Washington April 4^th (Saturday)

I left Washington on the 16^th March on a two weeks leave of absence and spent the time visiting my family at Sag Harbor L.I. I returned the 2^nd Ins^t (Thursday). I had a very pleasant visit and regreted leaving home more than I ever did before. This is a miserable life to live, away from home. I must manage to live with my family and if I stay in Washington we must make it our home here after next Summer. Not much of importance has occured as regards the War during the past two or three weeks. Matters are very much as they stood when I left here. No decided and important Battles have been fought but considerable skirmishing, and some rather hard fighting, at Port Hudson on the Miss River and quite a success at Sommerset in Kentucky under our Co^l Gilmore. No movement from Falmouth or on the Rappahanock yet or upon Charleston S.C. that we have as yet heard of, altho an attack is daily expected. I will hereafter note down important events as they occur in regard to the War without confineing myself to a strict diary of events which have no particular interest in themselves. As my absence has broken my Journal I may consider myself more at liberty since the fence is down.

April 4, 1863, The New York Herald

We publish this morning General McClellan’s official report of the battle of Antietam. This report shows, as clearly as the sun at noonday, that if McClellan’s advice in regard to Harper’s Ferry had been followed by the War Department the battle of Antietam would have resulted still more gloriously for the country and disastrously for the rebels. McClellan advised that Harper Ferry should be evacuated, and that Maryland Heights, which command the Ferry, should be strongly fortified and garrisoned. Had this been done, McClellan’s army would have had thirty thousand fewer rebels to fight, and the forces of Lee, defeated at South Mountain and Antietam, and cut off from crossing the Potomac by our forces at Maryland Heights, would have been dispersed and captured. Instead of this, Maryland Heights were deserted by that miserable chap Tom Ford, and Harper’s Ferry was thus given over to Jackson, and the defeated rebels were enabled to retreat. This report will be read by everybody, and is a perfect vindication of Gen. McClellan’s plans. As such it will be received by the public. The abolitionists do well to continue their attacks upon McClellan; for they know that when the full history of his campaigns is published it will be shown that often, as in this case, his best laid plans were thwarted by official jealousies or incompetency. Their only hope, therefore, is to destroy McClellan before this history appears. We are glad to know that even his hope will fail them, and we present the true report of the Harper’s Ferry affair as the foretaste of equally good things to come.

April 4, 1863, Mobile Register And Advertiser

Ladies throughout the South are requested to interest themselves in the culture of the Garden Poppy, and thus render the Confederacy essential service. The juice extracted from the punctured capsule, when sufficiently hardened, should be carefully put up and forwarded to the nearest Medical Purveyor’s Department.

April 4, 1863, Richmond Examiner

This titled Dutchman, who was captured at Fairfax Court House with General Stoughton, by Capt. Mosby, and confined for a time at the Libby prison, has returned to the North on parole, and ventilated his Teutonic spleen by the publication of some of the most bare faced and monstrous lies in regard to the management of the prison and its officers, that we have seen yet. This Wardener claims to have been fed part of the time on the “flesh of defunct mules,” and says , “what little beef he or the other prisoners got was putrid.” These assertions bear falsehood so palpably on their face, that they are hardly worth the space necessary to refute them; but we do so in order that truth may go upon record in juxtaposition with the lie. We have on occasion, at the request of the commandant, partaken of the meat that this dilletante German so stigmatizes, and found it excellent bovine, nutritious and sweet smelling, and not a part of that useful quadruped, related to the donkey and Wardener. As for the soup and bread, not better is served on the tables of the first hotels in Richmond. Would to heaven our soldiers were furnished with such rations. — This same Wardener styles Captain Turner a “brute,” and says he ordered him about like a “dog,” when everybody who knows the commandant knows him to be the kindest and most humane of men, although a strict disciplinarian.

The Baron goes on and heaps lie upon lie, but we think it only necessary to expose one or two, to prove him a liar of the first calibré.

