ignoble exceptions, had reciprocated. The exceptions spoken of were denominated “Blenkermen” and “the chaplains.”

“Fighting mit Sigel?” may be a very good dodge for a Western German soldier to play, in order to get his glass lager bier from some credulous homebody; but, I can assure you, the time is a long way off when a man can get any voluntary favor of any kind from citizens hereaway by avowing that he “mit Blenker.”

THE FEELING AGAINST THE ABOLITIONISTS.

As to the other class of detested ones — “the parsons”— I may say that the feeling against them is unbounded and universal. I would not mention this matter were it not for the fact that the class of men referred to are working the Union cause a vast injury and if such conduct as they are guilty of goes unrebuked by the administration, as well might we attempt to put out a fire with turpentine as crush out this rebellion with arms.

THE NINTH REGIMENT.

Since their occupation of this town they have done much to do away with the bitter feeling of hostility with which Union troops have been regarded by the citizens. Colonel Stiles is universally spoken of as a gentleman of refinement and discernment, and his officers, and men are respected by all — except the chaplain. The Ninth boys are looking and feeling well. All send their love, through the HERALD, to the loved ones at homes.

ANTICIPATIONS OF GEN. POPE.

Some considerable emotion is felt here in regard to the course Gen. Pope will pursue towards the inhabitants. None seems to realize fully that he intends to make them all […..] but this doubting arises from the fact that they do not know the man. I have tried to assure all that the General makes orders to have them obeyed, and that they had better take the fact into consideration; but the feeling against taking the oath is universal, and, if the order is carried out, will swell the Southern army considerably. But time will tell.

ARMY TIDINGS.

As to army news, there can be but little said without interfering with the […..] news question. Suffice it to say that our army is being greatly augmented in numbers, several brigades, having within the last four or five days come and gone on to the selected camping grounds. Col. S. M. Bowman, formerly of New York, and lately a Major of the Fourth Illinois cavalry, is here in command of the Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania infantry. Col. Bowman was promoted to a colonelcy by Gov. Yates, of Illinois, for brilliant services in Tennessee.

STONEWALL JACKSON.

The rebels here are joyous over the anticipated return of Stonewall Jackson to this vicinity, en route to Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston, where he proposes to winter. Shouldn’t wonder if he did spend the winter in that vicinity — a little out from shore, however.

July 30, 1862, The Charleston Mercury

It is perfectly plain, it appears to us, unless some unforeseen circumstance prevents, that the battles at Richmond have to be fought over again. As at Manassas — as at Corinth — so now at Richmond, our brave troops have vanquished the enemy; but, for the want of proper generalship, the independence and peace, which each of these victories ought to have achieved, are lost to us. The forces of the enemy are unbroken; and they will return to the struggle for our subjugation, with heavy reinforcements. President LINCOLN calls on the United States for three hundred thousand more men. We have not a doubt they will be raised. With starvation to the laboring population on the one hand, and money on the other, the army of the United States will be recruited. The army of the Confederate States must be recruited also; but by what means? We see but one resource — another Conscription Law, calling into the service all men between the ages of thirty-five and forty-five or fifty. And this ought to be done at once, and the Confederate Congress be immediately convened together to accomplish it.

We have never been able to see why the Conscription Law as limited to men of thirty-five years of age. NAPOLEON’S Old Guard consisted of men between thirty-five and fifty years old. Soldiers of this age are more endurable — more reliable — and more unconquerable. Conscription is the fairest possible way of obtaining soldiers for the service. It operates equally upon all, and puts the high and the low, the rich and the poor, on the same footing.

Failing to take or disperse the army of MCCLELLAN, there was one other way by which the war might have been closed — prompt and immediate advance on Washington. But we see that, up to this time, GENERAL JACKSON is unable, for want of troops, to assume the aggressive. He cannot attack General POPE. It seems to us that we are re-enacting the Manassas tactics over again. So we suppose the Northern people will be allowed full time to recover from the stunning effects of our late victories, and will again throw immense hosts upon us for our subjugation; and we must gather hosts to meet them. We do not doubt the result; but it is a grievous pity that our troops have never had a General to command them with skill and energy enough to make their victories decisive of any result beyond a mere temporary repulse. The inefficiency of our Generals renders another hecatomb of martyrs necessary to the establishment of our liberties and independence. It is the greatest error that, by not fighting, we save life. A vigorous, active warfare carried on by such men as JACKSON and PRICE would long since have ended the war, and have saved ten of thousands of lives. Will we ever have such a warfare?

