February 3, 1863, The New York Herald
The latest news from Suffolk represents that the enemy was last night in force between sixteen and seventeen miles from there this side of the Blackwater. Our troops had taken every precaution to attack him again should he advance farther towards Suffolk. There is now no evidence that an engagement will ensue immediately.
Our correspondence from that quarter today gives a full detail of Gen. Corcoran’s plan of operations in the recent battle, and gives credit to the skill of the commander and the valor of the men.
With regard to the reported disabling of the Union iron-clad Montauk, in the Ogeechee, off Fort McAllister, there are two very different versions abroad. The Richmond and Savannah papers say that the Montauk came up to the fort in fine style, and that she was the only boat engaged. Their shell and shot were broken to pieces as they struck her sides, but her turret was so badly injured that she had to haul off. The others in the meantime remained below the bend of the river, entirely out the action. On the other hand, the Navy Department received a despatch last night from Fortress Monroe, stating that there is no truth in the report that the Montauk was disabled; that Commander Worden lay under the enemy’s guns for four hours, and that their shot had no more effect upon his vessel than hail stones.
Nothing had been heard at Port Royal of the capture of the gunboats Isaac Smith in Stono river.
In addition to the news we gave yesterday relative to the reported destruction of the Oreto or Florida, we have since learned that a leading mercantile house of Havana sent word off to the Columbia, as she was about leaving that port, that the rebel vessel had been destroyed.
It is stated, upon the authority of the Richmond Whig, that the British steamer Princess Royal was surrounded and captured by a fleet of Union gunboats while attempting to run the blockade into Charleston on Thursday, with a valuable cargo from Halifax. She had on board six hundred barrels of powder, two Armstrong guns, a large lot of machinery, eight hundred and eighty bales of sheet iron, one steam bakery, one hundred and forty-four bales of hardware, ninety-five cases of boots, two hundred and twenty-nine bags of coffee, five hundred boxes of tin and other valuables. A party of English workmen, skilled in the manufacture of projectiles, were captured with the vessel.
The port of Galveston had been declared open to the trade of all nations friendly to the South by a proclamation of General Magruder, which he sent forth under a neutral register to a neutral port. The merchants of these friendly countries are invited to resume their usual commercial intercourse with the port, now that it is in the possession of the rebel forces.
Despatches from Morehead City, North Carolina, say that the great Southern expedition is now ready, and that the waters between there and Beaufort are black with vessels of all kinds, which are only awaiting the abatement of the severe gale which has been prevailing for the past five days to take their departure for their destination. The army is in a splendid condition and the very best of spirits. They are eager for the coming fray, with all its flattering prospects of success. The enemy are terribly flustered and are trembling with fear; for they know the storm is coming.
Jeff. Davis had a conference last week with Governor Vance, of North Carolina, upon the relations of that State with the Southern Confederacy, meeting him for that purpose at Franklin Depot, Virginia, on the Blackwater. Governor Vance plainly informed Jeff. Davis that North Carolina would insist upon the reserve and recall of an adequate force for the protection of North Carolina from any further Union advances. North Carolina has now eighty thousand troops in the rebel service.