April 4, 1863, (Marshall) Texas Republican

E. J. Davis, formerly Judge of the Brownsville District, lately a rampant unionist and recently a Colonel in the Federal service, visited Matamoras not long since where he remained for several days. He left on the 11^th ult., carrying with him his wife, a patriotic good woman who is much grieved at his recreancy. He also carried off a hundred refugees who were secretly recruited by the U. S. Counsel at Matamoras.

 Still later intelligence brings the gratifying news that a party of Texas rangers who were down in the vicinity of the mouth of the Rio Grande, crossed over into Mexico and captured this noted traitor, with Montgomery and two other refugees. This is indeed good news. We always rejoice to hear of the capture of traitors, and particularly when they get in the vicinity of our state. Thus for Texas traitors have been very unfortunate.

April 4, 1863, The New York Herald

The First army corps of General Hooker’s army was reviewed by that officer on Thursday, and the appearance of the troops was pronounced most satisfactory. General orders have been issued for a grand muster of the troops in the Potomac Army on the 10th inst., after which the muster rolls of the different regiments will be sent to the Adjutant General for the use of the Provost Marshal in drafting men to fill up the regiments and batteries to their legal complement. It was reported yesterday that a force of rebel cavalry was on the Northern Neck, in the vicinity of King George Court House, engaged in seizing supplies and enforcing the conscription. The enemy has within the last few days displayed a large body of troops in the neighborhood of the fords above Falmouth; but the impression is that this is only a ruse to conceal a retrograde movement.

We give today the particulars of the fight at Broad run, near Dranesville, between the rebels, under Captain Mosby, and the First Vermont cavalry. They fought desperately on both sides, the rebel chief being wounded by a sabre cut in the forehead. Captain Flint and lieutenant Grout, of the Vermont troops, together with some six others, were killed. Our loss in all was sixty killed, wounded and prisoners. The Vermont men fought magnificently with their sabres, after they had discharged their carbines with fine effect upon the enemy.

Another report of Gen. McClellan’s was published officially yesterday. It relates to the seven days’ battles on the peninsula, and of his falling back to Berkeley. He says to the calm judgment of history and the future leaves the task of pronouncing upon the movement, confident that its verdict will be that no such difficult one was every more successfully executed; that no army ever fought more repeatedly, heroically and successfully against such great odds; that no men of any race ever displayed greater discipline, endurance, patience and cheerfulness under such […..] hardships.” The report is dated as far back as the 15th of July. We give in full today his report of the military operations in Maryland, including the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, all the salient points of which we published yesterday. It will well repay the time occupied in its perusal.

The Bermuda Royal Gazette, of the 25th of March, says: – It is said that the steamer Peterhoff, captured by Admiral Wilkes, United States Navy, was from France, laden with French government stores, and was bound to Vera Cruz.

April 4, 1863, (Marshall) Texas Republican

 We learn that considerable excitement exists in several of the Northeastern counties of this State, and particularly those of Hunt and Hopkins, growing out of the appearance in that section of some men belonging to the notorious Martin D. Hart. After the execution of Hart, a portion of his followers brought a lot of stolen property to Texas. It seemed that they found a few sympathizers who aided them in concealing it. Suspicion having been excited, search was made, and some of it was found on the premises of a preacher in Hunt county. Hart’s men being scented out, took refuge in the Jernigan thicket. Two or three of them were subsequently captured in Hunt and hung. On Wednesday, the 18^th ult., four others were hung in Hopkins county. They were all traitors to our cause, one of them having been formerly a resident of Titus county. Our informant states that they were accused of robbery, murder, and treason; were regularly tried before a jury of twelve men, selected from various counties; and before being executed confessed their guilt.

April 4, 1863, Southern Confederacy (Atlanta, Georgia)

There was some little excitement in town yesterday in consequence of a small group of feminine seizers, some of whom undertook to replenish their stock of dry goods by a descent upon a pile of calico. The proceedings, however, were not conducted with much vigor and determination, and no harm was done as far as we are advised.–Macon Telegraph, 2nd inst.

