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February 20, 1863, The New York Herald

No movement has been made in General Hooker’s army within the past few days. Our correspondence from there today, however, is very interesting. The men are in good spirits and in far better condition than the roads. The enemy are said to be considerably reduced in numbers, and we are told that if the army could only be shut off from communication with Washington for one month we could wipe out the rebel force at Fredericksburg with little effort; but nothing can be done with the army while it is so near the capital by rail and steamer. We are told further that generals are unfortunate in being near enough to the Secretary of War to have all their orders countermanded and their best plans thwarted.

Our news from the South today is important and interesting.

General Beauregard, as military commander of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, has issued a proclamation declaring it to be his solemn duty to announce to the citizens and authorities of Charleston and Savannah that an attack by the land and naval forces of the United States is about to be made upon either or both cities, and warning whose who are not able to take up arms for their defence to retire to some place of safety. He urges, however, upon every one who can join in the struggle at […..] hour of trial” to do so without regard to the kind of weapons they may have in their possession. Pikes and scythes, he says, will do for the destruction of their enemies, and spades and shovels for the protection of their firesides, altars and the graves of their fathers. General Beauregard is evidently alarmed at the anaconda grip which is closing around him.

It is earnestly pressed by the Southern journals upon the consideration of the planters that vital necessity demands the growing of cereals for the next crop of the South instead of cotton or sugar. The planters are urged t remember that the South is engaged in a war, the end of which cannot be foreseen; that the ports are closed against the receipt of supplies from abroad, and the idea of their being opened by foreign intervention is exploded; that the supplies from the great West are effectually cut off, and that every planter should devote himself to raising hogs, rice, potatoes, sheep and all things that sustain life, forgetting such a thing as cotton or sugar was ever raised for any other purpose but that of domestic use. The Mississippi has been rising rapidly for the past two weeks, and it is stated by the Port Hudson News that if it continues another week it will be out of its banks. The water is already running through the crevasse in West Baton Rouge, and a day or so it will be through the Lobdell crevasse.

The pirate Alabama has added another chapter to her predatory history. She captured and burned the brig Chastelaine, of Boston, from Guadaloupe for Cienfuegos, on the 27th ultimo, off Altwela Rock. The crew were landed at St. Domingo City. Captain Semmes took out all the nautical instruments and eight hundred dollars in gold. The bark Golden Rule, a vessel of two hundred and fifty-four tons burthen, belonging to the Panama Railroad Company, was also captured by her and burned January 26, about fifty miles south of St. Domingo. The Golden Rule was on her way to Aspinwall with a valuable cargo, a considerable portion of which was on Spanish, French and English account. The schooner Hanover, from Boston for Aux Cayes, was also captured by a privateer (probably the Retribution, or it may have been the Alabama,) on the 31st ult., off Ansed Hainanet, Hayti.

General Butler visited Baltimore yesterday, and got a most enthusiastic reception at the hall of the Maryland Institute in the evening. He made a patriotic speech, which was warmly received by the audience. The pleasure of General Butler ovation, however, was marred by a lamentable accident, which occurred by the firing of a gun at Fort Marshall during the salute, by which Commander Maxwell Woodhull, of the navy, was killed his body being blown over the ramparts to a distance of thirty feet. The dinner to Gen. Butler, which was to have come off at the Eutaw House last night was postponed out of respect to the deceased officer.