July 30, 1862, The New York Herald

Our James River Correspondence.

HARRISON’S LANDING, July 26, 1862.

No doubt by the time this finds its way to the public telegraphic communication will again be established from the front of the Army of the Potomac to all parts of the United States. Until we are cut out from communication with the North we do not fully appreciate its worth. Like railroads and steamboats, telegraphing seems to have become a matter of fact; but allow me to inform the public, and the telegraphic agents in particular, that telegraphing in an army and telegraphing in a peaceful, quiet place, are two different things. Very little, if anything, has been said in regard to this important branch of General McClellan’s army. The Richmond papers complimented this corps highly after they found their lines in front of Richmond running from one division to another in the most masterly manner. In every case, from right to left, their line runs directly to the front, in sight of the enemy pickets.

ARMY TELEGRAPH OPERATIONS.

The corps in front of Richmond consisted of fifteen operators, under the management of Mr. H. P. Caldwell, and during all the battles in front of Richmond they behaved in the most approved manner. During the battle of Gen. Porter corps, on the right, the office under Jesse Bunnel was moved back three different times, under fire; the third time a fragment of a shell struck the top of his magnet and damaged it to such an extent as to render it unfit for use. Another remarkable feat, well worthy of notice was accomplished by Mr. T. H. Fonda and Mr. J. H. Nicholls, stationed at General Sumner’s headquarters. On Saturday evening, after General Sumner had prepared his tents of embarkation to the James river, these young men took out their instrument and opened an office within a few hundred feet of the redoubts in the centre, where General Sumner and staff where at that time watching the enemy.

The manner in which the office was opened was somewhat novel. Boxes of hard bread were piled around the pole until they reached the top, when Mr. Fonda broke the connection and brought the wire together again by a rope. The magnet was then connected and business commenced. Theses operators worked there until seven o’clock Sunday morning, and then retired to Savage’s station. At that time the right wing had fallen back, and everything except a few pickets from the centre. Through the energy of Mr. Caldwell we expect to have communication direct to the North in a few days. Lines are now being run through to the different headquarters . When the line is in operation the movement of the whole army is directed by it.

THE SIGNAL CORPS.

The signal corps have their flags flying from important points; but on windy days messages cannot be transmitted so as to be reliable.

THE ARMY DISGUSTED WITH CHANDLER’S SPEECH.

Within the past few days a profound quiet seems to have settled on our army, and unless reinforcements are soon at hand a profound quiet will mark the days to come. Senator Chandler’s speech has been received in the army with the utmost disgust, and I venture to say his neck would be pinched should he appear within reach of any man of the Army of the Potomac.

INFLUENCE OF THE HERALD.

The HERALD has the unbounded sway among the daily papers which reach us, and it is rather amusing to see the preference manifested. The following conversation I overheard at the Headquarters Post Office last evening: —

MAN WITH SMALL CAPITAL — Give me five hundred HERALDS.

POSTMASTER — Can’t do it. You must take two hundred Tribunes.

MAN WITH SMALL CAPITAL — Damn it, I got stuck on a hundred of that wadding last evening. Never mind, I shalf to take; but I’ll charge fifteen cents for the HERALD to clear me.

Horace might send down some of his strawberry plants to induce circulation, and do well if he could have them ready to pick.

THE WEATHER.

The weather has again become settled, and things are roasting under a burning sun. The sickness in the camp is becoming less daily.

July 30, 1862, The Charleston Mercury

SIR: The undersigned, on behalf of the Executive Committee of the Free Market of Charleston, take the liberty of calling your attention to the important work, which they have undertaken, and in which they respectfully ask your earnest cooperation.

The patriotic struggle, in which we are engaged, has its glories and its triumphs; but it has likewise its trials and sufferings. While husbands and fathers nobly perform their duty, in camp and on the battle field, their families, at home, in too many instances, suffer from the want even of necessary food.

This evil presents itself most strongly in a crowded city, like Charleston, where, even in the ordinary course of things, a large proportion of the population must live, day by day, on the proceeds of their daily labor. The inhabitants of a city cannot raise their own provisions; they must purchase them with their earnings. The stagnation of business, consequent on the blockade, had already greatly diminished the amount of employment, open to the laboring classes; and the departure of so many to the war has debarred hundreds of families from any participation in the small amount remaining. The greatly enhanced price of provisions has still further aggravated the evil. The little savings of families, where any savings existed, are being rapidly consumed. The mutual charity of the poor towards each other was measured by their means, and those means are now exhausted. The fact stares us in the face. Hundreds of families of our soldiers have not earned, and cannot now earn, the means of purchasing even the necessaries of life.