April 4, 1863, (Marshall) Texas Republican

Dear Loughery,

 I had heard much of the extensive tannery, saw and grist mill, in course of construction by Gregg & Co., but still had no conception of the extent of the enterprise, till recently happening to be near, I concluded to call by, see, and judge of the far-famed “Rebel Tannery” for myself. And I would here suggest to every one who can make it convenient, and who is a friend to progress and the advancement of such important manufactories, to do as I did, and he will see an amount of improvement, for the very short time the proprietors have been engaged in it, quite astonishing. I had seen in your paper a notice of this tannery by “Planter,” of your county, but I thought it probably was a picture highly drawn by a partial friend, but after seeing the progress that had been made in erecting extensive machineries, and the many conveniences for converting rawhide into leather, I found he had barely done justice to the establishment and the enterprise of its worthy proprietors.

 The people of the Southern Confederacy should give great encouragement to the erection of such manufactories, as produce articles of vital importance, especially if sold at reasonable rates. And in these times of high prices and extortion, there is nothing which so much entitle the proprietors to a liberal patronage as the comparatively very low prices at which they propose to sell leather.

 In conclusion I would be pleased to see them receive a liberal share of patronage from this, as well as the surrounding counties, and that in doing service to the public it will prove a source of profit to themselves.

A Planter of Rusk County.

April 4, 1863, The New York Herald

Preliminary Report of General McClellan of the Battles of South Mountain and Antietam.

HEADQUARTERS, ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,

Oct. 15, 1862.

GENERAL – I have the honor to submit a preliminary report of the military operations under my charge since the evacuation of Harrison’s Landing.

The measure directed by the General-in-Chief was executed successfully, with entire safety to my command and its material, between the 14th and 19th of August. The line of withdrawal selected was that of the mouth of the Chickahominy, Williamsburg and Yorktown. Upon this line the main body of the army, with all its trains, was moved, Heintzelman’s corps crossing the Chickahominy at Jones’ bridge, and covering by its march the movement of the main column. The passage of the Lower Chickahominy was effected by means of a batteau bridge two thousand feet in length. The transfer of the army to Yorktown was completed by the 19th of August. The embarkation of the troops and material at Yorktown and Fortress Monroe was at once commenced, and as rapidly as the means of transportation admitted everything was sent forward to Aquia creek and Alexandria. No mere sketch of an undertaking of such magnitude and yet of so delicate a military character, will suffice to do justice. I must now, however, content myself with a simple notice of it, deferring a full description for my official report of the campaign before Richmond – a labor which I propose to undertake as soon as events will afford me the necessary time. Justice to the achievements of the Army of the Potomac and the brave men who composed it requires that the official record of that campaign should be prepared with more care than circumstances have hitherto permitted me to bestow upon it. The delay will not have been felt as injurious to the public interest, inasmuch as by frequent reports from time to time I have kept the department advised of events as they occurred. [continue reading…]

April 4, 1863, Peoria Morning Mail (Illinois)

 The people of the country who have watched with anxiety the progress of affairs near Vicksburg; who have read with deep interest every scrap of intelligence from that locality, and who had hoped for ultimate victory in the face of repeated reverses, are now beginning to wonder what is going to be done next, and how many more lives are to be sacrificed, and how many additional millions of money are to be expended ere the desired end is attained. The scrupulous care which has been exhibited to keep from them correct information of the progress of affairs, has led them also to believe that much yet remains to be revealed, which, when ventilated, will tell of incapacity and bad judgment, and of flagrant mismanagement in the conduct of the campaign in Mississippi.

 The fact cannot be concealed that every attempt to gain for our own forces a closer proximity to Vicksburg and a better and nearer position for successful attack has failed. The Yazoo Pass route has been abandoned; two iron-clads beaten back and disabled, which endeavored to reinforce Farragut, who remains hemmed in in his wooden vessels, in hostile waters with the heaviest guns of the enemy bearing upon him. And last, the only hope of reaching the rear of Vicksburg–the Sunflower route–is closed to us, and our fleet is moored in its old position, with its effective force very materially reduced.

 The position of Vicksburg is certainly not one to cheer the heart of the North. Where the blame lies may be developed hereafter, but we have to deal with facts–strong, stubborn facts, each one backed up by rebel guns and rebel fortifications, which have thus far proved too strong for overthrow.

