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R. W. MASON AND CO. SJLVAKNALL FRIDAY, JAN. 2T, 1565. The D<XSr*?.BPTION o\ Sccflies to the N«e»r. —The following is the system fey the authorities to distribute supplies equitably and fairly among those needing aid. A committee of can vassers were appointed to take the names of all the citizens who desire assistance, and their residences. The same com mittee will visit each house once a week nnd leave an order on the City Store for tin?proper supplies for the ensuing seven days, and the people will, on delivery of tttZsw- orders, receive the amount and kind of supplies that the order calls for. ft is thieved by this method all will re ceive attention, and none go hungry,— T4w system will also prevent evil dis fxrssd people from overdrawing their jtfhare, aad will prevent imposition and fraud. Q<flrj*: Passages—The steamer Geo. Cs.pt. Deming, made the run yes terday morning. from Hilton Head dock to the wharf at this city in three hours -quarters—the fastest time, we believe, yet made between the tw<£, psiata. The tteamer Cosmopolitan, C'apt. Crook it, a day or two since ran from Beaufort dock to Savannah dock in five hours, which is regarded as very fast IMCITR OF A GALLANT OFFICER. Wa *:te pal ned to learn of the death of Cornet Bell, of the tth New Hampshire Regiment, £roia wounds received at Fort 1-ffriyn* Col. Bell came of noble blood, *dd: low • actions have always been ’Vi'vAthf of his ancestry. He was a brave and skillful officer, aud had for a long kins* htsea aix acting Brigadier General.—- Wis rcildcuce was at Farmington. N. H., where bereaves a wife. Many friends, who have admired him for his bravery, gMirbifi-iesL liis nice sense of honor, his geniality in social intercourse, his iiter ary and udctitific acquirements, and his nr my high qualities, will learn of his ■4>*atu with sincere regret. GRAST OS SHERMAN. The fallowing letter trom Gen. Grant was read at "a Sherman Testimonial .meeting at Cdliimbus (Ohio) last week’: Aawv of the United States, City Point, Va., Dec. 22, 1864. EL JR ttimter, .D. Tallmadge, John T. *Jsr»«ee—Dear Sirs: I have just this mo aieui received.your printed letter in re- JUUwts to your promised movement in ac ftuwlodgement of one of Ohio’s greatest m. I wrote ou yesterday to my lather ■Whoresides.in-Covington, Ky., on the same subject, and asked him to inaugur ate a subscription to present Mrs; Sher m\a with a furnished house in the City <D-f Ctacianati. Goo. Sherman is emi entitled to this mark of coiisidera , iioa, and I directed my father to head the subscription with s<>oo for me, and hirf that amount frMn Gen. -Ingalls, Chief au* ter master of this army, who «, equally alive with myself to the emi ttenffc services of Gen. Sherman- Whatever direction this enterprise in favor of General Sherman may take, you mj.y&isi me down tor the amount named. i my a word too highly in praise -Vu Genetai Shemau's services from the the Rebellion to the present 4\y. and wilf therefore, abstain from fLi;fo*y of him. Suffice it to say, the world’s history give no record of his su periors, .ami but few equals. I sna. truly glad for tne movement you litre set on foot, and of the opportunity «»f aiJdiag my mite in. testimonial of so great and good * man. Yours truly. U. S. Grant, Lieut, Gen. LATER FROM THE NORTH. DATEB TO JAN. 31. Wv n VA.’V THE CAPTURE OP POUT FXSHER.. Admiral Porter’s Reports. IMPORTANT DISPATCH FROM SECRETARY STANTON. His RefHirt of the Capture of Fort Fisher. Statement in regard to Sher man's Movements* TKIDE WITH SAVANNAH. FORT CIS WELL BLOW* UP. Our frtmboats in the River. THE SEARCH FOR TORPEDOES. A Diagram of the Torpedo System Found. U. S. Flagship Malvern, off Fort Fisher, January 15, 1865. —Sir:—l have the honor to inform you that we have possession of Fort Fisher, and the fall of the surrounding works will soon follow. As I luformed you in my last, we had commenced operations with the iron vessels, which bombarded while we land e I the troops. On the 14th I ordered all the vessels carrying 11-inch guus to bombard with the Ironsides, the Brooklyn taking the lead. By sunset the fort was reduced to a pulp and every guu was silenced by being injured or covered up with earth so that they would not work. On the 14th General Terry and myself arranged for the assault, and I ordered fourteen hundred sailors and marines to • participate.’ A*t daylight the iron ves sels, the Brooklyn, and the 11-inch gun boats commenced battering the works, while the troops made a lodgment with in one hundred aud fifty yards of the fort, Ac 10 o’clock all the vessels steamed in and took their station, opening a heavy fire, which wa.t kept up until 3 o’clock p. m , when the signal was made to assault, the soldiers taking the laud side and the sailors the sea face, the ship? changing, but not stopping their fire, to the other works. The Rebels met us with a courage w T orthy of a bet - ter cause, and fought desperately. About thirty of the sailois and officers succeeded in getting to the top of the parapet amidst a murderous fire of grape eannister and musketry. They had planted the flag there, but were swept away in a moment. Others tried to get up the steep pan cjjvpe.. The marines could have cleared the parapet by keeping up a steady fire, but they failed to do so, and the sailors were repulsed. Many a gallant fellow fell while try ing to emulate his brothers in arms, who were fighting to obtain an entrance on the northeast angle, as it appears on our chart. The enemy mistook the seamen’s at tack for the main body of troops, and opposed a most vigorous resistance there ; but I witnessed it all, and think the mariners could have made the as sault successfully. In the meantime our gallant soldiers had gained a foothold on the north-east corner of the tort, fighting like lions, and contesting every inch of ground. The Ironsides "and monitors kept throw ing shells into the traverses not oc cupied by our men, but occupied by the Rebels. In this way our troops fought from traverse to traverse, from three o’clock in the afternoon until ten o’clock at night, when the joyful tidings were signalled to the fleet. Wc stopped our fire aad gave them three ol the heartiest cheers I ever heard. It has been the most terrific struggle I ever saw, and very much hard labor. The troops have covered them selves with glory, and General Terry is mv bean idea >of a soldier and a general. Our co-operation has been most har monious, and I think the General will do the navy the credit to .say that this time at least, we “substantially injured the fort as a defensive work.” General Terry had only a few more troops than we had on the last occasion, when the enemy had only 150 men in the works. This time the works were fully maimed, and contained about 800 men at tie lime of the assault. It is a matter of great regret to me to see my gallant men and officers so cut up; but I was unwilling to let the troops undertake the capture of the works with out the navy sharing with them the peril all were anxious to undergo, and we should have had the honor of meet ing our brothers in arms in the works, had the sailors been properly supported. We have lost about two hundred in killed and wounded, and among them some gallant officers. I regret to announce the death of Lieutenant S. W. Preston aad Lieuten ant B. 11. Porter. They were both cap tured together in the attack on Fort Sumter, and died together in endeavor ing to pull down the flag that has so long flaunted in our face. Lieutenant li. H. Sampson was severe ly wounded. He was lately associated with Lieutenant Preston in his perilous adventure of the powder-boat. Lieu tenant George W. Bache and a number of others were wounded, the former not dangerously. The assault onty took place a few hours ago, and lam unable to inform yon of our casualties. They are quite severe from the assault, but we had no casualties from the enemy’s cannon. Knowing the impatience of the De partment to receive news from Fort Fisher, 1 have written these few hurried lines. No one can conceive what the army and navy have gone through to achieve this victory, which should have been ours onChristmas day without the loss of a dozen men. This ha3 been a day of terrible strug gle;' and not surpassed by any evenfr the war. We are nearly worn out, and you must excuse this brief and unsatis factory account. I will write fully by the Santiago de Cuba, which goes North to-morrow to carry the wounded. Besides the men in Fort Fisher there were 500 in the upper torts, aud a relief of about 1500 men brought down by steamers this morning. So far, I believe, we have only captured the garnson of Fort Fisher. I don’t suppose there ever was a work subjected to such a terrific bombardment or where the appearance of a fort was more altered. There is not a spot of earth the fort that has not been tern up by our shells. I don’t know yet the number of killed and wounded by our fire, but one 15- inch shell alone pierced a bomb-proof, killing 16 aud wounding severely 25. I presume we are in possession of all the forts, as Fort Fisher commands them all. It 7 is so late now that I can learn nothing morp until morning. I am, sir, very respectfully, Your obedient servant. David D. Porter, Rear Admiral. Hon. Gideon Welles, Sec’yofthe Navy, Washington, D. 0. Fortress Monroe, _ Tuesday, Tan. 17—10 p. m. To the President : The rebel flag of Fort Fisher was de - livered to me on board the steamer Spaulding off that place yesterday morn ing, January 16, by Major General Ter ry.