Shall they be left to starve? Shall our soldiers be put to the dreadful test of learning that, while our country calls them away to the toils of the camp and the perils of war, she leaves their wives and children undefended at home, to sink before the assaults of a foe, more terrible and merciless that any they will meet on the battle field? It cannot be. Such a conviction would chill their hearts and paralyze their arms, far more effectually than any military reverse. A country, which would allow such a condition of things, is already conquered.

The same evil presented itself in every large city of the South. First, as is natural, it was seen in the largest — New Orleans. There it has been met and remedied, by the noble charity of the New Orleans Free Market. For the character of that work, the generous emulation with which all classes unite to uphold it, and the good it is doing, we refer to the accompanying extracts, from the address of our Chairman, Richard Yeadon, Esq., on this subject. Mobile and Savannah have also felt the pressure of the sufferings of the poor, and are taking steps to establish similar Free Markets.

Here, in Charleston, the disastrous conflagration of December last, perhaps hastened the coming of the evil, which is now on us in its intensity. For several weeks past, several gentlemen, members of our Committee, have been earnestly laboring to establish a Free Market for the relief of the families of our patriot soldiers. They have met with such success that we hope, within a few days, to see it opened and in full operation.

We now appeal to our fellow citizens, both in the city and in the interior, for their valuable aid; and we solicit from them donations in money, and in provisions of any and every kind.

We beg that you, sir, will unite us cordially and earnestly, in this charitable, necessary and eminently patriotic work, and that you will use your influence with your neighbors to induce them to do the same. We specially request that you and they will be pleased to forward to the nearest Railroad Depot, or such other point as may be deemed suitable, any articles of provision, which, from time to time, it may not be too inconvenient to devote to this purpose.

Contributions may be sent, directed to any one of the under named members of the Executive Committee.

RICHARD YEADON, Chairman.
Rt. Rev. P.N. LYNCH, D.D.
Hon. HENRY D. LESESNE.
Rev. A. TOOMER, PORTER.
Rev. JOHN H. HONOUR.
BENJAMIN MORDECAI.
JAMES ROSE.
Rev. WM. B. YATES.
GEORGE W. WILLIAMS.
GEORGE M. COFFIN.
WM. H. HOUSTON.
JAMES TUPPER.

CHARLESTON, April 17th, 1862.

July 30, 1862, The Charleston Mercury

On Saturday morning a party of five of the Prince George (Va.) Cavalry, Captain MARKS, consisting of Corporal TELLER COCKE, and Privates THOMAS MARTIN, WILLIAM DANIEL, ALEXANDER DIMITRY and WILLIAM WILLIAMS, conceived, and carried out successfully, a private little enterprise of their own, which resulted in the burning of a large Federal transport, the capture of its commander, and the consternation and surprise of the Yankee fleet in the immediate neighborhood.

The party left Coggins’ Point, on the south side of James River, five miles below City Point, about one o’clock, Saturday morning, in an open boat, armed with naked sabres and their revolvers. The Federal fleet of transports and gunboats lay all around them. One gunboat was at anchor about one hundred yards above them, and another half a mile immediately below, while several others, invisible at the time, were off in various positions. The transports lay scattered along the channel, some not twenty yards apart.

After getting amidst them, the party made a reconnaissance to discover the largest, and finally selected a splendid looking schooner, of two hundred tons burthen, which proved to be the Louisa Rives, of New York, loaded with corn, oats, and other articles of forage, and commanded by Captain John A. Jones. As they approached her, a dog on board commenced barking furiously, but they plied their oars vigorously and quietly, and, reaching the bow chains, boarded the schooner without faltering. The crew were sleeping soundly, but the Captain, awakened by the dog, rushed on deck from the cabin, and enquired the cause of the disturbance. He was answered by Martin, who quickly sprang to the deck of the schooner, and informed the Captain that he had come at the bidding of Gen. McClellan to effect his arrest. The Captain expressed great surprise, declared his innocence of crime, and wished to know what were the charges against him. He was told by Martin that he was not there to decide upon his guilt or innocence, nor to prefer charges of any sort, but to effect his arrest, as Gen. McClellan had ordered.