 What next is to be done? Is Vicksburg to be given up, and are we to acknowledge our inability to open the Mississippi, gain possession of the Southwest and strike the rebels at their most important point? In our country’s name, we hope not. If our failure at Vicksburg be not the result of premeditated design, the people of the North will accept no such relinquishment. If it has been caused by the incapacity of commanders, let others more capable be put in their place. These things must be done, if the authorities who direct this war would clear their skirts of responsibility.

April 4, 1863, Richmond Examiner

The reader will find in the report of evidence in the Police Court, the true account of a so-called riot in the streets of Richmond. A handful f prostitutes, professional thieves, Irish and Yankee hags, gallows-birds from all lands but our own, congregated in Richmond, with a woman huckster at their head, who buys veal at the toll gate for a hundred and sells the same for two hundred and fifty in the morning market, undertook the other day to put into private practice the principles of the Commissary Department. Swearing that they would have goods “at Government prices” they broke open half a dozen shoe stores, hat stores, and tobacco houses, and robbed them of everything but bread, which was just the thing they wanted least. Under the demagogue’s delusion that they might be “poor people,” “starving people,” and the like, an institution of charity made a distribution of rice and flour to all who would ask for it. Considering the circumstances, it was a vile, cowardly, and pernicious act; but the manner in which it was received exhibits the character of this mob. Miscreants were seen to dash the rice and flour into the muddy streets, where the traces still remain, with the remark that “if that(ital) was what they were going to give, they might go to h__l.” It is greatly to be regretted that this most villainous affair was not punished on the spot. Instead of shooting every wretch engaged at once, the authorities contented themselves with the ordinary arrest, and hence the appearance of the matter in the police report of the morning.

If it were the only thing of this sort which has appeared in Southern cities, it would not be worth attention. But as the reader has already seen from our columns, some two weeks ago there was one in Atlanta, immediately followed by one in Mobile; which was succeeded by another in Saulsbury; then in Petersburg; and the very next day by this in Richmond. Now if these were unconcerted tumultuous movements, caused by popular suffering, they would not, could not, have this regular gradation of time from one city to another in the line of travel from South to North. It is impossible to doubt that the concealed instigators in each case were the same. Having done the work in one city, they took the cars to the next. [continue reading…]

April 4, 1863, Richmond Examiner

MAYOR’S COURT – April 3rd, 1863 – The following named parties were charged with engaging in a riot on Thursday, and encouraging and inciting others to engage in the said riot.

Frank Wallip, Benjamin Slemper, Mary Woodward, Mary Waster, Mary Butler, Sarah Coghil, Martha Burnett, Sally Mitchell, Lawrence Martin, Alexander Jenkins, Morgan Burns, Henry Cook, Alexander H. Murray, John Jones, W. J. Lusk, James Hampton, A. D. Briggs, Thomas Samani, C. Lannegan, Elizabeth Ammons, Lucy Jane Palmeter, John D. Lowry, Margaret Denning, William Farrand, Francis Farrand, John Hopkins, Susan Kelly, Mary Jacobs, Martha Fergusson, Jennett Williams, Mildred Imry, Martha Smith, Francis Brown, Anna Bell, Andrew J. Hawkins, Peter Blake, Sarah Champion, Mary Jackson, huckster.

The case of William Farrand and wife was first taken up.

Mr. John D. Harvay testified that on Thursday he saw three boys go into Farrand’s house shortly after the riot began; two of the boys had a pot of butter each, and the third boy had six or eight pair of women’s shoes. After the riot was over, he and Mr. Isaac Walker, and Officer Perrin went to Farrand’s house and found the shoes but could not locate the butter.

Cross-examined by Crane – There was a riot yesterday. Mrs. Farrand denied that any boys had brought any shoes or butter there, but after the shoes were found she acknowledged the boys had brought the shoes there.