- *An acknowledgment and thanks tor their gallant achievement was given in your name to Admiral Porter and Gen. Terry, from whom the following parti culars were obtained: The troops arrived off Fort Fisher Thursday night. Friday they were all landed under cover of a heavy fire from the squadron, and reconnoissance was made by Gen. Terry on Saturday A strong defensive line against any of the enemy’s forces coming from Wil mington was established on Saturday, and held by 4,000 men, chiefly colored troops, and an assault was determined on. The assault was made on Sunday afternoon, at 3 1-2 o'clock. The sea-front of the fort had been greatly damaged and broken by a con tinuous and terrible fire of tl»e fleet for three days, and the fort was assaulted at the hour mentionec by a column of sea men and marines eighteen hundred strong, under the command of Captain Breeze. They reached the parapet, but after & short conflict this column was checked* driven back in disorder, and was after wards placed on tl*e defensive line, ta king the place of a brigade that was brought up to reinforce the assaulting columns of troops. Although the assault on the sea front failed, it performed a very useful part in diverting the attention of the enemy and weakening their resistance to the attack by the troops on the other side. The assault on the other and most dif ficult side of the fort was made oy a col umn of three thousand troops of the old Tenth Corps, led by Col. Curtis, under the immediate supervision of Geo- Terry The enemy’s force in the fort was over two thousand two hundred. The con flict lasted lor seven hours. The works were so constructed that every traverse afforded the enemy anew defensive position from whence they had to be driven. They were B<-ven in num ber, and the fight was carried on Iron* traverse to traverse for seven hours by a skilfully directed fire thrown into the tranches,' One after another they were occupied by the enemy. Admiral Porter contributed to the suc cess of the assaulting column by signal between himself and Gen. Terry at brief intervals. His fire was so well.managed as to damage the enemy without injury to our own troops. At about ten o'clock at night the ene my were entirely driveo from the fort; forced down towards Federal Point, fol lowed by a brigade of our troops, and. about twelve o'clock at night General Whiting surrendered himself and his command to Gen. Terry, unconditional ly, as prisoners ot war, numbering over eighteen hundred, the remainder of hi* force being killed and wounded. -Our loss was not accurately ascertain ed on Monday afternoon, but was esti mated at between seven hundred and eight hundred in killed and wounded, besides the naval loss, which was slight, not exceeding one hundred killed and* wounded. Nor a ship nor a transport was lost. Col. Curtis was severely but not mor tally wounded. Col. Bell died of his wounds Monday morning. Col. J. W*. Moore and Lieut. Col. Lyman were kill ed. Col. Penuypacker was badly wounded; also Lieut. Col. A. complete list of the kill and and wounded will be forwarded as soon as it can be prepared. General Leroy reported to Surgeon Ge neral Barnes that he had ample provision of surgeons, nurses and hospital supplies for the wounded- They will be sent North to their respective States as fast as they can be placed on traasporta, ol which there was amply supply. On Monday momiug,’ between six and seven o clock, the magazine of Ftirt Fisher exploded, killing and wounding two or three hundred persons. After the capture of the fort all the troops were withdrawn, except one brig ade left in charge of the works. How the explosion occurred was not known,but General Terry believed it wfts occasioned by accident or neglect. General iloke’s divisou, reported as five thousand strong, was at Wilming ton. A portion of it was thrown into the fort not long before the aeft lit, and while that was going on a demonstra tion w&3 made by General Hoke against our defensive line, but it was fisaod to* strong for anything more than a skir mishing attack. About 11 o'clock ou Monday morning a heavy cloud of smoke was observed over Fort Smith, ou the south ride ©f New Inlet. The naval officer command ing that station reported that the eneipy had fired their barracks aud evacuated that fort. Yon will be pleased to know that per fect harmony and concert of action ex isted between the land and naval lorees and their respective commanders. Ad miral Porter and Gen. Terry vied in