Taking the surprised Captain back into his cabin, he was allowed to dress and secure whatever valuables he wished to carry away with him. The mattresses were then drawn out, ripped open and fired, the door locked and the Captain escorted to the boat. In a few minutes, the party reached the shore, when the flames burst from the fired vessel, and the whole fleet was in commotion. Small boats plied about in every direction, hawsers were attached to vessels, anchors weighed and a general pulling and tugging commenced to keep clear of the burning vessel.

In the meantime, the crew of the Louisa Rives, awaked by the smoke, yelled ‘Fire!’ and scampered over the deck with buckets of water with all the volubility and nimbleness of New York […..]. A boat was sent from one of the adjacent vessels to their relief and assistance, and, for the additional purpose of saving the schooner if possible. But the crew had scarcely mounted the deck before a shell and some rifles, which were in the cabin, exploded. All hands commenced a general stampede, and tumbled over the bulwarks into their boats in the utmost confusion. No further attempt was made to save the vessel, and she burned to the water’s edge.

The heros of this achievement, concealed in the woods above Coggin’s Point, watched the event with the utmost satisfaction, and then carried their prisoner into quarters.

They stated that they would have taken the whole crew, but their boat was leaky, with a hole in one side just a little above the water line, so that, if they had taken the crew in, all could have gone down together. Had they stopped to lower a boat from the vessel, the manoeuvre would doubtless have been observed, and their capture the consequence.

July 30, 1862, Southern Watchman (Athens, Georgia)

by Emily J. Romeo.

                While important questions are attracting the attention of the great men of the country, one equally important and pressing is anxiously agitating the minds and hearts of good women, what shall we do?  It is not a question of how shall I serve my country, for they are not in a situation to serve it except by suffering for it.  They have been driven with their children from their homes, often in such haste as not even to have been able to save their wearing apparel, and they are not only homeless and destitute of the necessaries of life, but many have not even friends to whom they can appeal.  They have been kindly received by strangers and are grateful for receiving this well deserved kindness, but they cannot consent to sit down and fold their hands in idleness, and continue to receive this kindness and make no return; yet, what can they do?  I am not now writing for those that have the means to pay for their board, and buy their own clothes, but for the fatherless and the widow, both of whom I know how to sympathize with, and also for the friendless, and such as are willing to work, but know not what to do.  How shall these homeless thousands earn their daily bread, and support themselves honorably and comfortably till they can return in peace and security to their old homes, and how shall they do it then?  Do not these things call for speedy and serious attention from those who can give the proper directions on this subject?  This is no light supposition of what may require notice in the future, no, no!  The people who wish to know what they shall do to live, are sighing now for answer to the question.

                Let them take in sewing, says one; alas!  how can they do what is not?  Who in these times has sewing to be done, except those who live near the clothing establishments for the army, the very places these suffering people have fled from?  And who ever had sewing enough for so many applicants in the most prosperous times?  Let them spin and weave, says another; very few of them know how, and those who do are unable to obtain cards, wheel and loom.  Some could teach school, says a third, so they could if they could get a school, but look around the land and see how many have discharged the teachers they once employed, because they think it cheaper to neglect their children’s minds than to make them wise and intelligent, at the cost of two or three hundred dollars a year.  When competent and experienced teachers fail to find schools, how shall those who never taught obtain them?  Let the people where the refugees are find work of some kind for them, a fourth suggests—a thing more easily said than done.  But as no one will turn them out of doors, let them wait and see what will turn up, adds another, while the majority sigh and say, “well, I can’t help them, it is all I can do to take care of myself; may be they won’t suffer much.”  It may be true that none will actually be turned out of doors, but it is true that the majority of the people will be tired of giving after a while—it is human nature—and will despense their hospitality grudgingly; and many will not have the means to feed, much less clothe, a family that has been thrown upon them, except for a very limited period, though it is a well known fact that the poor are kinder to each other than the rich are to them.  Are there not many ways that could be opened, if some one who knew how would but begin to let them be known?  Necessity has at last forced upon the country what it was never willing to see or learn before—that women can, if obliged to, work and not degrade themselves by it, and it is for those whom God has blessed by casting their lots in secure places, to help those who are willing, by encouragement and respect, and by honoring instead of scorning them for their noble efforts to be independent.  Not a little effort, and that little soon suspended, will provide ways for those who are now destitute to live, and then the number to be provided for will increase as long as this dreadful war shall last.