Officer Perrin testified that after Mr. Harvey found the shoes he found two other pairs and a quantity of dry goods under Mrs. Farrand’s bed; this boy, John Hopkins was there and had in his possession a new pair of pants and this hat, which has been identified by Mr. Hicks as a hat that had been taken from him during the riot. [continue reading…]

3rd. Rumor about camp that we will leave Monday. We are ready. Arms have come and good ones, too, I guess. Received and answered letters from home and good Fannie. Did me good. No school in the evening so stayed at home and wrote. Snowed in the morning. Pleasant afternoon.

Friday, 3d–The Eleventh Iowa signed the pay rolls for four months’ pay. Boats loaded with troops are passing down the river every hour of the day. Our entire division is again drilling four hours a day. We have a fine drill ground.

Good-Friday.—The Bishop preached for us to-day most delightfully from the text: “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” In the afternoon Mrs. S. had the inexpressible pleasure of welcoming her son, Mr. A. S., from the Western Army. He thinks that Vicksburg and Port Hudson are both impregnable. God grant that it may be so!

APRIL 3d.—Gen. D. H. Hill writes from North Carolina that the business of conscription is miserably mismanaged in that State. The whole business, it seems, has resolved itself into a machine for making money and putting pets in office.

No account of yesterday’s riot appeared in the papers to-day, for obvious reasons. The mob visited most of the shops, and the pillage was pretty extensive.

Crowds of women, Marylanders and foreigners, were standing at the street corners to-day, still demanding food; which, it is said, the government issued to them. About midday the City Battalion was marched down Main Street to disperse the crowd.

Congress has resolved to adjourn on the 20th April. The tax bill has not passed both Houses yet.

Gen. Blanchard has been relieved of his command in Louisiana. He was another general from Massachusetts.

April 3, 1863, American Citizen (Canton, Mississippi)

 The Columbus (Miss.) Republic, in commenting on the rascalities perpetrated by the speculators, and the frauds participated in by the railroad men, gives the following:

 A little incident came to our knowledge of a certain party who had purchased a large amount of wool and a trifle over one thousand dollars worth of sugar. The wool was especially valuable and the sugar was also to be gotten through. After some maneuver on the part of the owner, he got a car and loaded it up, paying handsomely for the same, putting the sugar in sacks. When the car came to be switched on the track, the switchman demanded his part, and received, we believe, $40. Soon after the engineer came along and declared that he never would take that wool and sugar through without half the sugar. It was given him. Soon after the conductor came along, and stated that the wool could go, but he must have the other half of the sugar. There was no appeal, and the other half followed the first. The wool came through. The owner had also paid freight in advance for both wool and sugar. So we go. Our people may suffer for the necessaries of life–our soldiers are put on half rations for the want of supplies, and speculators and railroad men may make fortunes.

April 3, 1863, The New York Herald

The official despatches from General Gillmore relative to the battle near Somerset, Kentucky, on the 30th ult., have been forwarded by General Burnside to the War Department. The action lasted five hours. The rebels were driven from their first position, which was defended by six cannon, and the second position was finally stormed and carried. The rebels, commanded by Pegram and numbering over two thousand six hundred men, were driven in confusion to and over the Cumberland river, with a loss that will not fall far short of five hundred men. Between three and four hundred cattle were taken, and Scott’s famous rebel regiment was cut off from the rest and scattered. General Gillmore is the officer who commanded at the reduction of Fort Pulaski last April.

A cavalry skirmish took place near Broad run, Va., on the 1st instant, between the rebels, under Captain Mosby, and a portion of the Vermont cavalry. The rebels appear to have maintained their position, although full particulars have not yet been received.

A portion of the Illinois cavalry, belonging to General Hooker’s army, on Tuesday captured ten rebels in the woods near Dumfries, Va., the neighborhood of which place is infested with guerillas.

A rebel mail has been captured below Fredericksburg, and is said to be valuable.

