May 14, 1863, The New York Herald
We have some important news from the Southwest. General Grant had a severe action on Wednesday last, at Clinton, ten miles from Jackson, on the railroad, with a rebel force under General Bowen. The fight lasted all day, and the rebels were defeated. Reports are said to have reached General Grant that large reinforcements of rebels are coming from Mobile and Charleston to protect Vicksburg and Jackson, and that he (Grant) has accordingly fallen back to the river to await further support.
The stories circulated by the rebel authorities at Jackson, Miss., that our forces were beaten, after a severe battle of four hours duration, on the 4th inst., on the Big Black river, prove to be entirely without foundation. A telegraphic despatch from General Grant, dated the 6th, two days later than the reported fight, was received in Washington yesterday, and it makes no mention whatever of any battle at Anderson’s ferry on the 4th inst.
A skirmish between a party of sixty thousand rebels and a detachment of Union troops occurred on Tuesday between Franklin and Woodburn, Ky., on the railroad, in which the former were routed and driven back, our forces still pursuing them at last accounts on that night.
The rebels on front of Murfreesboro, Tenn., continue to exhibit symptoms of activity which keep the army of Gen. Rosecrans on the qui vive. The cavalry of the enemy is constantly changing its position. The rebel Generals Morgan and Wheeler are said to be at Liberty and Alexandria, with a force of 5,000 cavalry, and are supposed to be meditating an attack on Nashville.
Rumors prevailed in the city yesterday to the effect that General Longstreet fought a battle with General Keyes, at West Point, Va., in which the latter had been beaten. It was said that ex-Governor Morgan was the recipient of a telegram to that effect, but we believe that there is no truth whatever in the statement.
A large number of Union prisoners, now in Richmond, and recently captured in Fredericksburg, are about to be sent down to Newport News, transports having been sent up to City Point on Tuesday to receive them. The rebel Commissioner Ould visited Newport News on Monday, and made arrangements with Colonel Ludlow, United States Commissioner, for an exchange. Accordingly nine hundred rebel prisoners, also taken at Fredericksburg, were sent up to City Point.
With regard to the case of the Hon. Clement L. Vallendigham, recently on trial by court martial at Cincinnati, on a charge of using […..] language at a public meeting, at which two military officers, disguised as civilians, reported his speech, and testified against him, a report was circulated and published in a Washington paper that the decision of the Court condemned him to two years’ imprisonment and hard labor at the Dry Tortugas off the coast of Florida. Now, as the proceedings of a court martial are necessarily secret, until promulgated by the Commanding General who orders the trial, and as all the members of the court are solemnly sworn not to reveal any portion of what transpires, and inasmuch as General Burnside has neither approved nor disapproved of the finding of the Court up to this time, it is difficult to imagine how the vote of the majority or the minority of the Court, as stated, could be made known. It is fair, therefore, to conclude that the story is premature, to say the least of it.
We have some interesting news from General Foster’s command at Newbern, N.C., to the 7th inst. The nine months soldiers are about to return home, but many of them have accepted a furlough of thirty days, and are willing to re-enlist after that time, provided they are again permitted to serve with General Foster. The General highly compliments them on their bravery while under his command.
The rebels, it is said, refuse to receive the disloyal citizens sent outside our lines, unless they can give a guarantee of their ability to maintain themselves.
Our Havana correspondence to the 9th instant brings some further interesting details relative to the position of the French at Puebla.