                I am unable to think of how or what these ways shall be.  I see that printers are needed, and I remember to have read that in some offices all the types were set by girls, but, should that means of support be offered, it would be only a small drop in an immense bucket.  I have heard of thousands of women receiving work from factories—not cotton factories alone, but factories of the manufacture of thousands of articles such as are needed now, and that the work was given in such a way that it could be taken home.  Now, who will inaugurate such a system here, and benefit both the country by furnishing it with things actually needed, and the women, by giving them the means of an honorable support.

                Other and perhaps better ways may be at hand, but I have waited in vain to see them suggested by wiser heads and abler pens than mine.  The subject demands expedition; will no one take it up?  If I have called the attention of those who can do it justice, it will be well that I have made the effort, for though women’s rights were often denied, or met by a sneer, their actual wants demand speedy action.

by John Beauchamp Jones

JULY 29TH.—Pope’s army, greatly reinforced, are committing shocking devastations in Culpepper and Orange Counties. His brutal orders, and his bragging proclamations, have wrought our men to such a pitch of exasperation that, when the day of battle comes, there will be, most be terrible slaughter.

July 29, 1862, The New York Herald

FORTRESS MONROE, July 26, 1862.

I am credibly informed that large rebel forces are being concentrated on the line of the James river, above the junction of the Appomattox and James rivers. They came down from Richmond by the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad. It is believed they already number from 50,000 to 70,000 men, and that Stonewall Jackson is in command of them, notwithstanding the rumor that he is in pursuit of Gen. Pope.

My informant is very confident that the rebels are now making a bold stand at the above named place, and are bringing all the forces there they can spare from Richmond.

My informant also believed that it is the intention of the rebels to make an attack very soon on Suffolk, as they are said to be within twenty miles of that city with considerable force.

Three companies of Gibson’s battery passed here today, en route to Harrison’s Landing. The companies were full and every man in perfect healthy.

The night before last a company of rebel cavalry came down on Gloucester Point, opposite Yorktown, and seized and carried off a lot of contrabands that had accumulated there, and also forced into the rebel army all the male inhabitants that could be found there capable of bearing arms. They then set fire to a lot of ship timber, and taking with them their trophies, took their departure.

The rebel cavalry are almost daily prowling about that region, seeking plunder of any kind and pressing into the rebel service all the men they can find whom they think can be of any use to them.

Similar depredations are being committed in the immediate vicinity of Williamsburg whether by the guerillas or the regulars of the rebel army it is hard to determine; for the guerrillas, often go clothed like the regular rebel cavalry. By this disguise they assume authority which otherwise they could not do. In their masked characters they commit many depredations, telling of villains they have rightful authority for their act, being regular Confederate cavalry.

Yesterday a man obtained a pass in Norfolk for the purpose of going to North Carolina. He was watched by an officer and followed several miles out from Norfolk, when he took a wrong road and was steering his course towards Richmond. The officer then quickly rode up to him, arrested him, and found upon him two thousand letters he was about to convey to Richmond. He was taken back to Norfolk and lodged in jail to await his trial. He admitted and stated that he got two dollars a piece of conveying letters between Norfolk and Richmond. This will stop the avenue by which letters and papers have been passed to and from Richmond.

The gunboat Dragon was accidentally run ashore yesterday, but was towed off today in safety.

The Nellie Baker has been repaired, and started on her first trip today to Harrison’s Landing, laden with clothing for the army.

The steamer Mystic arrived this morning at Fortress Monroe from Washington, laden with commissary stores, and left at noon for Harrison’s landing.

The steamer P. Donaldson leaves here this afternoon for the James river, with commissary stores.

The steamship Massachusetts arrived at Fortress Monroe today from Port Royal. She is bound to New York. She reports all quiet on the South Carolina and Georgia coasts.

The steamship South American left Fortress Monroe four o’clock this afternoon, laden with contraband. She has gone up the James river.