A preliminary report of General McClellan’s military operations, from the evacuation of Harrison’s Landing to the close of the campaign in Maryland, has been published in Washington, having been furnished by the government for that purpose. It is merely a simple outline of the brilliant operations, owing to the absence of full reports from corps commanders. He says: – “The easy and disgraceful surrender of Harper’s Ferry deprived his operations of results which would have formed a brilliant sequel to a substantial and gratifying success.” He alludes to skulkers on the field in severe terms, and says that “Death on the spot must hereafter be the fate of all such cowards.” [continue reading…]

April 3, 1863, The New York Herald

All the evidences that crowd upon us from all quarters clearly indicate that we are about to enter upon the most important stage of the struggle in which the energies and hopes of the nation are engaged. No one who has watched the preparations on the Union side can doubt that the effort that is to be made during the ensuing spring months is to be the final and crowning one, and that before midsummer the authority of the government ought to be restored over all the revolted States. The rebels, if not impressed with the same conviction, are nevertheless preparing for the campaign as if they were equally alive to its importance. They are concentrating their armies and strengthening themselves by every means that engineering skill can devise, at Fredericksburg, Richmond, Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, Port Hudson, Vicksburg, Tullahoma, Chattanooga and the Bayou Teche. These are the strong points of their lines of defence, and if they are taken they know that the rebellion will be practically at an end. All their best generals have accordingly been despatched to these points – Joe Johnston to the line of the Duck river; Kirby Smith to Bayou Teche; Beauregard to Charleston and Savannah; Buckner, with Buchanan as naval commander, to Mobile; Loring to the Tallahatchie; D. H. Hill to North Carolina; Price to Arkansas; Longstreet to East Tennessee, whilst Lee is retained in Virginia. Thus it will be seen that whatever of military talent and experience is possessed by the rebels is so distributed as to make the most effective resistance possible to the advance of the overwhelming force with which we are preparing to crush them. Whilst on the rebel side they are beginning to suffer from insufficient supplies of food and the impossibility of forcing fresh conscripts into the field to defend the numerous points threatened, the accounts of the commanding generals and of our correspondents go to show that our armies in Virginia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee are in splendid fighting condition, not only as regards physique, but morale, and that all that is now needed to insure the full success of the campaign is for our generals to be left to carry out the plans of operations that have been agreed upon without any further interference or dictation from inexperienced Secretaries or meddling politicians.

Impartial observers of the events of the present war would probably be more amazed at the controlling influences of [continue reading…]

April 3, 1863, The New York Herald

Our New Orleans Correspondence.

NEW ORLEANS, March 25, 1863.

The destruction of the steamship Bio Bio on Sunday morning last, of which you have had a partial account, was in all respects complete. She burned until two P.M., then filled and sank in very deep water, with all her cargo and a great part of the passengers’ baggage. The passengers have great cause to congratulate themselves that she was destroyed alongside the levee instead of at sea; for it is well established that her being on fire was a very usual occurrence. On her passage from New York to New Orleans, in November last, the light wood work around the smokestack and cook galley was on fire constantly, so often that the hose was led along from the forward deck pump and hands stationed by it constantly in order to prevent the fire from extending beyond that locality. It is folly for any one, owners or agents, to deny this assertion. The fact was well known to every one on board, and, as your correspondent formed one of the numerous passengers at that time, he speaks not from hearsay but from having seen for himself all that he asserts.

Since the sailing of the steamers New Brunswick and McClellan on Sunday last, we have had nothing of interest to occur in this department. The rebels have the means, as will be perceived at a glance, of concentrating in a few hours any number of men they need, and it would be folly, when these circumstances are considered, to venture upon an assault of their strong intrenchments without their equal in numbers to attack, and having a strong reserve. You will have heard through rebel channels, long before it would have been in my power to communicate it, their account of the attempted passage of the fleet on the night of the 14th inst. They claim to have sustained but small loss. It is the opinion of many naval officers with whom I have conversed, and who were present on the occasion, that, had the Admiral carried out the [continue reading…]

April 2nd. We are still lying quietly at our anchorage at the mouth of Red River; weather quite warm.

2nd. After issuing bread, got out Rowena and tried her at jumping. Did first rate. Charlie came over and read me Delos’ Journal. Enjoyed it well. In the evening attended class and played three games of chess. Was beaten once and beat twice.

Thursday, 2d–Weather warm and pleasant. No news.