July 29, 1862, The Charleston Mercury

We think it due to the twenty out of the twenty-seven Border State Representatives in the Congress of the United States, to lay before our readers their reply to President LINCOLN’S address to them at the late meeting, held at the White House in Washington, urging them to press upon the people of the Border States the policy of carrying out his emancipation scheme. As the Abolitionists in Congress refused to vote any money to carry out the scheme, although urged to do so by President LINCOLN, we suppose the project is at an end. The majority of the Congress of the United States refused to make any appropriation to purchase the slaves of the Border States, because their policy is emancipation by force, without paying any money. This effort of President LINCOLN ought to satisfy the people of the Border States of their true condition in association with the Free States of the North. President LINCOLN’S declaration, before he was elected President, and which more than anything else made him President, by rallying to his support the fanaticism of the North, all the States in the United States must be all slave or all free States, will assuredly be realized. Slavery is doomed in the Border States in affiliation with the Northern States. The twenty Representatives, whose reply we publish, will not see it. They have gone so deep in their hostility to the South, that we have no doubt they will accept emancipation rather than that the States they represent should join their destinies with the Confederate States; but it will not be so with the people. The emancipation of the slaves in the District of Columbia and the Territories of the United States — the diplomatic intercourse established with Liberia and Hayti — the Confiscation Bill lately passed by the Congress of the United States, which confiscates all the slaves belonging to all who uphold the Confederate States, constituting nine-tenths at least of the slaves in the Confederate States — the repudiation in Congress of President LINCOLN’S gradual emancipation scheme — all point to but one result if the Confederate States are conquered. We agree with the Border States Representatives, that consolidation was the prime cause of the dissolution of the Union of the United States. Secession was an effort to obtain liberty, overthrown by the despotism of a consolidated majority in the Government of the United States. But the war has made the Northern States desperate. It has consummated the consolidation we dreaded, with a vengeance, and crushed out every particle of liberty in the North. The efforts to subjugate us have failed; and, as is usual in all tempestuous times, the most violent rule their counsels. Ruined utterly politically and financially, they strive, in the spasms of their moral and political death, to ruin us. The emancipation of all the slaves in the South, with the utter overthrow of all property, is their desperate and silly policy. We are glad of it. It will give us Kentucky and Missouri, and will unite all the slave States in one common destiny. The deception practiced upon the people of the Border States is no longer possible. Even old HARRY CLAY’S shadow will shriek and run away from them. We see in the success of Col. MORGAN in Kentucky, the awakening of the people of that State to their true condition. Next to the great leaders who occasioned the secession of the Southern States from the Union of the United States, the greatest benefactors of the Confederate States have been the Abolitionists of the North. They have unveiled the future they would make for us, and have armed and invited us to meet it.

July 29, 1862, The New York Herald

It was lost by the failure of Fremont and Banks to hold Jackson, or follow him up, and the still more disastrous and unaccountable failure of McDowell either to intercept him in his advance on the right flank and rear of McClellan, or to anticipate him by marching beforehand to reinforce McClellan, whose right wing was weak, and who expected McDowell every hour as anxiously as McDowell once expected Patterson. Had McDowell done this he would have wiped out the stain of Bull run and Manassas, and the Union army would have been in Richmond today, and McClellan would be pronounced the first of generals. Had this faux pas happened designedly it could not have been more disastrous.

That the infernal abolitionists are rejoicing at the result is known to all men. They desire to see our generals defeated, because they find that negro slavery cannot be abolished in the Southern States at their dictation, and, in the event of the institution being retained, they would prefer a separation to contact with the vile thing; not that they care a fig about slavery or the negro, but that he is useful in supplying them with material for political agitation, and to help them to retain the power they hold at the expense of the blood of the people. They are at once the cause of the war and the cause of its failure. They do not desire to see the Union restored. Consistent on the record they could not be; for they have again and again pronounced the Union covenant with death and an agreement with Hell; and, in the beginning of the war Greeley declared in the Tribune that every man who fell was murdered, unless the object of the war was the abolition of slavery. Who are the murderers? Those who are defeating the legitimate object of the war, and the only object which could render it successful, the restoration of the Union as it was and the constitution as it is. It is evident that Greeley, Beecher and the rest want to render the war abortive; and hence they attack the generals with violence, and labor to create distrust. Like the fallen angel, who would rather reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven , they prefer to rule over half the Union and to carry out their Puritanical notions therein rather than to take their proper place in the whole republic — one and indivisible.

July 29, 1862, The New York Herald

A feeling prevailed in Washington yesterday that an important military movement was about to be made very soon. The President was at the War Department as early as seven o’clock in the morning, and spent the whole day there. The executive officers of the department have been closely occupied all day, and not accessible to anyone. The Generals who have held brief conversations at the capital are either gone or are preparing to set out at once for their commands. Gen. Pope, whose headquarters were fixed in the field on Friday last, has been awaiting final instruction, and will leave on Wednesday. Everything appears to be done quietly and in a business like way, but with an air of confidence. It is said that the gloom that succeeded the reports of the late battles on the peninsula is dissipated, and all are satisfied that the new administration of military affairs will be satisfactory.

Rumors were afloat that a member of the British delegation has received a latter from Lord Lyons announcing that the British government has determined to recognize the Southern Confederacy. The parties from whom this information is derived state that they have seen the letter, but it was not credited generally. If true the belief was that it would vastly stimulate recruiting all over the country.

Prisoners from our army, who have just been released by the rebels and brought down from Richmond to Fortress Monroe, and who had an interview with General McClellan at City Point, state that the rebels are building three iron-clad gunboats at Richmond, one of which is called the New Merrimac and another the Lady Davis. These two are nearly completed; the other is not so far advanced. The rebel escort and surgeons who accompanied the released prisoners state that the rebel army is encamped abut three miles and a half from the James river, and is greatly afraid of our gunboats. The whereabouts of General Jackson they would not reveal, although they admitted that he was near enough to be reinforced from Richmond, and that his army was being strengthened. From other sources we learn that large rebel forces are being concentrated on the line of the James river, above the junction of the Appomattox. They came down from Richmond by the Petersburg Railroad. It is believed they already number from 50,000 to 70,000 men, and that Stonewall Jackson is in command there. It is further stated that it is the intention of the rebels to make an attack very soon on Suffolk, as they are said to be within twenty miles of that city with considerable force. Among the many items from the Southern papers which we publish today is a very significant one from the Richmond Enquirer, to the effect that twenty-two pieces of artillery, captured at Inkeramann from the Russians and presented by certain British merchants to the Southern confederacy, have just been received at Macon, Ga. These guns came over by the Nashville. The Enquirer says that thirty-eight more are expected. According to the Charleston Mercury the Nashville not only entered that port recently, with arms and ammunition, in spite of the blockade, but has gone safely to sea again in company with another vessel, the Kate. Our blockading squadron cannot be very vigilant if these things are being done under their guns.

Our news from the Gulf is very interesting. The United States steamer Octorara, with Commander Porter in command, arrived at Fortress Monroe on Saturday from New Orleans. On the 24th inst. the steamer fell in with the British screw steamship Tubal Cain, near Charleston, bound from Nassau, loaded with munition as of war for the rebels, valued at half a million of dollars. After a gallant chase of six hours Com. Porter captured her, and she is now on her way to New York in charge of a prize officer. The visit of Com. Porter to Fortress Monroe and Washington has thus accidentally proved of some effective service, whatever its ultimate object may be. From our correspondents at Key West we learn that, the United States streamer Mercedita had arrived from a cruise, and reports the capture of two more vessels — namely: the schooner Victoria, with one hundred and forty-nine bales of cotton, from Bogue Inlet, N.C., bound to Nassau, N.P., and the schooner Ida, with an assorted cargo, evidently intended for some rebel port. The Ida claimed to be bound to Baltimore; but as soap, watches, drugs and groceries are not usually taken from Nassau to Baltimore, Captain Stellwagen, of the Mercedita, thought it best to take charge of them. Our correspondence from Key West will be found, in regard to other details, highly interesting.

The news from New Orleans by the steamer Marion is also important. Several prominent citizens had returned to their loyalty, and cotton was coming in briskly. The sanitary condition of the city was excellent, and General Butler’s efforts to keep the streets clean, and thus avoid disease, were most successful.

Our European files by the Etna and Saxonia, contain a very remarkable article from the London Post, the organ of Lord Palmerston, which goes to show that the point of the malevolence of the English press towards General McClellan is to be found in the fact that he exposed the military blunders of their commanders in the Crimea in his book on the Russian campaign.

The retirement of the Princes of Orleans from the army of the United States is made the subject of severe comments in the English government organ against their intentions in joining it, their house and dynasty.

by John Beauchamp Jones

JULY 28TH.—The Examining Board of Surgeons, established by the Secretary of War, has been abolished by order of Gen. Lee. It was the only idea of the Secretary yet developed, excepting the “handing over” of the” whole business of passports to Gen. Winder.”

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